What are the rules of the silent "s" in Spanish?

Question

Hola Gente,

Soy estudiante de español y quiero saber cómo pronunciar palabras sin "la" or "el" 's'. Lo oigo en Reggeaton y otros lugares. ¿Hay reglas? Gracias.

I would like to know what are the rules governing that sexy gangster like speech. It tastes good; it is pleasing to me. I hear all the time in songs and when people talk it sounds like 'dijite' en vez de 'dijiste'. It's not for every word tho, you know what I mean? If anyone can tell me what's up with that they get 10 points.

I'm just tryin to become more fluent and knowledgeable.

y

Are letters in Spanish masculine or feminine?

Answer 1

There's not really any "rule"... You just skip over it. It's kinda like "slang". It's basically exactly like in English when people skip letters all the time. Like "hangin out" instead of "hanging". Rarely anyone bothers to make the 'G' audible. Sometimes you do it, sometimes you don't. It also depends on country and even different areas of the country. You just do whatever sounds right at the moment. It's not necessarily "gangster" or anything... I know a family from Cuba and a couple people from Puerto Rico, and EVERYONE does it when they're talking fast or casually. The 'S's just kinda slow you down, so you rush over them so fast, that you can't hear them. Their still there and everything, you just don't hear them.

You wouldn't do it for an interview or when speaking to older people or anything obviously, but for just talking to friends or younger people, it's fine to leave out the 'S's once in awhile. It will make you sound more fluent and not have that painful "American" accent to it lol. There's really no "rule" as to when exactly you do it and when you don't. Sorry. That's part of being fluent, knowing when it sounds "right" and when it doesn't... Practice. The more you speak, you'll begin to know when it's ok, and when it's going to confuse people. Typically though, they will know exactly what you're talking about and their brain will subconsciously "fill in" the sound...

Again, exactly like English. If you say to an English-speaking person, "I'm goin to the mall, wanna come?" they will hear it correctly and know you said "I am going to the mall, do you want to come" lol. I can't think of an example in Spanish for you though... I've gone a full year without speaking any Spanish and it's starting to slip :-( It's definitely true.... Use it or lose it! So make sure you keep practicing and keep talking!!!

As for letters being masculine or feminine, you very very very rarely even NEED to give them a "sex". They're feminine, but it doesn't really matter. No one is going to freak out if you give it the masculine term (especially since you need it so rarely). Basically any word at all, if you give it the wrong sex, it doesn't matter. People will still understand you and probably won't even pay attention. But after you've been speaking awhile, you'll just "know". From all the speaking, listening, reading, writing, you'll just pick up on it.

Aside from the 'S', keep in mind, other cultures have different "twangs" to their accent. For example, in parts of Southern America, the "ll" has a "shya" sound to it (hard to type that sound...) Like, "como se shyama". And in parts of Cuba, the "n" sound has a "g" kind of sound on the end. Like "Estoy bieng". But it all really depends on where you're learning it from, who you're around, etc.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

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Answer 4

The only silent word in spanish is the H, you hear that in the songs because they speak it poorly, mainly people with little education tend to distort the language, if you talk like that ( at least in Mexico ) you will be taken for a peasant or coming from a rural comunity. And sometimes it has to do with the specific accent of a country like Cubans who pronounce the R like an L so instead of saying Cartera ( Wallet ) they say Caltela.

Answer 5

There's no such thing as "silent s" in Spanish, you are supposed to pronounce the s.
Reggeton singers use slang, that's not proper Spanish.

Also, many people sometimes don't pronounce the s at the end of a word ( due to their accent), just like many English speaking people don't pronounce the g at the end of words like "going", etc.
But we know that to speak proper Spanish, we SHOULD pronounce the s.

Letters are feminine. "La letra a, la b, la c", etc...

Answer 6

Firstly, letters in Spanish are feminine, e.g. la 's.'

Regarding the 'rules' about pronunciation of 's' in some Spanish speaking regions and countries, I can only talk from experience about Spain and a little bit about Mexico. In southern Spain and the Canary Islands, 's' at the end of a syllable and at the end of a word is a slight aspiration or [zero], so you get for 'las dos personas' [lah 'doh per'sonah] or even [la 'do per'sona] - but note that the 's' in the middle of 'personas' IS sounded as it is not in syllable final position. In some parts of upland Mexico, the other 's' sounds are maintained, as in castilian Spanish.

In my early days of speaking Spanish, I was on a business trip to the Canary Islands (lucky me) and when I asked the agent where we were going the next day so that I would have the necessary files with me, he replied, "Vamo(s) a La Palma." The following day, armed with the necessary pieces of paper, I discovered too late that we were going to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and not to the island of La Palma.

Answer 7

Silent S

Answer 8

baller4billions:
The only silent letters in Spanish are:
1. H when it is not preceded by C:
hotel = hotel
hoy = today
prohibido =prohibited
In those cases is silent, CH sound like /ch/ in English.
2. U when is between G & E or I or when is between Q & E or I:
guerra =war
guitarra =guitar
queso =cheese
quiero = I want
In these cases the U is silent. When this letter is between G & E or I and we need to make it sound, we have to use diérisis on top of U [two small dots]
güero = white man
agüita =little water, small water
In these cases the U sound like U.
Other then this two examples, ALL THE LETTERS HAVE TO BE SOUNDED.
For letters use la [feminine]

Answer 9

In southern spain that don't say their "s." that's where the puerto ricans got it from. Anywhere but the starting of the word that has an "s'' is not pronounced. like esta, it would be ehta something like that. Como estas,como ehtah. Hmm about the letters i don't think it matters really. El " a'' El " o" / La " a" La "o" both make sense to me. there is a last name and it is: De la O. So it doesn't really matter.

Answer 10

Simple, in some areas (incl. Andalusia in the S. of Spain) some s's are indeed pronounced as h or dropped altogether, and the rule is simple. It is always s's at the end of word or syllable. So yes there is a rule.