Learn about Spanish metaplasm
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| Hi everyone! Welcome to The Ultimate Spanish Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn about metaplasms. |
| In Spanish, words are connected together when the final syllable of a word is identical or very similar to the beginning syllable of the following word. |
| You can kind of think of it as making two or more words into one big word. |
| This linking of words is what gives Spanish its alluring fluidity. |
| There are two types of connections you can make in Spanish - between vowels, and between identical consonants. |
| First, let's deal with connecting words that end and begin with vowel sounds. |
| quiere (want) |
| entrar (to enter / to come in) |
| Ella quiere entrar. (She wants to come in.) |
| decía (tell/say) |
| a (to) |
| ambos (both) |
| Martín se lo decía~a~ambos empleados. (Martin was saying it to both employees.) |
| As you can see, identical vowels will connect with each other. |
| When they connect, they combine to become one syllable and the vowel sound is prolonged accordingly. |
| Martín se lo decía~a~ambos empleados. (Martin was saying it to both employees.) |
| How about this one? |
| va |
| a |
| hacer |
| va a hacer (will do / going to do) |
| All three words are linked in this phrase, because remember, the H is silent in Spanish. |
| Let's look at a few other examples showing Unidentical vowels connecting with each other. |
| me (I) |
| inclino (bend) |
| me inclino (I bend down.) |
| como (to eat) |
| una (one) |
| como una (I eat one.) |
| As you can see, the nature of linking words together between vowels is both rhythmic and fluid. |
| volvió (to return) |
| a (to) |
| Europa (Europe) |
| Silvana volvió~a~Europa. (Silvana returned to Europe.) |
| Now that we've looked at connecting words together between vowels, let's take a look at connecting consonants together. |
| dicen (say) |
| nada (nothing) |
| dicen nada (They don't say anything.) |
| As you can clearly see, consonants can also be combined in Spanish. |
| How about this one? |
| Es fácil leer revistas simplonas. (It is easy to read simple magazines.) |
| Unlike vowels, however, consonants can only link if the sound is completely identical. |
| That's why the S and F are not connected in this example. |
| Listen to Alex again. |
| Es fácil leer revistas simplonas. |
| That's all for linking words together in Spanish. |
| In this lesson, you learnt how to speak fluidly by connecting words together in Spanish. |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn about accent reduction. |
| Can you think of another metaplasm example? Share it with us in the comments. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Spanish Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
Comments
Hide