Five pure, short vowels

Spanish has just five vowel sounds and they are always short and pure — you never glide or "drift" them the way English does. Say each one crisply:

• a — "ah" — casa (house)
• e — "eh" — mesa (table)
• i — "ee" — sí (yes)
• o — "oh" — no (no)
• u — "oo" — tú (you)

Why this matters: in reading aloud and dictation the vowels never change. English speakers tend to say "KAH-suh" — the final a is a full clear "ah", not a mumbled "uh".

The letter that says nothing

Hard and soft c

The letter c has two jobs, decided entirely by the vowel that follows it:

• c + a/o/u = hard [k] — casa, como, cuando.
• c + e/i = soft — cena, cine. In Spain a "th" sound; in Latin America an "s".
• qu = [k], used only before e/i — que, quién. The u is silent.
• z = soft "th"/"s" — zapato, luz. Same sound as soft c.
• To keep the [k] sound before e/i you must use qu; for [k] before a/o/u you write c (and cu + vowel: cuatro, cuenta).

Read-aloud tip: never say "kwe" for que — the u after q is silent, so it is just "keh".

The throaty sound: g and j

Like c, the letter g changes with the next vowel — and there's a trick to keep it hard:

The "loch" sound: g before e/i and j everywhere make the same rasping sound at the back of the throat — like the "ch" in Scottish loch. So gente and joven both start with that throaty noise, not a soft English "j".

Mini-dictation — add the accent

ll, ñ, ch, v and the rolling r

A handful of letters and pairs make sounds English doesn't spell the same way:

• ll ≈ "y" — llamar (to call), calle (street).
• ñ = "ny" — España, niño (like the "ny" in "canyon").
• ch = "ch" — chico (boy), mochila (backpack).
• v sounds like b — vivir (to live), vaca (cow). No English "v" buzz.
• single r = a tap — pero (but). One quick flick of the tongue.
• rr, and r at the start of a word or after n/l/s = a rolled trill — perro (dog), rojo (red), Enrique.

Minimal pair: pero ("but", single tap) vs perro ("dog", rolled). The trill is the difference between them — worth practising for reading aloud.

How does it sound?

Choose the correct sound for each letter or word.

Mini-dictation — accent for meaning

Where does the stress fall?

Every Spanish word has one stressed syllable. If there is no written accent, two default rules decide where it lands:

A written accent beats both rules — it marks the stressed vowel directly, wherever it is: te-lé-fo-no, in-glés, rá-pi-do.

Why it matters: in dictation and writing, a missing or wrong accent can be marked wrong — and can change the word. Learn to hear which syllable is loudest, then apply the rule.

Find the stress Higher

Which sound?

Hard c or soft c?

Sort each word by the sound of its c. Hard [k] before a/o/u; soft "th/s" before e/i.

Match the letter to its sound

Tap a letter/pair on the left, then tap its sound on the right.

Small mark, big difference

Some pairs of words are spelt with the same letters — the written accent is the only thing that tells them apart. Getting it right (or wrong) changes the meaning:

Watch out in writing: Tú tienes tu libro = "You have your book" — the first needs the accent, the second doesn't. Question words (qué, cómo, cuándo, dónde) take an accent; the same words as ordinary connectors do not.

Gap-fill — the right verb form

Dictation and reading aloud

Two papers reward your sound rules directly. Know exactly what each asks:

• Listening — Dictation. You write down what you hear; spelling and accents are marked. Each sentence is played 3 times — whole, then in chunks, then whole again. A couple of words fall outside the vocab list: spell them by ear using the sound rules (silent h, v=b, c/z="th/s").
• Speaking — Reading aloud. Apply the rules out loud: silent h, soft c/g, rolled rr, ll≈"y", ñ="ny".
• Speaking — Role-play & photo card. The role-play is 5 short tasks. The photo card asks you to describe two photos then hold a conversation. Describe with Hay… (there is/are), En la foto veo… (in the photo I see…), Está… (it is / is located…).

Read-aloud checklist: before you speak, scan for silent h, any rr to roll, and soft c/g. Getting these right sounds far more Spanish than perfect grammar with an English accent.

Read it aloud correctly

Choose how each item sounds — as you would say it in the reading-aloud task.

Hear the roll

Translation and gap-fill

The Reading and Writing papers test how carefully you handle words on the page:

• Reading — Translation into English. Translate faithfully — every word counts. If a word is new, infer it from context; that is an assessed skill, so don't leave a gap.
• Writing — Grammar cloze / gap-fill. Choose the correct word from three options; watch agreement (gender/number) and verb endings.
• Writing — Translation into Spanish. Watch word order, agreement and accents — the accent rules from this lesson are marked here.
• Writing — Structured & open writing. Cover every bullet point and use a range of tenses to reach the top bands.

Translation-into-Spanish habit: after you write a sentence, re-read it for three things — does the adjective agree, does the verb ending match the subject, and does any word need an accent (sí, tú, él, qué, plus stress accents like inglés)?

Accent for meaning Higher

Translation into Spanish

Spelling with ñ and an accent

Your sounds & exam toolkit

Nail these and every paper gets easier. Press Finish to see your score.