Pronunciation of "the" and "a"

[lee ying]

I want to know, what`s the best pronuntation of ; The:De,Di or da.:rolleyes::)
how I have to say A or e : as the spanish?:erm::)
I`m confused.:hmm::)
please. help me.

[poli]

[quoate=lee ying;23012]I want to know, what`s the best pronuntation of ; The:De,Di or da.:rolleyes::)
how I have to say A or e : as the spanish?:erm::)
I`m confused.:hmm::)
please. help me.[/quote]
TH in the is pronounced in the following way: Place your tongue on the the edge of your front upper teeth. and pronounce th as you would the d as in edad.
Di and da are pronouced with your tongue touching the part of your mouth right behind your front teeth just as the letter t
is proounced in Spanish but unlike t you need to use your voice to say it correctly.

[Tomisimo]

Para pronunciar the:

1. Empieza con el sonido de la d en la palabra "ladrar"
2. Necesitas que vibre tu garganta. Nota la diferencia entre "borra" y "porra". Cuando dices la b de "borra" tu garganta vibra. Cuando dices la p de "porra" no vibra.
3. Ahora di el sonido de la d de "ladrar" pero haz que vibre tu garganta. Ese es el sonido de la th de la palabra "the".
4. La e de la palabra "the" es más difícil porque ese sonido no existe en español. Para decir este sonido, di el sonido de a (de "carro"), ahora congela tu boca en esa posición y sin mover la boca, sin mover los labio ni nada trata de decir una o (de "horno"). Si tienes la boca en su posición para decir a, pero relajas tu garganta y la parte de atrás de tu lengua, como para decir o, pero sin mover ninguna otra parte de tu boca ni tus labios, dirás un sonido muy similar al sonido de la e de la palabra "the" en inglés.

Todo lo de arriba es la pronunciación más común y más útil para tí de la palabra "the". Existen también otras formas de pronunciarla.

Para pronunciar a:

Di ei como la ey en la palabra "rey".

[Jessica]

some people say the like "di". some people say "a" differently, the short sound a and the long sound.

[lee ying]

so, there isn`t any problem to say the (THE) like: Di, De or Da.?
and A like: ei and a. here I don`t to say like a e. Am I right?
thanks.

[Jessica]

well I'm not sure but I think it's okay. I don't about the rest of you. Maybe it's proper to say it the right way so you won't confuse someone who is learning English :)

[Rusty]

Lee Ying,

The two words you asked about aren't too hard for Mexicans to pronounce, because both sounds are used in Spanish.

When you say nada, the second syllable (da) is how you say 'the' in English most of the time. Of course, the 'd' must be the softened sound; the sound made when the 'd' is between vowels. It is never the hard 'd' that follows a consonant, as in 'el día'.

The word 'the' has another pronunciation. When it is followed by a word that begins with a vowel, or when you want to give emphasis to that word, 'the' is pronounced like the 'di' in 'pesadía'.

The word 'a' is pronounced 'ei' some of the time, especially when giving emphasis to the word that follows it. Most of the time, however, it is pronounced like the unstressed 'a' in 'aparte' or 'ala'.

It is pronounced, and spelled differently when the word that follows it begins with a vowel. Then it is spelled 'an', and the vowel sound is very difficult for a Mexican to pronounce because there is no equivalent in Spanish. Ask a native speaker of American English how to pronounce 'ask for an apple'. Then you can mimic what you hear. My :twocents:.

[lee ying]

Thank you rusty, this is most clear example that I needed.

[Rusty]

You're very welcome.

[lee ying]

If you help me more with englsih sentenses , I`ll thank you.
wiil be more easy to understand it. now .