In this lesson, we will learn how to pronounce "G" in Spanish. The letter "g" has different sounds depending on the vowel coming after it. Just watch the video below to know how to pronounce "G" in Spanish!
How to pronounce "G" in Spanish?
The "g" has three common sounds: hard, soft, and "h" sound.
- The letter "g" is pronounced much like the "g" in "got" when followed by "a", "o", "u", when following the letter "n", and when coming after a pause. It is hard and much explosively.
- The "g" is pronounced somewhat softer and less explosively like the "g" in "dog" or "figure" when it comes between vowels (unless followed by "e" or "i").
- However, when it comes before "e" or "i", "g" sounds like the letter "h" in "hot".
For examples:
apagar - ah-pag-GAR
ego - EH-goh
ignición - eeg-nee-SYOHN
agente - ah-HEN-teh
girasol - hee-rah-SOHL
See also:
Sometimes, the sound of "g" is intensely softened or even dropped in the letter combination "gua". For example, "guapo" sonds something like WAH-poh. This situation can be found in many areas.
Most native Spanish speakers can't readily imitate the "ng" sound in some gerunds which haven been adopted from English such as "marketing" or "camping". So they often end the word with the "n" sound. So "marketing" sounds much like "márketin" and "camping" sounds like campin.
We hope that this lesson may help you pronounce the letter "G" like a native speaker. Follow our site for instant English Spanish translation, daily grammar and vocabulary lessons!