Pure vowels: keep one vowel quality
CEFR A1
peso
/ˈpeso/
weight
piso
/ˈpiso/
flat; floor
What tells the two sounds apart
- /a e i o u/Practise a, e, i, o, u with a steady vowel quality. Keep e and o from gliding into a second vowel.
Why it is hard
English spelling and vowel reduction can mislead you. Spanish has five vowel phonemes: keep unstressed vowels clear too. Repeat “peso” and “piso”, then the five vowels and the practice words. This does not mean Spanish has no diphthongs: the target here is each single vowel. These five vowel categories are shared across Spain and the Americas.
La luna está sobre la casa.
To practise
- casa/ˈkasa/house
- mesa/ˈmesa/table
- mono/ˈmono/monkey
- luna/ˈluna/moon