The Language Warehouse Spanish Basic Course -
Phonology Unit 9
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Writing Awareness. (Part 3)
1. Read these words aloud, then listen to see if
you were correct.
a. me . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
b. mesa . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
c. oficina . . . . . ( ) ( )
d. que . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
e. quema . . . . . . ( ) ( )
f. saque . . . . . . ( ) ( )
g. seda . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
h. puede . . . . . . ( ) ( )
i. Si quiere . . . . ( ) ( )
j. acepto . . . . . . ( ) ( )
2. Dictation. Write the words that you hear.
Then, check your answers below.
a. ( ) ( ): ____________________
b. ( ) ( ): ____________________
c. ( ) ( ): ____________________
d. ( ) ( ): ____________________
e. ( ) ( ): ____________________
f. ( ) ( ): ____________________
g. ( ) ( ): ____________________
h. ( ) ( ): ____________________
i. ( ) ( ): ____________________
Check your answers:
a. esto f. una silla
b. oficina (only one 'f') g. un libro
c. puede h. saque
d. casada (or, kasada) i. buscamos (or, buskamos)
e. estoy j. acepto (only one 'c')
New Material:
3. Listen to this new word.
( ) ( )
4. The same word will be pronounced right (R) then wrong (W).
(R) (W) (R) (W)
5. Which is the right pronunciation?
(1) (2) (1) (2)
(2)
6. Here is the same word; this time, it will be
pronounced in a different way.
(R) (W) (R) (W)
7. Is this the right pronunciation?
( ) ( )
(no)
8. Which is the right pronunciation?
(1) (2) (1) (2)
(2)
9. The word above will be combined with this other word:
( ) ( )
10. In the combination, two things happen. For one
thing, the 's' at the end of the first word
develops a little bit of 'buzzing'. Listen.
( ) ( ) ( )
11. And the 'd' sound in the second word changes to
the sound of 'd' that you learned in puede.
Listen again.
12. The sound 'd' usually changes to 'd' after any
vowel, after an 's' and after an 'r'. Therefore,
we can say that the following combination is correct:
'buenos' + 'días' = 'buenosdias'
13. Is this combination correct?
'de' + 'dónde' = 'dedónde'
(yes)
14. Would this one be correct?
'por' + 'dónde' = 'pordónde'
(no)
15. Write in the blank the correct combination for
the following:
'por' + 'dónde' = '_______________'
('pordónde')
16. Is this combination correct?
'los + 'dos' = '_______________'
(no)
17. If 'buenos' + 'dias' = 'buenosddías', finish
this combination correctly.
'los' + 'dos' = '_______________'
('losdos')
18. Finish this combination correctly.
'ver' + 'dónde' = '_______________'
('verdónde')
Written Accent.
Compared to English, the Spanish writing system is one of
the most modern, up-to-date systems in the world. It is not
without some flaws, but these are few, and they are easy to
handle. The system as a whole works, and it works well; so
well, in fact, that Spanish dictionaries do not find it
necessary to include the pronunciation of words.
Since part of the pronunciation involves the feature of
loudness, the writing system includes a marker for this
loudness. Thus, once you learn how to pronounce the various
combinations of letters and then how to interpret this loudness
marker, you will be able to pronounce correctly any word in
the dictionary.
19. The loudness marker is a little line placed
over a vowel, like this: á This line is
called 'an accent mark', or simply 'an accent'.
20. This accent serves to indicate where the loudness
is. Thus, aquí indicates that the loudness
is on the last syllable. Therefore, in speaking
Spanish you would pronounce this word with loudness
on the last syllable. And in writing this
word, you would indicate where this loudness is
by accenting the appropriate vowel.
Write this word correctly:
'aquí': _______________
(aquí)
21. Similarly, write these words correctly:
'termine': _______________
'prepare': _______________
(terminé)
(preparé)
22. Listen to this word, and write it correctly.
(terminó) ( ) ( ): ____________________
23. Listen to this word, and write it correctly.
(preparó) ( ) ( ): ____________________
24. Listen to this word, and write it correctly.
(recomendó) ( ) ( ): ____________________
25. Listen to this word, and write it correctly.
(recomendé) ( ) ( ): ____________________
26. Listen to this word, and write it correctly.
(está) ( ) ( ): ____________________
27. Listen and write correctly.
(así) ( ) ( ): ____________________
28. The next word is the name of a person. It starts
with a capital 'J'. Listen and write it correctly.
(José) ( ) ( ): ____________________
29. Sometimes - in fact, most often - you will notice
that many words do not have an accent mark.
With words that end in a vowel, the absence of
an accent mark indicates that the loudness is
supposed to be on the second-last syllable.
Would this word require a written accent mark?
Answer 'yes' or 'no'.
(no) ( ) ( )
30. Listen and write correctly.
(papa) ( ) ( ): ____________________
31. Listen and write correctly.
(mesa) ( ) ( ): ____________________
32. Listen and write correctly.
(esto) ( ) ( ): ____________________
33. Listen and write correctly.
(silla) ( ) ( ): ____________________
34. This is a word that you already know. Does it
need an accent?
(no) ( ) ( )
35. You have not heard this word before. Does it
need an accent?
(yes) ( ) ( )
36. You have not heard this word before. Does it
need an accent?
(yes) ( ) ( )
37. Does this word need an accent?
(no) ( ) ( )
38. You have heard only one of these words before.
Which one needs an accent?
Word 1: ( ) ( )
Word 2: ( ) ( )
(1)
39. Which one of these two words needs an accent?
Word 1: ( ) ( )
Word 2: ( ) ( )
(2)
40. Read this word, then check with the tape.
papá . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
41. Read this one, then check.
papa . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
42. Read this one, then check.
terminó . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
43. Read this one, then check.
termino . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
44. Here are some words you have never seen. Read
them, and check after each word.
a. casa . . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
b. casó . . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
c. dame . . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
d. nado . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
e. colé . . . . . . . . . ( ) ( )
45. You have now learned about 40% of the principles
involving accent marks. We will conclude the
presentation in Unit 10.
UNIT 9 ANSWER KEY
Writing Awareness. (Part 3)
1. a. me (1) f. saque (2)
b. mesa (2) g. seda (2)
c. oficina (2) h. puede (2)
d. que (2) i. Si quiere (2)
e. quema (2) j. acepto (2)
2. a. esto ... (2) (Wr.) f. una silla ... (2) (Wr.)
b. oficina ... (2) (Wr.) g. un libro ... (2) (Wr.)
c. puede ... (2) (Wr.) h. saque ... (2) (wr.)
d. casada ... (2) (Wr.) i. buscamos ... (2) (Wr.)
e. estoy ... (2) (Mr.) j. acepto ... (2) (Wr.)
New Material
3. buenos (2)
4. buenos/bu-enos (2)
5. 1. bu-enos/ 2. buenos (2)
6. buenos/buenuhs (2)
7. buenuhs (2)
8. 1. buenuhs/ 2. buenos (2)
9. días (2)
10. buenozdías (3)
11. buenosdías (3)
(12 through 21: no voice)
22. terminó (2)
23. preparó (2)
24. recomendó (2)
25. recomendé (2)
26. está (2)
27. así (2)
28. José (2)
29. pápa (2)
30. pápa (2)
31. mesa (2)
32. esto (2)
33. silla (2)
34. libro (2)
35. libró (2)
36. salí (2)
37. sále (2)
38. 1. terminó (2) 2. termíno (2)
39. 1. tengo (2) 2. subí (2)
40. papá
41. pápa (2)
42. terminó (2)
43. termíno (2)
44. a.... casa (2)
b.... casó (2)
c.... dame (2)
d.... nado (2)
e....colé (2)
END OF UNIT 9