The Language Warehouse Spanish Basic Course -
Phonology Unit 17
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1. By now, you should be able to read these
correctly on your first try. Test yourself.
a. confidencial: __________ ( )
b. educacional: __________ ( )
c. conductor: __________ ( )
ch. generador: __________ ( )
d. diligente: __________ ( )
e. instrumental: __________ ( )
f. agente: __________ ( )
2. Up to now, you have learned of the close
resemblance of words ending in -al, -or, and
-nte. And, up to now you have seen them in
their written form. Understanding them in
their spoken form is another matter; this is
harder. How good are you at identifying such
words by hearing them only?
Keep the following list of words covered
up. Whenever you don't understand one, look it
up before moving on. If you are correct in all
but three cases, you are doing superior work.
Group 'a' Group 'b' Group 'c' Group 'd'
racional elevador irreverente prudente
mental distribuidor indulgente racial
municipal creador negligente conspirador
vital furor paciente acelerador
original pastor constante esencial
3. There is a small group of '-ment' words which
convert as -mento. For example, how would you
say these in Spanish?
English: Spanish:
monument __________: ( )
fragment __________: ( )
liniment __________: ( )
moment __________: ( )
4. Not all '-ment' words are -mento in Spanish.
For example, 'government' is gobierno. However,
most of them follow the pattern.
5. There is another large group of words with
strong resemblances: English or Spanish '-ble'.
6. Practice reading these words correctly.
Remember that since b follows a vowel, it will
soften to a b as in sabe.
Spanish:
1. honorable: __________ ( )X
2. sociable: __________ ( )X
3. miserable: __________ ( )X
7. Did you pronounce the -s- correctly in the
above word? Notice that there is no 'buzzing'
sound in Spanish. Continue.
3. miserable: __________ ( )X
4. visible: __________ ( )X
5. cable: __________ ( )X
6. imposible: __________ ( )X
7. flexible: __________ ( )X
8. noble: __________ ( )X
8. Here are some English words for you to convert to Spanish.
English: Spanish:
1. 'durable' __________: ( )X
2. 'curable' __________: ( )X
3. 'comparable' __________: ( )X
4. 'detestable' __________: ( )X
5. 'favorable' __________: ( )X
6. 'adaptable' __________: ( )X
7. 'divisible' __________: ( )X
8. 'compatible' __________: ( )X
9. 'admissible' __________: ( )X
10. 'invisible' __________: ( )X
9. You have learned already that English '-tion-'
is written -cion- in Spanish, as in educacional.
This leads us to a large group of words -
perhaps the largest - the group ending in
'-ión'. Practice reading the following Spanish
words in order to become a good user of the proper rhythm:
Spanish:
a. comunión: __________ ( )X
b. unión: __________ ( )X
c. invención: __________ ( )X
ch. visión: __________ ( )X
10. Did you forget that the -s- in the last word is
not 'buzzed'? Continue.
d. visión: __________ ( )X
e. infección: __________ ( )X
f. protección: __________ ( )X
g. acción: __________ ( )X
11. How would you convert these to Spanish? Try to
keep the rhythm right.
English: Spanish:
a. 'confusion' __________: ( )
b. 'discussion' __________: ( )
12. Did you mispronounce the '-u-' in the last word? Continue.
c. 'discussion' __________: ( )
ch. 'construction' __________: ( )
d. 'expulsion' __________: ( )
e. 'interpretation' __________: ( )
f. 'definition' __________: ( )
g. 'conclusion' __________: ( )
13. Do you still pronounce 'con-' wrong even at
this stage of your study? Watch it! Continue.
g. 'conclusion' __________: ( )
h. 'contradiction' __________: ( )
i. 'inspection' __________: ( )
j. 'direction' __________: ( )
k. 'determination' __________: ( )
l. 'division' __________: ( )
ll. 'expedition' __________: ( )
14. There are no words in Spanish that end in '-ic'. Such
words end in -ico. Thus, 'historic' is written histórico.
15. Similarly, there are hardly any words ending in
'-ical'. '-ical' is usually -ico. Thus,
'historical' is also histórico.
16. Notice that the rhythm of '-ic' and '-ical'
words is similar to English.
histórico: ( )X
eléctrico: ( )X
17. These '-ic' and '-ical' words normally function
as adjectives, in which case Spanish will use
-ico or -ica as the situation might require.
For drill purposes, we will use only -ico.
Read the following Spanish words.
Spanish:
a. histórico: __________ ( )X
b. eléctrico: __________ ( )X
c. idéntico: __________ ( )X
ch. práctico: __________ ( )X
d. científico: __________ ( )X
18. Why are the words accented?
(Because their stressed syllable is located three syllables
back from the end. All words stressed in this syllable
are always accented, as you perhaps remember from unit 11.)
19. Pity the poor speaker of Spanish who is learning English:
he has to learn which of his -ico Spanish words come
out '-ic' and which come out '-ical' in English.'
He also must learn which may be used in both forms.
It would be 'funny' if he said 'practic' for 'practical',
likewise, he shouldn't say 'plastical.' Yet he can say
'mechanic' or 'mechanical', etc.
20. All this is by way of pointing out two facts:
a. Don't use the ending '-ical' except
with those words you happen to know
end in -ical in Spanish. (Such words
are few indeed: after five minutes of
deliberation, two native speakers could
think of only two examples other than
grammatical: dominical and musical.)
b. In reading Spanish, remember that an -ico word
may be either '-ic' or '-ical' in English.
21. Convert these words to Spanish.
English: Spanish:
a. 'electrical' __________: ( )X
b. 'plastic' __________: ( )X
c. 'electric' __________: ( )
ch. 'identical' __________: ( )
d. 'ironical' __________: ( )
e. 'fanatic' __________: ( )
f. 'classical' __________: ( )
g. 'romantic' __________: ( )
h. 'pacific' __________: ( )
i. 'technical' __________: ( )
j. 'economical' __________: ( )
UNIT 17 ANSWER KEY
1. a. ...confidencial d. ...diligente
b. ...educacional e. ...instrumental
c. ...conductor f. ...agente
ch. ...generador
2. Grupo 'a': racional mental municipal vital original
Grupo 'b': elevador distribuidor creador furor pastor
Grupo 'd': prudente racial conspirador acelerador esencial
3. monument ...monumento
fragment ...fragmento
liniment ...linimento
moment ...momento
4. (no voice)
5. (no voice)
6. 1. ...honorable...
2. ...sociable...
3. ...miserable...
7. 3. ...miserable... 6. ...imposible...
4. ...visible... 7. ...flexible...
5. ...cable... 8. ...noble...
8. 1. 'durable' ...durable... 6. 'adaptable' ...adaptable...
2. 'curable' ...curable... 7. 'divisible' ...divisible...
3. 'comparable' ...comparable... 8. 'compatible' ...compatible...
4. 'detestable' ...detestable... 9. 'admissible' ...admisible...
5. 'favorable' ...favorable... 10. 'invisible' ...invisible...
9. a. ...comunión...
b. ...unión...
c. ...invención...
ch. ...visión...
10. d. ...visión...
e. ...infección...
f. ...protección...
g. ...acción...
11. a. 'confusion' ...confusión
b. 'discussion' ...discusión
12. c. 'discussion' ...discusión
ch. 'construction' ...construcción
d. 'expulsion' ...expulsión
e. 'interpretation' ...interpretación
f. 'definition' ...definición
g. 'conclusion' ...conclusión
13. g. 'conclusion' ...conclusión
h. 'contradiction' ...contradicción
i. 'inspection' ...inspección
j. 'direction' ...dirección
k. 'determination' ...determinación
l. 'division' ...división
ll. 'expedition' ...expedición
14. (no voice)
15. (no voice)
16. histórico...
eléctrico...
17. a. ...histórico.. ch. ...práctico...
b. ...eléctrico.. d. ...científico...
c. ...idéntico...
18-20 (no voice)
21. a. 'electrical' ...eléctrico
b. 'plastic' ...plástico
c. 'electric' ...eléctrico
ch. 'identical' ...idéntico
d. 'ironical' ...irónico
e. 'fanatic' ...fanático
f. 'classical' ...clásico
g. 'romantic' ...romántico
h. 'pacific' ...pacífico
i. 'technical' ...ténico
j. 'economical' ...económico
END OF UNIT 17