Spanish Language Blog

English-speaking students usually have a hard time when they try to pronounce the letter r in Spanish. So our post today will be for you to practice this pronunciation.

Here are some rules:

1. If the letter r comes at the beginning of a word it has a trilled sound. The same happens when there is a double rr.

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rabia (anger) – raíz (root) – reloj (clock, watch) – remar (to row) – río (river) – rico (rich) – rosa (rose) – ropa (clothes)

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perro (dog) – guerra (war) – berro (watercress) – barro (mud) – burro (donkey, stupid) – cerrar (to close) – arriba (up) – arroz (rice) – zorro (fox) – cigarro (cigar) – hierro (iron) – barrio (neighborhood)

2. If it comes in the middle of a word (between two vowels or a vowel and a consonant) or at the end of a word it has a softer sound, like a flap d in English.

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hablar (to speak) – cantar (to sing) – comer (to eat) – beber (to drink) – partir (to leave) – salir (to go out) – señor (sir) – señora (ma’am) – portada (cover) – muerto (dead) – trabajo (work) – trabajar (to work) – prisión (prison) – cara (face) – aire (air) – abrir (to open) – otro (other)

Here’s a little tongue twister!

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“Erre” con “erre” guitarra,
“erre” con “erre” barril.
Rápido corren los carros,
Cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril.

Por hoy es todo, nos vemos prontito.

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Spanish is full of dichos and refranes populares. Here are some of them:

“El que con lobos anda aullar se enseña.”
“Al mal tiempo buena cara.”
“Siempre quiebra la soga por lo más delgado.”
“A buen sueño no hay mala cama.”
“Al que a buen árbol se arrima, buena sombra no cobija.”
“Querer es poder.”
“Dios aprieta pero no ahorca.”
“Mala hierba nunca muere.”

Now, take another look at the sayings above. What would you tell…

… someone who handles difficult situations well?
… someone who can accomodate well any place?
… someone who keeps bad company?
… someone who is going through difficult times?
… someone who keeps complaining about their health?
… someone who always takes the blame, because they are weak?
… someone who keeps good company?
… someone who believes and works hard to realize a dream?

Let’s do another exercise! Match the following sentences to make refranes!

Ojos que no ven…
…corazón que no siente.

1. No hay mal…
2. De grano en grano…
3. En casa de herrero…
4. Cría fama…
5. El que con niños se acuesta…
6. Cada loco…
7. Cuando el río suena…

( ) y échate a dormir.
( ) con su tema.
( ) agua lleva.
( ) azadón de palo.
( ) que por bien no venga.
( ) mojado amanece.
( ) se llena la gallina el buche.

Check out next week the answer to these exercises.

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Three years ago I wrote about la apócope in Spanish and today I’m going to review some rules and give you more examples.

La apócope is when the last word or syllable of a word is lost, due to phonetic reasons. In Spanish the following words are apocopadas (shortened):

1 – Some words that come before a singular masculine noun:

bueno –> buen
buen tiempo = good weather

malo –> mal
mal hombre = bad man

alguno –> algún
algún día = some day

ninguno –> ningún
ningún sitio = no place

primero –> primer
primer libro = first book

tercero –> tercer
tercer capítulo = third chapter

uno –> un
un coche = a car

santo –> san
The word santo is only shortened before people’s names. Compare:

santo hombre / hombre santo = holy man
San Juan = St. John
San Pedro = St. Peter

Exceptions: Santo Tomás, Santo Tomé,Santo Toribio, Santo Domingo

2. The following words are apocopadas before any noun:

cualquiera –> cualquier
un niño cualquiera = cualquier niño [any boy]
una niña cualquiera = cualquier niña [any girl]

ciento –> cien
ciento tres = cien años (a hundred years), cien veces (a hundred times)

grande –> gran (only in the singular)
circo grande = gran circo [big circus]

3. The following words are apocopadas before an adjective or adverb:

tanto –> tan
¡Te quiero tanto! [I love you so much!] = Era tan bueno… [It was so good...]
¿Cuánto tiempo? [How long?] = ¡Cuán fuerte eres! [How strong you are!]

Attention! Tanto and como do not shorten before these words:

mejor [better] / peor [worse] = cuanto mejor, tanto peor, etc.
mayor [bigger] / menor [smaller] = cuanto mayor, cuanto menor, etc.
más [more] / menos [less] = cuanto más, cuanto menos, etc.
antes [before] / después [after] = tanto antes, cuanto después, etc.

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