In Lesson Two, we will continue with learning and understanding the nuances of the Spanish language. After listening to the previous lesson, you should now understand why inflection, accent and emphasis are important. In Lesson Two, we want you to continue to repeat with Martha so that your accent will be that of a native speaker. Whenever the parrot (loro) appears, it means to repeat three times. If you want to practice the words and sounds yourself, please pause the lesson and then continue.

In Spanish there are five vowels with only one sound for each one. Those vowels are a e i o u. Please repeat: a e i o u This is the Spanish alphabet: a b c chń o p q d e f g r s t u h i j k v w x l ll m n y z

Let’s form some syllables putting consonants and vowels together. ba be bi bo bu cha che chi cho chu da de di do du ja je ji jo ju Do the same with the following syllables: Lla lle lli llo llu Ma me etc…….. Na ne etc………. Ńa ńe etc…….. Pa pe etc……

Let’s continue: Ra re etc…… Sa se etc……. Ta te etc……. Va ve etc…… Ya ye etc…… Za ze etc…… Notice that lla and ya have the same sound: lla ya Ll and Y sound like jha. In Spanish, there is no difference between the pronunciation of b and v.

There are some syllables that do not follow the same rule: like ca co cu ga go gu que qui Notice how the u after q is silent in the above examples. Let’s put some syllables together to make a word: Mesa Luna Gato Perro

Now we will look at more words by putting more syllables together. Key llave Chair silla Hair pelo Chicken pollo Ball pelota Book libro Horse caballo Butterfly mariposa Shoes zapatos Doll muńeca Boy muchacho Girl muchacha Man Hombre Woman Mujer Computer computadora Office desk escritorio Now you see how easy it is to speak and read in Espańol.

Notice that on the previous slide, some words ended in a and some ended in o. This is because the Spanish language is gender specific. When you are using a noun or adjective, you use a when referring to a female and o when referring to a male. There are exceptions: Certain words always end in a or o. In the next lesson we will show you how to change a masculine word to a feminine word.