Are there consistent rules for pronouncing "c" and "g"?

Question

I want to write a software program that will "Americanize" the pronunciation of Spanish text (using Mexican pronunciation) so that it is easier for English speakers learning Spanish to be reminded of how to pronounce the words.

For many letters (b, d, f, etc.) no changes are needed.

For others (vowels, for instance) the equivalent sound is consistent.

But in a couple of cases, the letter can be pronounced differently (c and g).

Here is what I have in mind (remember, Mexican pronunciation of Spanish is what I'm looking for):

a = ah
c = ? (s or k)
e = a
g = ? (g or h)
h = [silent - nothing]
i = ee
j = h
ll = y
ñ = ny
u = oo
q = k
y = ee (if standalone, as in " y ")
z = s

Are there any rules I could build into the software that would enable me to know when "c" is to be pronounced as "s" and when as "k"?

Similary, are there any rules I could build into the software that would enable me to know when "g" is to be pronounced as "g" and when as "h"?

Some time later, I wrote a programming tip that incorporates some of this knowledge in A Snippet that Transforms Spanish Text into Simple American English Phonetics.

Note that when S or Z appears before a voiced consonant, it will become voiced. Other than that, your table looks good. — aparente001, Jul 08 '18 at 19:31
Spanish is Spanish and the major differences in pronunciation are: Iberian Spanish, Latin American Spanish (in general) and Cono Sur. There is no such thing as "Mexican pronunciation"; only vocabulary and usage. And I doubt this is a good idea, anyway. This question is not about Spanish. It's about English spelling for Spanish spelling. And there is no such thing a simple American English phonetics at all. Finally, the main issue for Americans is over aspiration of vowels. — Lambie, Nov 26 '23 at 15:58

dockeryZ · Accepted Answer · 2014-07-29T14:29:55.817

8

When a C or G is followed by either an I or E, then the pronunciation changes.

Ga - gah

Ge - heh

Gi - hee

Go - goh

Gu - goo

and.. c

Ca - Kah

Ce - Say

Ci - See

Co - Koh

Cu - Koo

This can present a problem when a new Spanish learner is trying to spell.. If you are looking to create the sounds Gay and Ghee, then you will need a u

Gue - Gay

Gui - Ghee

The letter C will require the use of Qu

Que - Kay

Qui - Kee

Additionally, if you want to actually pronounce the u, then you need only put a dieresis as Emilio pointed out in the comments.

Güe - Gooway

Güi - Goowee

and C

Qüe - Kooway

Qüi - Koowee

In the end, you have a table like this to use as a cheat sheet.

 - Ca = Ca
 - Que = Ke 
 - ( Ce = Se ) <-- same in English
 - Qui = Ki
 - ( Ci = Si ) <-- same in English
 - Co = Co
 - Cu = Cu

 - Ga
 - Gay ( or Güe = Gway ) or ( Ge = Heh )
 - Gui ( or Güi = Gwee ) or ( Gi = He  )
 - Go
 - Gu

edited Jul 29 '14 at 14:29

answered Jun 04 '14 at 16:52

dockeryZ

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and there is the Diéresis like pingüinos – Emilio Gort Jun 04 '14 at 16:56
And I recall that sometimes "g" is pronounced as "w" as in "agua = ah-wah" – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Jun 04 '14 at 16:57
but the diérisis is in the case you want to pronounce like w but in the güe and güi in spanish agua always sound like awa, the diferent with gue and gui – Emilio Gort Jun 04 '14 at 17:00
Agua doesn't require a dieresis, since the u precedes a strong vowel and creates a diphthong. Ah-gwa, with a stress on the beginning A because it is the penultimate vowel. – dockeryZ Jun 04 '14 at 17:11
@B.ClayShannon: Where is that pronunciation used? I'm not familiar with it in Mexico. – Flimzy Jun 05 '14 at 01:51
@Flimzy: To which pronunciation are you referring? – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Jun 05 '14 at 15:22
@B.ClayShannon: The one you mentioned in your comment... "agua = ah-wah". I've never heard that before. – Flimzy Jun 05 '14 at 15:25
@Flimzy: I must admit - the only times I've been in Mexico were 1978 in Juarez and 1982 in Tijuana. I read that in a book (that "agua" is pronounced "ah-wah"). It seems I have heard it pronounced that way is some movie (maybe "A Better Life" <= GREAT flick!) – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Jun 05 '14 at 15:33
It sounds like baby speak. – dockeryZ Jun 05 '14 at 15:57
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I'm sorry but all those gah, gey, ghea, hee, ... are totally confusing. Even knowing the rules, I don't really understand your answer. Why don't try something like "When C is followed by A, O or U, it's /k/[correct IPA-I don't know it] as in [English example word here with very similar or identical pronunciation]." Put this four times (C+I,E;G+A,O,U;G+I,E), add the 'exceptions'. Eventually, give Spanish examples. "Cocina", eg, has both pronunciations. – Em1 Jun 06 '14 at 07:59
I agree with @Em1. Although the answer is correct, it shouldn't be focused on the pronunciation from an English language point of view. For a non-English native speaker this might be very confusing. – JoulSauron Jun 06 '14 at 08:36
@B.ClayShannon, do you find this answer confusing? – dockeryZ Jun 06 '14 at 11:48
I also agree with @Em1 but will correct JoulSauron -- this answer isn't really that helpful even for native English speakers. Ghea!? Not to mention that it is both incomplete and wrong: incomplete because it doesn't mention how the letters are pronounced at the end of words, wrong because g before e and i does not sound the same as an English h at all. – Michael Wolf Jun 07 '14 at 01:40
@Flimzy Not sure about the g in agua, but think about güey/wey (and how can you not?) or wow/guau. To many native Spanish speakers the two sounds sound very close, nearly indistinguishable. – Michael Wolf Jun 07 '14 at 01:42
@MichaelWolf: See here about güey. But güey and agua aren't really comparable, since they're different g sounds, and I think guau doesn't really count, since it's not actually a Spanish word, but an Anglicanism, and an attempt to approximate an English word with a Spanish spelling. – Flimzy Jun 07 '14 at 01:56
@Flimzy I think the sounds are definitely comparable: see http://www.alwaysspanish.com/2012/10/23-local-names-for-bus-in-spanish.html under the section "The guaguas of Santo Domingo" for an agualike example. – Michael Wolf Jun 07 '14 at 17:19
@MichaelWolf in Spain guau, apart from wow, is the onomatopoeia used for dogs' barks. I don't think it's only an Anglicanism. – itziki Jul 28 '14 at 13:49
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I also want to mention that I don't know any word in spanish that uses qüe or qüi. If you want to pronounce c sound with ui, you write cui, not qüi (the same with cue). e.g. cuidado, cuello – itziki Jul 28 '14 at 13:56
@B.ClayShannon voiced stops tend become fricatives intervocalically, and [ɣ] in particular does have an auditory quality which often sounds "silent" to anglophones. – muhmuhten Mar 31 '15 at 04:32
@sreservoir: All down but nine, pard; set 'em up on the other alley. – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Mar 31 '15 at 06:57
@EmilioGort - I don't think that's needed to address OP's question. He was just asking for a rule for when the G and C are hard vs. when they'll be soft. – aparente001 Jul 08 '18 at 19:33
And there are exceptions to the "c" and "g" rules for loanwords. Take a look at words like violoñcelo and bagel. Those words do not follow the standard rules. – Arunabh Bhattacharya Jul 09 '22 at 17:17

score 6 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 05 '18 at 15:48

6

When C is followed by A, O or U, the C is pronounced as [k], similar to English k in key [ki].

Example: casa [ˈkasa] (velar) or quiero [ˈkjeɾo] (palatal)

When C is followed by E or I, the C is pronounced as [θ], similar to English th in think [θɪŋk].

Example: cebolla [θeˈβoʎa]

When G is followed by A, O or U, the G is pronounced as [ɣ]. In the beginning of a word or after N the G is pronounced as [g].¹ It's similar to English g in guitar [ɡɪˈtɑr].

Example: pagar [paˈɣar] or gafas [ˈgafas]

When G is followed by E or I, the G is pronounced as [x]. This is identical to the letter J. I don't know an English example but if you're familiar with German, it's similar to the pronunciation of ch in Bach [baχ].

Example: general [xeneˈɾal] or [χeneˈɾal]

If there's a U between G and E or I, respectively, the pronunciation is [g]. The U is not pronounced.

Example: guerra [ˈgera] or guitarra [giˈtara]

If the U should be pronounced as well, it is written Ü. It does not affect the pronunciation of G further and the rules given above are applied.

Example: lingüística [liŋˈgwistika]

Note, in some regions the pronunciation may differ.

Velar: formed with the back of the tongue touching or near the soft palate
Palatal: formed with some part of the tongue near or touching the hard palate posterior to the teethridge

¹ Note that [ɣ] and [g] are allophones. The differences is too little to be distinguishable and you can consider them to be phonemically the same. An Example in English would be the t sound in hit, tip and little.

edited Jul 05 '18 at 15:48

jacobo

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answered Jun 10 '14 at 11:03

Em1

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I'm neither a native speaker nor expert in the studies of pronunciation. I just summarized what I learned and gathered further information to provide IPA. It might still be incomplete or even flawed, so at all native speakers: let me know of any issues so that I can fix it. – Em1 Jun 10 '14 at 11:05
You can provide IPA any time; Anderson Valley/Booneville Brewing or Lagunitas preferred. – B. Clay Shannon-B. Crow Raven Jun 10 '14 at 15:12
@Em1 : Good answer, but the IPA for a trill (rr or initial/final r) is [r]. The flap (intervocal -r-) is [ɾ].
Also, few English speakers would pronounce guitar with [r], rather instead the ar would be [ɑ˞] or [aɹ]. (the a may be lengthened or not, and may have other realizations by dialect). Only Indian, Scottish, and Welsh English will do a flap/trill instead of a alveolar approximate or rhoticization.
– user0721090601 Jul 25 '14 at 07:18
@guifa So, it's [ˈgera] and [giˈtara]? Did I get that right? – Em1 Jul 25 '14 at 07:32
@Em1 Yup! Also (because I know it's hard to see these when you're editing because of the default fonts) it'll be [xeneˈɾal] or [χene'ɾal] for general. – user0721090601 Jul 25 '14 at 07:49
@guifa Thanks for clarification. Fixed it accordingly. – Em1 Jul 25 '14 at 09:56
Nice, an answer that's almost correct. You should include information on seseo speakers, though, especially as they vastly outnumber ceceo speakers. – Michael Wolf Aug 07 '14 at 00:29
@MichaelWolf What are seseo and ceceo speakers? – Em1 Aug 07 '14 at 05:51
@Em1 to generalize, most Latin American dialects are seseo (c, when followed by e and i, and z, in all cases, are pronounced identically to s) and most peninsular dialects are ceceo (c, when followed by e and i, and z, in all cases, are pronounced as θ). In other words, the vast majority Spanish speakers do not pronounce cebolla as [θeˈβoʎa]. – Michael Wolf Aug 15 '14 at 22:11
@MichaelWolf - OP asked for Mexican pronunciation. – aparente001 Jul 08 '18 at 19:27
I like the logical presentation used by @multiculti a little bit better because that flow chart works also for words ending in C (e.g. "Toc toc toc en la puerta"). – aparente001 Jul 08 '18 at 19:29
@aparente001 true, and in Mexico we don't pronounce cebolla as [θeˈβoʎa]. Even so, this is by far the best answer to the question so far. – Michael Wolf Jul 10 '18 at 15:16

user0721090601 · Answer 3 · 2018-07-06T10:14:07.247

Here's everything presented in a table (/x/ may be realized as [χ], [x] or [h] depending on dialect, and /g/ may be [g] or [ɣ] depending on position).

╭─────╥───────┬───────┬───────┬───────┬───────╮
│     ║   A   │   E   │   I   │   O   │   U   │
╞═════╬═══════╪═══════╪═══════╪═══════╪═══════╡
│ J   ║  xa   │  xe   │  xi   │  xo   │  xu   │
│ G   ║  ga   │  xe   │  xi   │  go   │  gu   │
│ GU  ║  gwa  │  ge   │  gi   │  gwo  │  gwu* │
│ GÜ  ║   —   │  gwe  │  gwi  │   —   │   —   │
│     ║       │       │       │       │       │
│ Z   ║ θa/sa │   —⁑  │   —⁑  │ θo/so │ θu/su │
│ C   ║  ka   │ θe/se │ θi/si │  ko   │  ku   │
│ QU  ║   —   │  ke   │  ki   │   —   │   —   │
└─────╨───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┴───────┘

(*) Hypothetical, I don't know any words in Spanish that have -guu-, but there may be one or two out there.
(⁑) Imported words maintaining their original orthography can use ze, zi, but pronouncing them as ce/ci.

Notice how the E/I columns appear to be shifted down a row, with je/ji being completely redudant in modern Spanish

jacobo · Answer 4 · 2018-07-06T09:38:15.057

Yes, they are pronounced as follows (for seseo speakers replace the /θ/ with /s/):

Notes:

** qua, quo only appear in some set Latin phrases and unnativised English loanwords:

exequatur, nequaquam, quadrivium, quater, sine qua non

quad, quark, quasar, squash

* gwo, cuo very rare:

aguosidad, aguoso, ambiguo, antiguo, contiguo, exiguo, languor, pinguosidad, santiguo

* ze, zi very rare, mostly loanwords. The majority have doublets with ce, ci orthography.

score 4 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 04 '14 at 17:21

4

Pronunciation rules in Spanish are very consistent.

Letter “C” has three different sounds, depending which letter comes next.

Before E and I, it sounds SSS, like in Celsius, Civil
Before H, sounds like Chalk, Challenge.
Before anything else, like K.

Likewise, letter “G” has consistent rules:

Before E and I, sounds like Him, Her.
Before anything else, like Goat, Gun.

answered Jun 04 '14 at 17:21

multiculti

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You forgot Ü. – Flimzy Jun 05 '14 at 15:45
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@Flimzy No, ü is included; read again: "Before anything else, like Goat, Gun". – multiculti Jun 12 '14 at 20:27
Goat and Gun are not Spanish words, so they don't really apply. 2) You still didn't address ü.

Flimzy

Jun 15 '14 at 20:00

Wrong. In dialects with the ceceo C before E or I does not sound like an English S. (And, for that matter, an S in those same dialects often does not sound like an English S.) Moreover, G before E or I does not sound the same as an English H. – Michael Wolf Aug 07 '14 at 00:27

@MichaelWolf - First, I wonder if you can find a more respectful way to disagree? Second, OP specifically said Mexican pronunciation. – aparente001 Jul 08 '18 at 19:24

@aparente001 you got me on the Mexican bit here. But it's misleading, ultimately not doing anybody any favors, to say that a "soft" G in Spanish is pronounced as a H in English. If someone learning the other language substitutes one sound for another, until they have time to practice and improve, then fine. I did that--but I'm also grateful for the people who helped me to improve, and few of the people who really helped me let a desire to seem nice get in the way of being honest with me about my pronunciation. – Michael Wolf Jul 10 '18 at 15:28

@MichaelWolf - I don't want to "get" you on anything. I know a lot of SE interactions are in that sort of style, but I'm more comfortable when interactions are more gentle. // My first language was English so I can relate to what you said about oversimplifications and the letter G. – aparente001 Jul 10 '18 at 16:14

Jaume · Answer 6 · 2014-06-11T21:27:53.837

It's very simple.

K sounds [like cat] are:

Ca = Kah
Que = Keh (The U is silent)
Qui = Kee (Silent U)
Co = Kow
Cu = Koo

S sounds [like sun]:

Ce = Security
Ci = Seal

Th sounds [like thor] [ONLY in spain]:

Ce = Theh
Ci = Thee

G [like garlic] sounds are:

Ga = Gah
Gue = Ghe (like Spaghetti)
Gui = like GIMP
Go = Goh
Gu = Goo
Güe = Here you do pronounce the U
Güi = Here to like in Penguin

And the letter Y is pronounced as J when followed by vowels for example:

yuca = Joo-kah
cayo = kah-joh

and other cases as EE:

Carey = Kah-rey

Note: Someone said that G is pronounced as W, yes, but that's because sometimes spanish speakers hear diptong with U and GU as the same sound, we can hear the difference but when speaking we don't notice that.

GÜEVO [incorrect spelling] and HUEVO [correct spelling] can be pronounced both WE and GÜE but the "right" one.

Akshat Goswami · Answer 7 · 2023-11-26T04:31:39.120

The rules for the pronounciation of C and G are both consistent. When C occurs before I and E, it makes the [s] sound or the [th] sound depending on dialect. ex: "Cero" pronounced "se-roh" or "the-roh". For the [k] sound, you write C i most cases except before I or E where you use Qu instead since using C would create confusion since it represents a different sound in those cases and Qu is always consistent (ex: Queso pronounced "keh-soh"). As to why we don't Qu before A, O or U is probably because, it produces a [kw] sound in those cases instead of a plain [k] sound. For the [kw] sound, you write "Cu" (ex: Cuidado pronounced "cwi-dahdoh").In all other cases, it's pronounced [k], ex: "Claro" pronounced "clah-roh". When it is followed by H, it creates the "ch" sound as in English (ex: Concha pronounced "con-chah"). For the [th] sound, you use C before I and E and Z in all other cases (ex: Zapato pronounced "thahpahtoh" and Cena pronounced "thehnah"). Similarly, G always sounds like a [g] in most cases (ex: Gancho pronounce "gan-choh") except before I and E when it makes the [x] sound (ex:Ecología pronounced "ecoh-lohhia). In those cases, it sounds like a J. Unfortunately, there is no rule when to use G and when to use J. But to make things simpler, we could probably use J only before A, O and U and G for that sound before I and E just like we make a rule for the C vs Qu vs Z distinction. Jincho and Coraje could really be spelled "Gincho" and "Corage" respectively since J before those vowels is redundant. Hope this helps!

That does not seem to add anything to the current answers. Can you edit to say what you think it brings to the site? — mdewey, Nov 26 '23 at 14:22
@mdewey While it may not bring anything to the site, it still clearly explains the rules of Spanish pronounciation/spelling — Akshat Goswami, Nov 26 '23 at 18:43

Are there consistent rules for pronouncing "c" and "g"?

7 Answers7