Breaking the Spanish Barrier 1 (Beginner)

foots

STEP FIVE

¿qué es esto?

When you want to find out what something is, you could point at it and ask:

¿Qué es esto? (What’s this?)
Es un libro. (It’s a book.)
Es una silla. (It’s a chair.)

The word “un,” meaning “a” or “an,” is used before “masculine nouns” — ones that end in “o” and many others, while the word una (also meaning “a” and “an”) is used before “feminine nouns” — ones that end in “a” and many others.

Here is some useful vocabulary that you can use in the classroom or at home.

voice

PRÁCTICA DE PRONUNCIACIÓN

c, ch, p

Here are some more consonants:

c

This consonant has a number of different pronunciations. As in English, before an “a,” “o,” or “u,” this letter sounds like the “c” in “cool.”
casa, cama, coche, rica, Cuba, acumular, coco, costa, colina

Again, as in English, when “c” comes before “e” or “i,” it is most often ­pronounced like the “s” in “song.” In some parts of Spain, however, the “c” in this position would be ­pronounced like the “th” in “thin.”
celos, cielo, reciente, producir, cinta, cenicero, sinceros, cine

ch

Until recently, this consonant has normally been considered a single letter in the Spanish ­alphabet, although it certainly looks like two! This “ch” sounds like the “ch” in the word “chocolate.”
chica, coche, chiste, chicle, Conchita, Chiapas, rechoncho, relinche

p
This letter is basically like the “p” found in the English word “pizza.” At times, the “p” in English “explodes” a little bit, with a fair amount of breath coming out of the speaker’s mouth. The Spanish “p” is a little more restrained, but to most people not really distinguishable from the English “p.” If you put a candle close to your lips when saying the name “Peter,” you might blow out the candle. In Spanish, however, the flame would barely flicker when saying “Pedro.”
pelo, postal, padre, reportero, ropero, pico, picante, suplicar, aplicado
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