Additionally, if the accent marks a diphthong a syllable break occurs between the two vowels of the diphthong. While “Medical Spanish Visual Phrasebook” is intended for medical professionals who need to communicate with Spanish-speaking patients, it’s just as useful for communicating with Spanish-speaking doctor! You must ask for the bill. A gringo was known to have waited until 2 in the morning because he was too shy to ask:). If you’re not impressed with region-specific options, you should be! Don’t underestimate this valuable insight. For instance, you might not need to know a lot of terms to refer to monkeys in Spain, but you will in Costa Rica! Choosing the right phrasebook for the job can make the difference between clear communication and awkward pointing.

a like 'a' in "father" e between 'ay' in "pay" and 'e' in "pet" i like 'ee' in "see" o like 'o' in "roll" u like 'u' in "rule" y like 'ee' in "see". Very rarely used at the middle or ending of words. Like "y" in young at the beginning of words. Consonants [ edit ] b like 'b' in "elbow" at the beginning of a word and after 'm': boca (mouth). A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere, specifically a 'v' sound but with your two lips pressed together in a 'b' or 'p' shape with the airflow of a 'v'. c In most cases it is pronounced like 'c' in "scare": calle (street). When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (in the Americas, the Canaries and some parts of the Philippines) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine (cinema, pronounced by Latin Americans as SEE-nay, Spaniards as THEE-nay) ch like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho (boy) [tʃ] d like 'd' in "dog" at the beginning of a sentence or after 'n' or 'l'; like the 'th' in "the" between vowels: de (of/from), pasado (the adjective or noun past). You're usually fine just using the 'th' sound as in "the". f like 'f' in "fine": faro (lighthouse) g when followed by 'e' or 'i', like a throaty 'h' ( general = heh-neh-RAHL, meaning general), otherwise like 'g' in "ago" ( gato, cat). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the 'u' serves only to change the sound of the consonant and is silent ( guitarra, guitar), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" ( pedigüeño, beggar). In between vowels, it tends to be weakened to a softer sound, [ɣ]. h silent: hora= OR-ah (hour). Pronounced like a softer 'j' only in foreign words. j like a throaty 'h' in "ha": jamón (ham), the sound of Scottish or German "ch" as in "Loch" is close [x] k like 'k' in "ski" or silent like Spanish H: kilo knox The letter K is only used in foreign words (kárate, kilo, Kevin, Karen, etc.). l like 'l' in "love": lápiz (pen) ll Varies substantially by dialect. The easiest widely understandable pronunciation is like 'y' in "year": llamar (to call). Pronounced like a 'zh' [ʒ] as in 'Zhivago' or 'sh' [ʃ] as in 'show' only in Argentina and Uruguay; in some other countries it may be pronounced like an English 'j' [dʒ] as in "ninja" or like 'ly' [ʎ] as in the English word "million". The [ʎ] pronunciation was once enforced in school education as the "only correct" form especially in Francoist Spain but is now retreating northwards in Spain and otherwise only prevalent among bilingual speakers whose other language (e.g. Catalan or Quechua) contains this phoneme. m like 'm' in "mother": mano (hand, a rare example of a word whose grammatical gender breaks the rules outlined above—"la mano" is correct) n like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche (night), ancla (anchor) ñ like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón (canyon) [ɳ], piñata. This is a separate letter in the Spanish alphabet. Pronouncing this as "n" will usually be intelligible but can sometimes make an entirely separate word. For instance, año is "year" but ano is "anus"—you'll want to avoid saying that you have 33 anuses when you mean to say that you're 33 years old. p like 'p' in "spit": perro (dog) q like 'k' in "ski" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so (cheese) r, rr Spanish has two 'r' sounds, both of which are different from their counterpart in English. Some effort should be made to approximate each of them, to help listeners distinguish between perro ("dog") and pero ("but") — or perhaps to understand you at all: WikiPedia:Spanish language This is a guide phrasebook. It covers all the major topics for traveling without resorting to English. But please Plunge forward and help us make it a star!Counting in "hundreds" is unheard of for numbers larger than 1 000. This is also true for years. Instead of "nineteen hundred fifty three" a Spanish speaker would say "mil novecientos cincuenta y tres". OPEN Abierto ( ah-bee-AIR-toh) CLOSED Cerrado ( sehr-RAH-doh) ENTRANCE Entrada ( ehn-TRAH-dah) EXIT Salida ( sah-LEE-dah) PUSH Empujar ( ehm-POO-har) PULL Tirar / Jalar ( TEE-rar/HAH-lar) TOILET Servicios / Aseos ( sehr-BEE-thee-yohs / ah-SEH-aws), also S.H. or S.S.H.H. for Servicios Higiénicos MEN Hombres ( OHM-brays)/ Caballeros WOMEN Mujeres ( moo-HEH-rehs) / Señoras DON'T SMOKE No fumar/fume ( noh foo-MAHR/FOO-may) FORBIDDEN Prohibido ( pro-hee-BEE-doh)

This book contains a wonderful selection of interesting Spanish short stories for beginners that are designed to be understood by learners who have only been learning Spanish for a short period of time. That’s where “Spanish Among Amigos Phrasebook” comes in. Unlike many other phrasebooks, this one doesn’t exclusively target travelers. Instead, it’s designed for anyone looking to engage in friendly, social conversations in Spanish.

Dates are given in day-month-year form. All spoken and written, long and short forms follow this pattern: círculo ( THEER-koo-loh/ SEER-koo-loh) → circle circulo ( theer-KOO-loh/ seer-KOO-loh) → I circulate circuló ( theer-koo-LOH/ seer-koo-LOH) → he/she/it circulated estás ( ehs-TAHS) → you are estas ( EHS-tahs) → these origen ( oh-REE-hehn) → origin orígenes ( oh-REE-hehn-ehs) → origins ciudad ( thee-yoo-DAHD/ see-yoo-DAHD) → city ciudades ( thee-you-DAH-dehs/ see-yoo-DAH-dehs) → cities Besides having a very small number of vowel sounds and a high predictability of exactly what sound is represented by each letter, Spanish has a very clear set of rules about where a stress normally falls, and exceptions are noted with an "acute accent mark" ("´ ") over the vowel of the stressed syllable. Normally, words that end in a vowel, or in n or s, have the stress on the next-to-last syllable ( muchacho = "mu-CHA-cho"); all other words without an explicit accent mark are stressed on the final syllable ( hospital = "os-pee-TAL"). There are no secondary stresses within words.

For that reason, we’ve compiled this huge list of common Spanish phrases that you’re likely to need in different occasions. Whether you’ve decided to finally learn a new language or have pursued Spanish for some time now, these will give your basics a little push! Become comfortable with them through listening repetition and speaking repetition (rather than memorizing a whole bunch of phrases out of nowhere).You love making a great first impression. To be fair, you’ve been perfecting your pronunciation, confidently practicing with your bathroom mirror.