Special Consonants in Spanish
In Spanish, when consonants are combined with vowels to make syllables, the sounds and spelling are usually straightforward. For example, for the letter "b" we have:
ba, be, bi, bo, bu
banca, beber, bicicleta, bota, burlarse
(bench, to drink, bicycle, boot, to make fun of)
For the letter "s" we have:
sa, se, si, so, su
satélite, sembrar, situado, sostener, suegro
(satellite, to sow, situated, to hold, father-in-law)
For the letter "j" we have:
ja, je, ji, jo, ju
jadear, jefe, jirafa, joven, jubilación
(to pant, chief or boss, giraffe, young person, retirement)
To make five consistent vowel sounds starting with the English consonant sound "k", the letters "c" and "qu" team up and we have:
ca, que, qui, co, cu
cantar, quebrar, quiste, cocina, cubrir
(to sing, to break, cyst, kitchen, to cover)
Without the switch to "qu" the sounds are like the Spanish "s" and we have:
ce, ci
cebolla, cine
(onion, cinema)
To make five consistent vowel sounds starting with the English consonant sound "g" in "goat," the letter "g" in Spanish sometimes requires a "u" and is as follows:
ga, gue, gui, go, gu
gallina, guerrero, guía, gozo, gusano
(hen, warrior, guide, joy, worm)
Without the "u" the sounds are like the Spanish "j" and we have:
ge, gi
gelatina, girar
(gelatin, to rotate)
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