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"Español" redirects here. For the football club, see Espanyol. Spanish español, castellano  Pronunciation: IPA: /espa'ɲol/ Spoken in: Mexico, Spain, most of Central America, Sapnish Language the majority of countries and half the population in South America, over half of the Spansh Language Caribbean population, a large percentage of Andorrans, Equatorial Guineans and Belizeans, Spanidh Language and 37 million people in the United States (12% of the population)[2] Total speakers: ~ 420,000,000  Ranking: 2–4 (varying estimates) Language family: Indo-European  Italic   Romance    Italo-Western     Gallo-Iberian      Ibero-Romance       West Iberian        Spanish  Official status Official language of: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, European Union, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Spain, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Regulated by: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (Real Academia Española and 21 other national Spanish language academies) Language codes ISO 639-1: es ISO 639-2: spa ISO/FDIS 639-3: spa  Map of the Hispanophone world, with major to minor Spanish-speaking countries or regions. Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key. Spanish (español (help·info) or Castilian (castellano (help·info)) is an Iberian Romance language. It was spoken by roughly 364 million people in the year 2000.[1] Current estimation accounts up to 400 million[2], making Spanish the second language in the world in number of speakers (after Mandarin Chinese) and the most widely spoken and the most widely studied Romance language. It is arguably the most widely studied foreign language for native speakers of English due to its perceived sense of practicality in a largely globalized 21st Century, as both languages have similar numbers of native speakers, are very widely dispersed on a global scale, and are spoken in many countries. For similar reasons, it is also the most widely studied foreign language in Brazil, which is almost entirely surrounded by Spanish-speaking nations. Spanish originated as a Latin dialect along a remote crossroads strip among the Cantabria, Burgos and La Rioja provinces of Northern Spain (cf. Glosas Emilianenses in San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja). From there, its use gradually spread inside the Kingdom of Castile, where it eventually became the principal language of government and trade. It was later brought to America and other parts of the world in the last five centuries by Spanish explorers, colonists and empire-builders. Spanish is one of six official working languages of the United Nations and one of the most used global languages, along with English. It is spoken most extensively in North and South America, Europe, and certain parts of Africa, Asia and Oceania. Within the globalized market, there is currently an international expansion and recognition of the Spanish language in literature, the film industry, television (notably telenovelas) and mostly music. Contents 1 Naming 2 Classification and related languages 2.1 Vocabulary comparison 2.2 Characterization 2.3 Ladino 2.4 Portuguese 3 History 4 Geographic distribution 5 Variations 6 Writing system 7 Sounds 7.1 Lexical stress 8 Grammar 9 Examples of Spanish 9.1 Sample with Translation and Pronunciation 10 See also 10.1 Local varieties 11 References 12 External links Naming Main article: Names given to the Spanish language The Spanish speaking countries in red predominantly call Spanish castellano while the nations in blue predominantly call it español which also includes the Spanish speaking areas of the southern United States. Spanish people tend to call this language español when contrasting it with languages of other states (e.g., in a list with French and English), but call it castellano (Castilian, from the Castile region) when contrasting it with other languages of Spain (such as Galician, Basque, and Catalan). In this manner, the Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the official language of the whole State, opposed to las demás lenguas españolas (lit. the other Spanish languages). Article III reads as follows: El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado. (…) Las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas… Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State. (…) The other Spanish languages shall also be official in the respective Autonomous Communities… In some parts of Spain, mainly where people speak Galician, Basque and Catalan, the choice of words reveals the speakers' sense of belonging and their political views. People from bilingual areas might consider it offensive to call the language español, as that is the term that was chosen by Francisco Franco — during whose dictatorship the use of regional languages was discouraged— and because it connotes that Basque, Catalan and Galician are not languages of Spain. On the other hand, more nationalist speakers (both Spanish and regional nationalists) might prefer español either to reflect their belief in the unity of the Spanish State or to denote the perceived detachment between their region and the rest of the State. However, most people in Spain, regardless of place of origin, use Spanish or Castilian indistinctively. For the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, speakers of the language in many areas refer to it as español and in only a few castellano is more common. Castellano is the name given to the Spanish language in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.citation needed] Some philologists use Castilian only when speaking of the language spoken in Castile during the Middle Ages, stating that it is preferable to use Spanish for its modern form. The subdialect of Spanish spoken in most parts of modern day Castile can also be called Castilian. This dialect differs from those of other regions of Spain (Andalusia for example); the Castilian dialect is almost exactly the same as standard Spanish. Some Spanish speakers consider castellano a generic term with no political or ideological links, much as "Spanish" is in English. Classification and related languages Spanish/Castilian has closest affinity to the other West Iberian Romance languages. Most are mutually intelligible among speakers without too much difficulty. It has different common features with Catalan, an East-Iberian language which exhibits many Gallo-Romance traits. Catalan is more similar to Occitan than Spanish and Portuguese are to each other. Galician (galego) Portuguese (português) Catalan (català) Asturian (asturianu) Occitan (aranès) Ladino (Djudeo-espanyol, sefardí) Vocabulary comparison Latin Spanish Portuguese Catalan Italian French Romanian Meaning and notes nos nosotros nós nosaltres noi (noi altri in Southern Italian dialects and languages) nous (nous autres in Quebec French) noi we(-others) frater, germānum (lit. true brother) hermano irmão germà fratello frère frate brother dies Martis (Classical) martes terça-feira (Ecclesiastical tertia feria) dimarts martedì mardi marţi Tuesday cantiōnem canción canção cançó canzone chanson cântec song magis or plus más (rarely: plus) mais (archaically also chus) més più plus mai more manūm sinistram mano izquierda (archaically also siniestra) mão esquerda (archaically also sẽestra) mà esquerra mano sinistra main gauche mâna stângă left hand (Basque: esku ezkerra) nihil or nullam rem natam (lit. no thing born) nada nada (archaically also rem) res niente/nulla rien nimic nothing Characterization Spanish and Italian share a very similar phonological system and do not differ very much in grammar, vocabulary and above all morphology. Speakers of both languages can communicate relatively well: at present, the lexical similarity with Italian is estimated at 82%.[3] As a result, Spanish and Italian are mutually intelligible to various degrees. Spanish is mutually intelligible with French and with Romanian to a lesser degree (lexical similarity is respectively 75% and 71%[3]). The writing systems of the four languages allow for a greater amount of interlingual reading comprehension than oral communication would. One defining characteristic of Spanish was the diphthongization of the Latin short vowels e and o into ie and ue, respectively, when they were stressed. Although similar sound changes can be found in other Romance languages, they were particularly significant in this one. Some examples: Lat. petra > Sp. piedra, It. pietra, Fr. pierre, Port./Gal. pedra "stone". Lat. moritur > Sp. muere, It. muore, Fr. meurt / muert, Rom. moare, Port./Gal. morre "he dies". More peculiar to early Spanish (as in the Gascon dialect of Occitan, and possibly due to a Basque substratum) was the mutation of Latin initial f- into h- whenever it was followed by a vowel which did not diphthongate. Compare for instance: Lat. filium > It. figlio, Port. filho, Fr. fils, Occitan filh, Gascon hilh Sp. hijo and Ladino fijo; late Lat. *fabulare > Lad. favlar, Port. falar, Sp. hablar; but Lat. focum > It. fuoco, Port. fogo, Sp./Lad. fuego. Some consonant clusters of Latin also produced characteristicaly different results in these languages, for example: Lat. clamare, acc. flammam, plenum > Lad. lyamar, flama, pleno; Sp. llamar, llama, lleno; Port. chamar, chama, cheio. Lat. acc. octo, noctem, multum > Lad. ocho, noche, muncho; Sp. ocho, noche, mucho; Port. oito, noite, muito. Ladino Further information: Ladino language Ladino, which is essentially medieval Castilian and closer to modern Spanish than any other language, is spoken by many descendants of the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century. In many ways it is not a separate language but a dialect of Castilian. Ladino lacks native American vocabulary which was influential during colonial times. It does contain other vocabulary from Turkish, Hebrew and from other languages spoken wherever the Sephardic Jews settled. Portuguese Further information: Differences between Spanish and Portuguese The two major Romance languages originated in the Iberian Peninsula, Spanish and Portuguese, have generally a moderate degree of mutual intelligibility in their standard spoken forms, though Spanish morphology and phonetics is much easier for a Portuguese speaker to understand than vice versacitation needed]. Spanish and Portuguese share similar grammars and a majority of vocabulary as well as a common history of Arabic influence while a great part of the peninsula was under Islamic rule (both languages expanded over Islamic territories). Their lexical similarity is estimated at 89%.[3] History Main article: History of the Spanish language A page of Cantar de Mio Cid, in medieval Castilian. The Spanish language developed from Vulgar Latin, with influence from Celtiberian, Basque and Arabic, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula (see Iberian Romance languages). Typical features of Spanish diachronical phonology include lenition (Latin vita, Spanish vida), palatalization (Latin annum, Spanish año) and diphthongation (stem-changing) of short e and o from Vulgar Latin (Latin terra, Spanish tierra; Latin novus, Spanish nuevo). Similar phenomena can be found in other Romance languages as well. During the Reconquista, this northern dialect from Cantabria was carried south, and indeed is still a minority language in the northern coastal regions of Morocco. The first Latin to Spanish grammar (Gramática de la Lengua Castellana) was written in Salamanca, Spain, in 1492 by Elio Antonio de Nebrija. When Isabella of Castile was presented with the book, she asked, What do I want a work like this for, if I already know the language?, to which he replied, Your highness, the language is the instrument of the Empire. From the 16th century onwards, the language was brought to the Americas, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marianas, Palau, and the Philippines by Spanish colonization. Also in this epoch, Spanish became the main language of Politics and Art across the major part of Europe. In the 18th century, French took its place. In the 20th century, Spanish was introduced in Equatorial Guinea and Western Sahara and parts of the United States, such as Spanish Harlem in New York City, that had not been part of the Spanish Empire. For details on borrowed words and other external influences in Spanish, see Influences on the Spanish language. see also Linguistic history of Spanish Geographic distribution Spanish language Names for the language History Pronunciation Dialects Writing system Grammar: Determiners Nouns Pronouns Adjectives Prepositions Verbs Conjugation Irregular verbs Spanish is one of the official languages of the Organization of American States, the United Nations, the South American Community of Nations, and the European Union. With approximately 106 million first-language and second-language speakers, Mexico boasts the largest population of Spanish-speakers in the world. The three next largest Spanish-speaking populations reside in Spain, Colombia and Argentina. Spanish is the official language in 21 countries: Argentina, Bolivia (co-official Quechua and Aymara), Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea (co-official French), Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama , Paraguay (co-official Guaraní), Peru (co-official Quechua and Aymara), Puerto Rico (co-official English), Spain (co-official in some regions with Catalan, Galician and Basque), Uruguay, and Venezuela. The majority of its speakers are located in Spain and the Western Hemisphere. In Belize, Spanish holds no official recognition. However, it is the native tongue of about 50% of the population, and is spoken as a second language by another 20%. It is arguably the most important and widely spoken on a popular level, but English remains the sole official language. In Canada and the non-Spanish speaking Caribbean, Spanish is also spoken by segments of the populations in Aruba, Canada (mainly in Toronto and Montreal), Netherlands Antilles (mainly on Bonaire, Curaçao and St. Maarten), Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands (mainly on St. Croix). In 2005, the National Congress of Brazil approved a bill that makes Spanish available as a foreign language in the country's secondary schools. Brazil has increased trade with its Spanish-speaking neighbors (especially as a member of the Mercosul trading bloc). Spanish may also be spoken by immigrant workers from neighbouring Spanish-speaking countries and by Brazilian Sephardim. In many border towns and villages (especially along the Uruguayan-Brazilian border) a mixed language commonly known as Portunhol is also spoken. In Haiti, it is spoken by a sizable portion of the population, especially those who live close to the border with the Spanish-speaking Dominican Republic. The Télévision Nationale d'Haïti, the country's national television network and the Agence Haïtienne de Presse also have occasional television and radio broadcasts in Spanish, however French and Haitian Creole are the two officially recognized languages in that nation. [4] In the United States, Spanish is spoken by three-quarters of its 41.3 million Hispanic population. With 37 million Spanish-speaking people the United States, a mainly English-speaking country, has the fifth largest number of Spanish-speakers in the world. [5] The continuous arrival of new immigrants enables it to resist the assimilation experienced by the languages of most previous immigrants. It is also being learned and spoken by a small, though slowly growing, proportion of its non-Hispanic population for its increasing use in business, commerce, and both domestic and international politics. Spanish holds co-official status with English in the associated commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and is widely used alongside English in both official documents and everyday speech in the State of New Mexico, so much that there is a widespread misconception that Spanish and English are the official languages of that state. See Spanish in the United States for further information. In European countries other than Spain, it may be spoken by some of their Spanish-speaking immigrant communities, primarily in Andorra (where it is spoken by a great part of the population, despite having no official status), the Netherlands, Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom where there is a strong community in London. There has been a sharp increase in the popularity of Spanish in the United Kingdom over the last few years. It is spoken by much of the population of Gibraltar, though English remains the only official language. Llanito, an English-Spanish (Spanglish) mixed language is also spoken. In Africa, Spanish is spoken in Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla which are part of Spain. Also, Spanish is co-official with French in Equatorial Guinea, a country of 500 000 people where it is the prevalent language. Small Spanish-speaking communities exist in northern Morocco (both standard Spanish and Ladino). In Asia, the Spanish language has long been in decline. Although it was an official language in the Philippines for over 4 centuries, its importance fell in the first half of the 20th century following the US occupation and administration of the islands. During the Second World War, the destruction of the Spanish-speaking Intramuros district of Manila by US forces, put an end to the last significant stronghold of Spanish in the country. It ceased to be an official language of the Philippines in 1987, and it is now spoken by less than 0.1% of the population, or 2,658 people (1990 Census), though probably an additional half a million Filipinos speak it as a second language. Also, there seems to be a resurgence in interest in the language in the recent years, among the educated youth. The sole existing Spanish-Asiatic creole language, Chabacano or Zamboangueño (from Zamboanga), is spoken by an additional 0.4% of the Filipino population: 607,200 speakers (2000 census). Most other Philippine languages contain generous quantities of Spanish loan words. Among other Asian countries, Spanish may also be spoken by pockets of ex-immigrant communities, such as Mexican-born ethnic Chinese deported to China or third and fourth generation ethnic Japanese Peruvians returning to their ancestral homeland of Japan. In the Middle East, small Spanish-speaking communities exist in Israel (both standard Spanish and Ladino) and Turkey (Ladino). Among the countries and territories in Oceania, Spanish is the seventh most spoken language in Australia (100,000 speakers); there are small Argentine, Chilean, Salvadoran, Spanish, and Uruguayan communities and growing Colombian and Mexican communities mainly in Sydney. It is also spoken by the approximately 3,000 inhabitants of Easter Island, a territorial possession of Chile. The island nations of Guam, Palau, Northern Marianas, Marshall Islands and Federated States of Micronesia all once had Spanish speakers, but Spanish has long since been forgotten. It now only exists as an influence on the local native languages and spoken by its foreign populations. In Antarctica, the territorial claims and permanent bases made by Argentina, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Spain also place Spanish as the official and working language of these exclaves. Alphabetical Order Number of Speakers Argentina (41,248,000) Australia (100,000) Belize (130,000) Bolivia (7,010,000) Canada (245,000) Chile (15,795,000) Colombia (46,500,000) Costa Rica (4,220,000) Cuba (11,285,000) Dominican Republic (8,850,000) Ecuador (10,946,000) El Salvador (6,859,000) Equatorial Guinea (447,000) Guatemala (8,163,000) Honduras (7,267,000) Mexico (106,255,000) Nicaragua (5,503,000) Panama (3,108,000) Paraguay (4,737,000) Peru (23,191,000) Philippines (2,900,000) Puerto Rico (4,017,000) Spain (44,400,000) United States of America (31,000,000) Uruguay (3,442,000) Venezuela (26,021,000) Mexico (106,255,000) Colombia (46,500,000) Spain (44,000,000) Argentina (41,248,000) United States of America (31,000,000) Venezuela (26,021,000) Peru (23,191,000) Chile (15,795,000) Cuba (11,285,000) Ecuador (10,946,000) Dominican Republic (8,850,000) Guatemala (8,163,000) Honduras (7,267,000) Bolivia (7,010,000) El Salvador (6,859,000) Nicaragua (5,503,000) Paraguay (4,737,000) Costa Rica (4,220,000) Puerto Rico (4,017,000) Uruguay (3,442,000) Panama (3,108,000) Philippines (2,900,000) Equatorial Guinea (447,000) Canada (245,000) Belize (130,000) Australia (100,000) It is difficult to determine the exact number of Spanish speakers as not all people living in countries where Spanish is the official language speak it. Similarly most of the Spanish speakers that live in the USA also speak English. Variations Main article: Spanish dialects and varieties Dialectal map of Castillian Spanish in Spain. There are important variations among the regions of Spain and throughout Spanish-speaking America. In Spain the Castilian dialect pronunciation is commonly taken as the national standard (although the characteristic weak pronouns usage or laísmo of this dialect is deprecated). Anyway, one has to be aware that for most people, nearly for everyone in Spain, "standard Spanish" means "pronouncing everything exactly as it is written", which of course doesn't correspond to any real dialect. In practice, the standard way of speaking Spanish in the media is "written Spanish" for formal speech, "Madrilenian dialect" (basicly a southern dialect) for informal speech. Spanish has three second-person singular pronouns: tú, usted, and in some parts of Latin America, vos (the use of this form is called voseo). Generally speaking, tú and vos are informal and used with friends (though in Spain vos is considered an archaic form for address of exalted personages, its use now mainly confined to the liturgy). Usted is universally regarded as the formal form (derived from vuestra merced, "your mercy") , and is used as a mark of respect, as when addressing one's elders or strangers. The pronoun vosotros is the plural form of tú in most of Spain, although in the Americas (and certain southern Spanish cities such as Cádiz, and in the Canary Islands) it is replaced with ustedes. It is remarkable that the use of ustedes for the informal plural "you" in southern Spain does not follow the usual rule for pronoun-verb agreement; e.g., while the formal form for "you go", ustedes van, uses the third-person plural form of the verb, in Cádiz the informal form is constructed as ustedes vais, using the second-person plural of the verb. In the Canary Islands, though, the usual pronoun-verb agreement is preserved in most cases. Countries that feature voseo. In blue, countries that use vos as the primary spoken form. In green countries that feature voseo as a regionalism or non-mainstream practice. Vos (see Voseo) is used extensively as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular pronoun in many countries of Latin America, including Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Uruguay, the Antioquia and Valle del Cauca states of Colombia and the State of Zulia in Venezuela. In Argentina, Uruguay, and increasingly in Paraguay, it is also the standard form used in the media, but media in other voseante countries continue to use usted or tú. Vos may also be used regionally in other countries. Depending on country or region, usage may be considered standard or (by better educated speakers) to be unrefined. Interpersonal situations in which the use of vos is acceptable may also differ considerably between regions. Spanish forms also differ regarding second-person plural pronouns. The Spanish dialects of Latin America have only one form of the second-person plural, ustedes (formal or familiar, as the case may be). In Spain there are two forms — ustedes (formal) and vosotros (familiar). The Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy), like academies formed for twenty-one other national languages, exercises a standardizing influence through its publication of dictionaries and widely respected grammar and style guides. Due to this influence and for other sociohistorical reasons, a standardized form of the language (Standard Spanish) is widely acknowledged for use in literature, academic contexts and the media. Some words can be different, even embarassingly so, in different Hispanophone countries. Most Spanish speakers can recognize other Spanish forms, even in places where they are not commonly used, but Spaniards generally do not recognise specifically American usages. For example, Spanish mantequilla, aguacate and albaricoque (respectively, "butter", "avocado", "apricot") correspond to manteca, palta, and damasco, respectively, in Argentina and Chile. The everyday Spanish words coger (to catch, get, or pick up), pisar (to step on) and concha (seashell) are considered extremely rude in parts of Latin America, where the meaning of coger and pisar is also "to have sex" and concha means "vagina". The Puerto Rican word for "bobby pin" (pinche) is an obscenity in Mexico, and in Nicaragua simply means stingy. Other examples include taco, which means "swearword" in Spain but is known to the rest of the world as the Mexican foodstuff. Pija in many countries of Latin America is a slang and informal word for penis, while in Spain the word signifies "posh girl" or "snobby". Coche, which means car in Spain, means pig in Guatemalacitation needed] while carro means car in L.A. and "cart" in Spain. Writing system Main article: Writing system of Spanish Spanish is written using the Latin alphabet, with the addition of the character "ñ" (eñe), an "n" with tilde. Historically, the digraphs "ch" (che), "ll" (elle), and "rr" (erre doble, double "r") were regarded as single letters, with their own names and places in the alphabet (a, b, c, ch, d…, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o… r, rr, s…), because each represents a single phoneme (/tʃ/, /ʎ/, and /r/, respectively). Since 1994, these letters are to be replaced with the appropriate letter pair in collation. Spelling remains visually unchanged, but words with "ch" are now alphabetically sorted between those with "ce" and "ci", instead of following "cz", and similarly for "ll" and "rr". However, the names che, elle and erre doble are still used colloquially. Excluding a very small number of regional terms such as México, pronunciation can be entirely determined from spelling (see Mexico: Origin and history of the name). A typical Spanish word is stressed on the syllable before the last if it ends with a vowel (not including "y") or with a vowel followed by "n" or "s", and stressed on the last syllable otherwise. Exceptions to this rule are indicated by placing an acute accent on the stressed vowel. The acute accent is additionally used to distinguish certain homophones, especially when one of them is a stressed word and the other one is a clitic: compare el ("the" before a masculine singular noun) with él ("he" or "it"), or té ("tea"), dé ("give") and sé ("I know", or imperative "be") with te ("you", object pronoun), de (preposition "of" or "from"), and se (reflexive pronoun). Interrogative pronouns (que, cual, donde, quien, etc.) receive accents in direct or indirect questions, and some demonstratives (ese, este, aquel, etc.) are accented when used as pronouns. The conjunction o ("or") is written with an accent between numerals so as not to be confused with a zero: e.g., 10 ó 20 should be read as diez o veinte rather than diez mil veinte ("10, 020"). Accent marks are frequently omitted in capital letters, though this is not standard. Interrogative and exclamatory clauses are introduced with inverted question ( ¿ ) and exclamation marks ( ¡ ). Sounds Main article: Spanish phonology The phonemic inventory listed in the following table includes historical phonemes that have merged with others in the process of the language's evolution (in most dialects), marked with an asterisk (*). Sounds in parentheses are allophones or dialectal variants. Consonants of Spanish Bilabial Labio- Dental Dental Alveolar Post- Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal Nasals m (ɱ) n ɲ (ŋ) Plosives p b t d k g Fricatives f θ* s (z) ʝ x (h) Affricates tʃ     Approximants (β̞) (ð̞) (ɰ) Laterals l ʎ* Flaps ɾ Trills r By the 16th century, the consonant system of Spanish underwent the following important changes that differentiated it from neighboring Romance languages such as Portuguese and Catalan: The initial /f/, that had evolved into a vacillating /h/, was lost in most words (although this etymological h- has been preserved in spelling). The bilabial approximant /β̞/ (which was written u or v) merged with the bilabial oclusive /b/ (written b). Orthographically, b and v do not correspond to different phonemes in contemporary Spanish, excepting some areas in Spain, particularly the ones influenced by Catalan/Valencian. The voiced alveolar fricative /z/ (written as s between vowels) merged with voiceless /s/ (written s, or ss between vowels). The voiced alveolar affricate /dz/ (written z) merged with voiceless /ts/ (written ç, or c before e, i), and then /ts/ developed into the interdental /θ/, now written z, or c before e, i. But in Andalucia, the Canary Islands and the Americas this sound merged with /s/ as well. (Notice that the ç or c with cedilla was in its origin a Spanish letter, although it is no longer used.) The voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (written j, or g before e, i) merged with voiceless /ʃ/ (written x, as in Quixote), and then /ʃ/ evolved into the modern velar sound /x/ by the 17th century, now written with j, or g before e, i. Nevertheless, in most parts of Argentina and in Uruguay, y and ll have both evolved to /ʒ/ or /ʃ/. The consonant system of Medieval Spanish has been better preserved in Ladino and in Portuguese, neither of which underwent these shifts. Lexical stress Spanish has a phonemic stress system — the place where stress will fall cannot be predicted by other features of the word, and two words can differ by just a change in stress. For example, the word camino (with penultimate stress) means "road" or "I walk" whereas caminó (with final stress) means "you (formal)/he/she/it walked". Also, since Spanish syllables are all pronounced at a more or less constant tempo, the language is said to be syllable-timed. As mentioned above, stress can always be predicted from the written form of a word. An amusing example of the significance of stress and intonation in Spanish is the riddle como como como como como como, to be punctuated and accented so that it makes sense. The answer is ¿Cómo, cómo que como? ¡Como como como! ("What do you mean / how / do I eat? / I eat / the way / I eat!"). Grammar Main article: Spanish grammar Spanish is a relatively inflected language, with a two-gender system and about fifty conjugated forms per verb, but small noun declension and limited pronominal declension. (For a detailed overview of verbs, see Spanish verbs and Spanish irregular verbs.) Spanish syntax is generally Subject Verb Object, though variations are common. Spanish is right-branching, uses prepositions, and usually places adjectives after nouns. Spanish is also pro-drop (allows the deletion of pronouns when pragmatically unnecessary) and verb-framed. Examples of Spanish Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Spanish pronunciation Note: The third and fourth columns use the International Phonetic Alphabet, the standard for linguists, to transcribe the phonemes and sounds. There are several examples of travellers' vocabulary and one literary reference. You can listen to these words being read out. The recording represents standard Castilian pronunciation with yeísmo and is the first one transcribed when several IPA representations are given in the chart. English Spanish IPA phonemic transcription (abstract phonemes) 1 IPA phonetic transcription (actual sounds) 2 Spanish   español   /es.paˈɲol/   [e̞s̺.päˈɲo̞ˑl] [e̞s̻.päˈɲo̞ˑl] (Castilian) Spanish         castellano         /kas.teˈja.no/     /kas.teˈʒa.no/ /kas.teˈʎa.no/ [käs̺.t̪e̞ˈʝäˑ.no̞] [käs̻.t̪e̞ˈʝäˑ.no̞] [kɑh.t̪ʰe̞ˈʝäˑ.no̞] [kɑh.t̪ʰe̞ˈʒäˑ.no̞] [käs̺.t̪e̞ˈʎäˑ.no̞] English   inglés   /iNˈgles/ 3   [iŋˈgle̞ˑs̺] [iŋˈgle̞ˑs̻] Yes   Sí   /ˈsi/   [ˈs̺iˑ] [ˈs̻iˑ] No No /ˈno/ [ˈno̞ˑ] Hello ¡Hola! /ˈo.la/ [ˈo̞ˑ.lä] How are you? (informal)     ¿Cómo estás?     /ˈko.mo esˈtas/     [ˈko̞ˑ.mo̞ e̞s̺ˈt̪äˑs̺] [ˈko̞ˑ.mo̞ e̞s̻ˈt̪äˑs̻] [ˈko̞ˑ.mo̞ ɛhˈt̪ʰɑˑh] Good morning!     Buenos días     /ˈbue.nos ˈdi.as/     [ˈbwe̞ˑ.no̞s̬̺ ˈð̞iˑ.äs̺] [ˈbwe̞ˑ.no̞s̬̻ ˈð̞iˑ.äs̻] [ˈbwe̞ˑ.nɔh ˈð̞iˑ.ɑh] Good afternoon/evening!     Buenas tardes     /ˈbue.nas ˈtaR.des/ 3     [ˈbwe̞ˑ.näs̺ ˈt̪äˑɾ.ð̞e̞s̺] [ˈbwe̞ˑ.näs̻ ˈt̪äˑɾ.ð̞e̞s̻] [ˈbwe̞ˑ.nɑh ˈt̪ʰäˑɾ.ð̞ɛh] Good night!     Buenas noches     /ˈbue.nas ˈno.ces/     [ˈbwe̞ˑ.näs̺ ˈno̞ˑ.ʨe̞s̺] [ˈbwe̞ˑ.näs̻ ˈno̞ˑ.ʧe̞s̻] [ˈbwe̞ˑ.nɑ nˈːo̞ˑ.ʃɛh] Goodbye     Adiós     /aˈdios/     [äˈð̞jo̞ˑs̺] [äˈð̞jo̞ˑs̻] [äˈð̞jɔˑh] Please Por favor /poR faˈboR/ 3 [po̞ɾ fäˈβ̞o̞ˑɾ] Thank you     Gracias     /ˈgRa.θias/ 3 /ˈgRa.sias/ 3   [ˈgɾäˑ.θjäs̺] [ˈgɾäˑ.s̻jäs̻] [ˈgɾäˑ.s̻jɑh] Excuse me   Perdón   /peRˈdoN/ 3   [pe̞ɾˈð̞o̞ˑŋ] [pe̞ɾˈð̞o̞ˑn] I'm sorry   Lo siento   /lo ˈsieN.to/ 3   [lo̞ ˈs̺je̞ˑn̪.t̪o̞] [lo̞ ˈs̻je̞ˑn̪.t̪o̞] Hurry! (informal)   ¡Date prisa!   /ˈda.te ˈpRi.sa/ 3   [ˈd̪äˑ.t̪e̞ ˈpɾiˑ.s̺ä] [ˈd̪äˑ.t̪e̞ ˈpɾiˑ.s̻ä] Because Porque /ˈpoR.ke/ 3 [ˈpo̞ˑɾ.ke̞] Why? ¿Por qué? /poR ˈke/ 3 [po̞ɾ ˈke̞ˑ] Who?   ¿Quién?   /ˈkieN/ 3   [ˈkje̞ˑŋ] [ˈkje̞ˑn] What? ¿Qué? /ˈke/ [ˈke̞ˑ] When? ¿Cuándo? /ˈkuaN.do/ 3 [ˈkwäˑn̪.d̪o̞] Where? ¿Dónde? /ˈdoN.de/ 3 [ˈdo̞ˑn̪.d̪e̞] How? ¿Cómo? /ˈko.mo/ [ˈko̞ˑ.mo̞] How much? ¿Cuánto? /ˈkuaN.to/ 3 [ˈkwäˑn̪.t̪o̞] I do not understand No entiendo /no eNˈtieN.do/ 3 [nŏ̞ e̞n̪ˈt̪je̞ˑn̪.d̪o̞] Help me (please) (formal)   Help me! (informal)   Ayúdeme   ¡Ayúdame!   /aˈju.de.me/ /aˈʒu.de.me/ /aˈju.da.me/ /aˈʒu.de.me/ [äˈʝuˑ.ð̞e̞.me̞] [äˈʒuˑ.ð̞e̞.me̞] [äˈʝuˑ.ð̞ä.me̞] [äˈʒuˑ.ð̞ä.me̞] Where's the bathroom?     ¿Dónde está el baño?     /ˈdoN.de esˈta el ˈba.ɲo] 3     [ˈdo̞ˑn̪.d̪e̞ e̞s̺ˈt̪äˑ ĕ̞l ˈβ̞äˑ.ɲo̞] [ˈdo̞ˑn̪.d̪e̞ e̞s̻ˈt̪äˑ ĕ̞l ˈβ̞äˑ.ɲo̞] [ˈdo̞ˑn̪.d̪e̞ ɛhˈt̪ʰäˑ ĕ̞l ˈβ̞äˑ.ɲo̞] Do you speak English? (informal)     ¿Hablas inglés?     /ˈa.blas iNˈgles/ 3     [ˈäˑ.β̞läs̺ iŋˈgle̞ˑs̺] [ˈäˑ.β̞läs̻ iŋˈgle̞ˑs̻] [ˈäˑ.β̞lɑh iŋˈglɛˑh] Cheers! (toast)   ¡Salud!   /saˈlud/   [s̺aˈluˑð̞] [s̻aˈluˑð̞] 1 Phonemic representation of abstract phonological units (phonemes). 2 Phonetic representation of the actual sounds pronounced (phones). In both cases, when several representations are given, the first one corresponds to the dialect in the recording (Castilian with yeísmo) and the rest to several other dialects not in the recording. 3 Capital /N/ and /R/ (non-standard IPA) are used here to represent the nasal and rhotic archiphonemes that neutralize the phonemic oppositions /m/-/n/-/ɲ/ and /r/-/ɾ/, respectively, in syllabe coda and intra-cluster positions. Sample with Translation and Pronunciation Spanish: En un lugar de la Mancha, de cuyo nombre no quiero acordarme, no ha mucho tiempo que vivía un hidalgo de los de lanza en astillero, adarga antigua, rocín flaco y galgo corredor. IPA transcription (Most of Latin America): [en un luˈɰar | ð̞e la ˈman.tʃa ‖ de ˈkuʝo | ˈnom.bɾe | no ˈkje.ɾo |a.koɾˈð̞ar.me ‖ no a ˈmu.tʃo | ˈtjem.po | ke β̞iˈβ̞i.a | un iˈð̞al.ɰo ð̞e los ‖ ð̞e ˈlan.sa | en a.stiˈʝe.ɾo ‖ aˈð̞ar.ɰa | anˈti.ɰwa ‖ roˈsin | ˈfla.ko | i ˈgal.ɰo | ko.reˈð̞or ‖] IPA transcription (Northern/Central Spain): [en un luˈɰar | ð̞e la ˈman.tʃa ‖ de ˈkuʝo | ˈnom.bɾe | no ˈkje.ɾo |a.korˈð̞ar.me ‖ no a ˈmu.tʃo | ˈtjem.po | ke β̞iˈβ̞i.a | un iˈðal.ɰo ð̞e los ‖ ðe ˈlan.θa | en a.stiˈʎe.ro ‖ aˈð̞ar.ɰa | anˈti.ɰwa ‖ roˈθin | ˈfla.ko | i ˈgal.ɰo | ko.reˈð̞or ‖] IPA transcription (Rioplatense (porteño) Spanish): [en un luˈɰar | ð̞e la ˈman.tʃa ‖ de ˈkuʃo | ˈnom.bɾe | no ˈkje.ɾo |a.korˈð̞ar.me ‖ no a ˈmu.tʃo | ˈtjem.po | ke β̞iˈβ̞i.a | un iˈð̞al.ɰo ð̞e loh ‖ ð̞e ˈlan.sa | en a.htiˈʃe.ro ‖ aˈð̞ar.ɰa | anˈti.ɰwa ‖ roˈsin | ˈfla.ko | i ˈgal.ɰo | ko.ɾeˈð̞or ‖] English translation: In a village of La Mancha, the name of which I have no desire to recall, there lived not long ago one of those gentlemen that keep a lance in the lance-rack, an old shield, a lean horse and a greyhound for racing. El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (opening sentence). See also Romance languages Real Academia Española Common phrases in Spanish Hispanophone List of English words of Spanish origin Names given to the Spanish language Spanish proverbs Spanish language poets Spanish-based creole languages Spanish profanity Portuguese Language Portuñol Papiamento, Chavacano language, Yanito, Palenquero Rock en español (Spanish language rock and roll) Latin Union Isleños Spanish Empire Frespañol Spanglish Local varieties Andalusian Spanish Argentine Spanish Bolivian Spanish Caliche Central American Spanish Chilean Spanish Cuban Spanish Dominican Spanish Mexican Spanish Panamanian Spanish Peruvian Coast Spanish Puerto Rican Spanish Rioplatense Spanish Spanish in the Philippines Spanish in the United States Venezuelan Spanish References ^ Fuentes y criterios demográficos. Centro virtual Cervantes. ^ Presentación del IV Congreso Internacional de la Lengua Española. RAE. ^ a b c Spanish. ethnologue. ^ Embassy of Haiti in Washington D.C. ^ U.S. Census Bureau. [1] Percent of People 5 Years and Over Who Speak Spanish at Home: 2005]). External links Wikibooks has more on the topic of Spanish language Spanish language edition of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia At Wikiversity you can learn about: Topic:Spanish Spanish language edition of Wiktionary, the free dictionary/thesaurus Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Spanish List of Spanish learning resources Ethnologue report for Spanish Spanish evolution from Latin (Spanish) Dictionary of the RAE Real Academia Española's official Spanish language dictionary Spanish phrasebook on WikiTravel The Project Gutenberg EBook of A First Spanish Reader by Erwin W. Roessler and Alfred Remy. 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