LESSONS IN SPANISH. 



N Bounda liko ni in the Knglioh words onion, pinion ; aa, 

 . pronounced non'-yah, nyon'-yo. 



Q, which is always immediately followed by u, is sounded aa 

 in Kiigli-ih; as, quota,} pronoanoed kwo'tah. 



:n tho syllables que and qu\, ia Bounded liko Jk (that in, 

 the u silent) ; as, que, quito ; pronoonoed kay, ket-so ; but if a 

 is is over tho u, it hau its proper Spanish sound ; an, 

 ' / ,- pronounced Icoo-ais'-tah or kwaig'-tah. 



M.iiK-tim."* sounded smooth, and sometimes rough or 



rilling. Tho rough sound is heard in Spanish when r begin* a 



word, when doubled, and when it comes after I, n, or ; as, 



rabo, carro, alrota ; pronounced r-rah'-bo, kar-r'-ro, al-r-ro'-tah. 



ry other position it has the smooth sound. 



S is always Bounded aa in the English words toon, this ; as, 

 tedcs ; pronounced say' -dace. 



T has nearly the same sound as in English. Tho only differ- 

 ence is, that in Spanish t has a somewhat softer sound than in 

 English. 



V is pronounced as in English, with tho sole exception that 

 tho upper teeth are not pressed so strongly to tho lower lip in 

 iim-iii)'' this letter in Spanish. 



X has the sound of tho English x in the word tax ; as, exito, 

 :, exacto; pronounced aiks-ee'-to, aiks~tray'-mo, aiks- 

 ttf-to, 



X, iu Spanish, had formerly two very different sounds : the 

 one the same as above given ; the other a guttural sound, the 

 name exactly as tho Spanish j. To distinguish these sounds, 

 the vowel following the a;, when not guttural, had a circumflex 

 accent over it ; as, exdcto, extto. The guttural sound of the x is 

 not at present used, or at least very seldom, in Spanish, as the 

 letters j (before any vowel) and g (before e and t) have the same 

 sound, and are now employed instead of the guttural x. Thus 

 the words Mexico, Mtfico, or Mfyico, would, in Spanish, all 

 be pronounced alike ; though Mdjico is the common spelling. 

 It is, of course, no longer necessary to put a circumflex accent 

 over the vowel following the x, when the letter has the English 

 sound of fes, as it now has nearly always in recent Spanish 

 writings. 



Y, when a consonant, has the same sound in Spanish that it 

 has in English in such words as young, year. 



Y, when it stands alone, used as a copulative (meaning and), 

 is pronounced like ee in see. 



Z has always the sound of th in the English word think ; as, 

 zuzo ; pronounced thoo-tho. 



Remark. There will be no difficulty on the part of the learner, 

 who is his own instructor, in acquiring the sounds of the 

 Spanish vowels and consonants, except the guttural sound of 

 the j (which is also the sound of g before e or t) ; and this 

 sound can be learnt from any German, by hearing him pro- 

 nounce ch in the words nacht and nicht ; from an Irishman, by 

 noticing the sound he gives ch in the word oich, from a 

 Scotchman in the word loch, or from a Welshman in the words 

 loch, chivi. 



DIFFERENT METHODS OF SPELLING. 



By the best Spanish writers i is used instead of y when this 

 last letter is a vowel, and not at the end of a word. Thus 

 ret/no, reyna, arraygar, are now spelt reino, reina, arraigar. 



Q is now used by the best writers only in the syllables que 

 and qui; as, queja, quince. The syllables qua, qile, qiii, and 

 quo, are spelt with c. Thus quando, qiiesto, quota, are now 

 spelled cuando, cuesto, cuota. 



X is, by many of the best writers, never used before a conso- 

 nant, its place being supplied by the letter s. Thus extenso, 

 experto, are now often found spelt estenso, esperto. 



In addition to the above remarks, it is proper to state that, 

 by the best writers, z is never employed before e or t, its place 

 being supplied with c; thus cero and cinco, for zero and z-iuco. 

 X, too, is, by some writers, always changed into cs, when it 

 comes before a vowel ; thus secso, for sexo. The guttural sound 

 of x, as has been already mentioned, is now seldom used ; g or j 

 being substituted for it. 



Remark. It is necessary to remember that the above varia- 

 tions in spelling produce no variations in pronunciation, except 

 only when x before a consonant is changed into s, in which case 

 s has its own regular sound ; thus estenso is pronounced ai's- 

 ten'-so. 



A very little attention to the above directions will remove 



cvi-ry ililliculty which might otherwwo occur in reading Spanish 

 authors who do not adopt the same method of ipelling. '1 'nuc. 

 if tho learner meet with such word* M ceto, jtneroi, r 



. jabon, etceto, ectactor, reina, buiire, etc., and cannot 

 liinl them in his dictionary, he most look for them under the 

 other forms : telo, gtneroi, reyittro, quando, tabon, exeeto, 

 exactor, reyna, buytre. 



SOUND OF DIPHTHONGS AND TRIPHTHOM09. 



The diphthongs and triphthongs in Spanish never contain any 

 vowel sound different from those we have already given. When 

 two or three vowels come together, they may be pronounced by 

 a wingle emission of the voice ; bat each rowel in Spanish con- 

 tinuos to retain always its own particular sound, though the 

 sounds glide into each other by being pronoanoed in the time of 

 a single vowel. Two Towels are never mingled into one and 

 made to represent a sound foreign to each of them, as ou in the 

 English word fought ; or a sound in which only one is heard, a 

 oa in boat. The diphthong ua, in the English word luavity, 

 retains the sounds of both vowels, being pronoanoed as if written 

 sooa-vi-ty. The learner can judge from this example what u 

 meant by each vowel retaining its own particular Hound in diph- 

 thongs and triphthongs, though such a combination forms, of 

 course, but one syllable. Thus, in tho Spanish word causa, 

 the letters can compose but one syllable, and the diphthong 

 au is pronounced like a in bar and u in rude (the regular 

 Spanish sounds of a and u) ; and being uttered quickly, and 

 by a single impulse of the voice, the sound of au is similar 

 to that of ow in the English word hmo, though not exactly the 

 same. 



LIST OF DIPHTHONGS. 



di, or ay, has tho sound of a in bar, and ee in eel : 



ii'i , in bar, and oo in mood 



in then, and a in bar .- 



or ey, , ill they, and ee iu ed : 



in tliey, and o in go : 



tin , in they, and oo in mnod 



in he, and a in bar .- 

 it' , in he, 

 io , in fir, 

 t'n , in he, 



di, or oy, 



ui, or uy 



and < in they ; 

 and o in go : 

 and oo in mood .- 

 in go, and e in the i 

 in go, and ee in eei .- 

 o in mood, and a in bar : 

 oo iu mood, and in tliey .- 

 oo in mood, and ee in eeJ : 

 oo in mood, and o iu go : 



o-i. 



a-u. 

 e-a. 

 e-i. 



e-o. 

 e-<t. 

 i-a. 



i-o. 

 t-u. 

 o-. 

 o-i. 



u-a. 



u-i. 



u-o. 



TRIPHTHONGS. 



tat has the sound of ee in eel, a in bar, and e in he : t'-a-i. 



tet ee in eel, e in they, and e in he: t-c-i. 



uai ,, ,, oo in mood, a iu bur, aud e in he : u-a-i. 



uci, or uey, oo in mood, e in theij, and in he : u-e-i. 



Remark. Some of the diphthongs ending in t will be found in 

 some Spanish writings ending in y, as reina, rnjna; buitrc, 

 buytre. The pronunciation in both cases is the same. 



The two vowels, when they come together, do not always 

 form one syllable (a diphthong). Thus the word tdVa, iu Spanish 

 and English, forms three syllables. 



SYLLABICATION. 



When a consonant comes between two vowels, it is articulated 

 with the vowel which comes after it ; as, /o-o, d-iio, hu-md-no ; 

 except x ; as, ex-dm-plo. 



When two consonants come between two vowels, tho former 

 is spelt with the preceding vowel, and tho latter with the suc- 

 ceeding vowel ; as, por-tdl, cuer-po, e~s-te, in-vie'r-no. This rule 

 is subject to the following exception : 



If the first of two consonants coming between two vowels be 

 f, or any one of the mutes, and the second I or r, then both 

 consonants are joined to the vowel by which they aro suc- 

 ceeded ; as, st-glo, sue"-gro, co-ore, vi-drtl-ro ; with the exceptions 

 of at-teta, atlante. 



When two vowels of the same name come together, or two 

 which do not form a diphthong, they are to be divi<le<l ; : 

 co-or-di-ndr, ca-n6-a. 



Compound words are to be divided into their derivatives ; as, 

 pre-po-ne^r, ad-jun-to, con-jltc-to. 



When any one of the letters b, I, m, n, or r, i- f, '.!., 1 hy s 

 and another consonant, or when s is preceded by a 



