PRONUNCIATION

If you had recently arrived in an English-speaking country and were faced with having to learn to read and write...

The "TION" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end with the letters.

The "ATE" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end with the letters.

The "IZE" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end with the letters.

The "AL" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end with the letters.

The "IC" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end with the letters.

The "ITY" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with more than two syllables that end with the letters.

The "ISM" Rule

The English word TOURISM is pronounced TOO-RISM, with the "U" being silent (that is, not ) participating in the pronunciation of the word).

The "SION" Rule

It is! We write them exactly as they are in English! Well, not exactly: remember the Quirks! Also, no double letters (GG, MM, NN, PP, SS or TT) and F instead of PH.

The "OUS" Rule

As an example, the English word gaseous is the Spanish word gaseoso.(Remember to pronounce all the Spanish vowels!)

The "ENT" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end in. Thus, the English word accident is the Spanish word accidente.

The "ALLY" Rule

However (here's the kicker), if the English word ends in ...cally (as in automatically) we keep the "c" and substitute ...ally with "amente" and the Spanish translation becomes automaticamente.

The "ARY" / "ORY" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end in. To translate them into Spanish, we will substitute the ending ...ary with

The "BLE" Rule

There are exceptions, come of which we will list further on, but you will find that the very large majority of words in English ending in ...

The "IVE" Rule

This Rule applies to those words in English with two or more syllables that end with the letters. To translate those words into Spanish we will substitute the English ending.

The Minor Rules

Now that we have covered the Major Rules and you have learned many thousands of words in Spanish, we will celebrate the occasion by looking at the Minor Rules.

The Gender & Articles

At last! You have probably been waiting for this with baited breath! Yes, in Spanish, as in most other languages, there are masculine and feminine-gendered words.

Conjugating a Verb

The verb in Spanish changes when it is conjugated. In English, the verb remains substantially the same. Because of this, English is a relatively simple language to learn to speak, albeit in a primitive sort of way.

Ser & Estar

The verb "to be" in Spanish must have been thought up by a brilliantly tangled mind, both fool and genius, and is one of the stumbling blocks in Spanish.

Roundup

Of course there is a lot more to Spanish than we have covered in this book. But just think for a moment: when you began reading this book, you probably didn't know any Spanish at all!

Appendix 1

Matching Words

Appendix 2

Colors, Textures, Shapes & Parts of the body

Appendix 3

Useful Phrases

Appendix 4

Useful Words

Appendix 5

Numbers

Appendix 6

Useful Verbs