Jump to content
Chapala.com Webboard

'g' within word, not at beginning


mhn237

Recommended Posts

It depends.

'G' followed by a, o, or u is always a hard sound, like the 'g' in gato, gobernador, gusto, or delegación--whether it is at the beginning or in the middle of a word. Place makes no difference.

'G' followed by e or i is always like a slightly guttural 'h', no matter where it is placed in the word. Giro, gimnasio, ingeniero, all the slightly guttural 'h' sound.

It's the vowel that follows the 'g' that makes the difference, not the placement of the 'g' in the word.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

It depends.

'G' followed by a, o, or u is always a hard sound, like the 'g' in gato, gobernador, gusto, or delegación--whether it is at the beginning or in the middle of a word. Place makes no difference.

'G' followed by e or i is always like a slightly guttural 'h', no matter where it is placed in the word. Giro, gimnasio, ingeniero, all the slightly guttural 'h' sound.

It's the vowel that follows the 'g' that makes the difference, not the placement of the 'g' in the word.

To go a little further:

To make a "g" hard before an "e" or "i" add a silent 'u" between them: guerra, entregué, guitarra, guiso

To make that "u" pronounced, to form a diphthong with the "e" or "i" you put a diéresis over the "u." A diéresis is two little dots over the "u"--you might know it as the umlaut in German: güero, vergüenza, This give a "gw" sound.

A "g" followed by a combination of "ua" or "uo" make the hard sound and the vowels form a diphthong giving a "gwa" or "guo" and no diéresis is needed as the "g" always makes the hard sound before a "u." : agua, guava

agua

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To go a little further:

To make a "g" hard before an "e" or "i" add a silent 'u" between them: guerra, entregué, guitarra, guiso

To make that "u" pronounced, to form a diphthong with the "e" or "i" you put a diéresis over the "u." A diéresis is two little dots over the "u"--you might know it as the umlaut in German: güero, vergüenza, This give a "gw" sound.

A "g" followed by a combination of "ua" or "uo" make the hard sound and the vowels form a diphthong giving a "gwa" or "guo" and no diéresis is needed as the "g" always makes the hard sound before a "u." : agua, guava

agua

In Mexico, the 'diéresis' is colloquially known as the cremita.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...