How to pronounce veinte

[Elaina]

veinte

véin + te (television/telephone) in English. NO TAY...

Although a lot of native English speakers mastering Spanish (or trying to) will pronounce te as tay. We do that a lot. Almost as much as a Spanish speaking native pronouncing an e in front of an s where there isn't one.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by Elaina

veinte

véin + te (television/telephone) in English. NO TAY...

Although a lot of native English speakers mastering Spanish (or trying to) will pronounce te as tay. We do that a lot.

Okay, so is there a general rule/idea to follow there? When is "e" pronounced "ay" (like the month of May) and when is "e" pronounced "eh" like in telephone or television?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: "E" in Spanish is always pronounced "eh", which is much closer to that in "telephone" than in "tay". "Ay" suggests a diphtong that David is not pronouncing.
The only difference is that the last "e" in "veinte" is shorter than the first one of "telephone", because of the natural rhythm of the word.

[laepelba]

(sigh.....) I have, apparently, been pronouncing everything incorrectly, then. I really, really need to take a class!

[bobjenkins]

Originally Posted by laepelba

(sigh.....) I have, apparently, been pronouncing everything incorrectly, then. I really, really need to take a class!

No te dejas poner desilusionada porque has aprendido mucho a ti)

[chewy]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Lou Ann: "E" in Spanish is always pronounced "eh", which is much closer to that in "telephone" than in "tay". "Ay" suggests a diphtong that David is not pronouncing.
The only difference is that the last "e" in "veinte" is shorter than the first one of "telephone", because of the natural rhythm of the word.

I suppose it's "bein + te" right?

[Elaina]

Originally Posted by laepelba

(sigh.....) I have, apparently, been pronouncing everything incorrectly, then. I really, really need to take a class!

No you haven't. In essence you pronounce the diphthong ei (in Spanish) as ay in May. At the end of the word an "e" always has the short "e" sound of "telephone or television"

Like I explained before it is pronounced like "ay" by very many people and I guess "the world" has accepted it as correct pronunciation.

Please don't get discouraged. I am sure you are very good at pronunciation. And because Spanish is spoken at such a faster pace, the ay sound is hardly noticeable.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by chewy

I suppose it's "bein + te" right?

Correct.

David's recording is right... listening to it will give you the exact pronunciation.

[chewy]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Correct.

David's recording is right... listening to it will give you the exact pronunciation.

Please pardon me, I heard Bein Tay instead of Bein te.
(the tay in english way of saying & I didn't hear the te in english's telephone's te)

I have a question, when you're talking about te, is it the e sound of saying telephone in english?

Thanks

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

... "E" in Spanish is always pronounced "eh" ...

Originally Posted by chewy

I have a question, when you're talking about te, is it the e sound of saying telephone in english?

I agree with Angelica. It's always pronounced 'eh'.

[chewy]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

Correct.

David's recording is right... listening to it will give you the exact pronunciation.

Hi Angelica,

Please correct me if I'm wrong... I have been trying to ask the question... maybe the way I asked isn't clear...

I know the V in spanish is pronounce as B sound so it's Bein te

but I have one big question that make me very confuse.

If e is pronounce as "eh"​ we all know that... so te will be pronounce as telephone the "te"​ sound...

but why are we pronounce the veinte as "bein + tay" instead of "bein + te"

And I can be very sure that David was saying "bein + tay" why do you say he's saying as "Bein + te" did I miss out something?

& I have a request like can you do the pronunciation of Veinte ("Bein+te") So I can hear the correct version? Thanks

Originally Posted by irmamar

Imagine you have five colours: three dark (a, e, o - black, brown, blue) and two light (i, u - white, yellow).

If you mix a dark colour with another one light, you'll be able to mix them and you'll get a colour (a diphthong): black + white = grey; a + i = ai (a diphthong > only one syllable).

If you mix two dark colours you won't get a real colour, but a strange mix (well, it's not true, but imagine, please ). So you get an hiatus, because they don't mix well: black + brown = black + brown; a + o = a-o, two syllables.

If you add a small amount of black colour to the light ones, it's like (imagine) you're adding an accent to these colours (weak vowels). So, the weak vowels with the accent (tilde) are now strong vowels, and they can't mix in only one syllable: a + í = a-í, two syllables again.

I hope you're not more confused now

Hello irmamar,

Thank you so much for explaining it to me. I understand now.

lets say if we use veinte, it would be vein because "i" is a weak one.. so it will be vein + te, so total we have created 2 sounds.

How about constante? Do you mind please teach me too?

Thanks!

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by chewy

Hi Angelica,

Please correct me if I'm wrong... I have been trying to ask the question... maybe the way I asked isn't clear...

I know the V in spanish is pronounce as B sound so it's Bein te

but I have one big question that make me very confuse.

If e is pronounce as "eh"​ we all know that... so te will be pronounce as telephone the "te"​ sound...

but why are we pronounce the veinte as "bein + tay" instead of "bein + te"

And I can be very sure that David was saying "bein + tay" why do you say he's saying as "Bein + te" did I miss out something?

& I have a request like can you do the pronunciation of Veinte ("Bein+te") So I can hear the correct version? Thanks

In fact really they sound like between them.

V and B.

Well done.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by chewy

Hi Angelica,

Please correct me if I'm wrong... I have been trying to ask the question... maybe the way I asked isn't clear...

I know the V in spanish is pronounce as B sound so it's Bein te

but I have one big question that make me very confuse.

If e is pronounce as "eh"​ we all know that... so te will be pronounce as telephone the "te"​ sound...

but why are we pronounce the veinte as "bein + tay" instead of "bein + te"

And I can be very sure that David was saying "bein + tay" why do you say he's saying as "Bein + te" did I miss out something?

& I have a request like can you do the pronunciation of Veinte ("Bein+te") So I can hear the correct version? Thanks

It is true that there is no difference between "b" and "v" in Spanish, both are pronounced with a soft "b" sound.
(Although many people actually pronounce them differently, it's well understood anyway.)

There must be something wrong with my ear, because I cannot hear the "tay".

As for the recording, as soon as I have access to a microphone, I'll upload the file for you to hear it.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by chewy

Hello irmamar,

Thank you so much for explaining it to me. I understand now.

lets say if we use veinte, it would be vein because "i" is a weak one.. so it will be vein + te, so total we have created 2 sounds.

How about constante? Do you mind please teach me too?

Thanks!

Do you want to separate into syllables the word 'constante'? Of course:

cons-tan-te

[chewy]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

It is true that there is no difference between "b" and "v" in Spanish, both are pronounced with a soft "b" sound.
(Although many people actually pronounce them differently, it's well understood anyway.)

There must be something wrong with my ear, because I cannot hear the "tay".

As for the recording, as soon as I have access to a microphone, I'll upload the file for you to hear it.

Please forgive me on that. I bugged my friend for an hour for the pronunciation of Veinte, she almost gone mad.

The reason is I pronounce Veinte as "Bein + Tey". And the Y sounds come naturally to me. And it's like a habit to me.. I can speak the Bein tey better than e correct version "bein + te"

Thanks.

Originally Posted by irmamar

Do you want to separate into syllables the word 'constante'? Of course:

cons-tan-te

haha I mean how bout other constante letters, or they don't make heavy role in e syllables sounds for spanish? So it's mainly vowel & the weak vowels + ascents, right?

Thanks!

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by chewy

haha I mean how bout other constante letters, or they don't make heavy role in e syllables sounds for spanish? So it's mainly vowel & the weak vowels + ascents, right?

Thanks!

I'm so sorry! I don't understand you

Perikles or Chileno! Translation, please?

[chewy]

Originally Posted by irmamar

I'm so sorry! I don't understand you

Perikles or Chileno! Translation, please?

Please pardon for my lousy english.

I mean how about constante, do they just merely follow the vowels to form syllables, right? As in they don't form their own syllables etc.

[irmamar]

Originally Posted by chewy

Please pardon for my lousy english.

I mean how about constante, do they just merely follow the vowels to form syllables, right? As in they don't form their own syllables etc.

Is constante an English word?

Do you mean when two vowels together form a syllable?

I don't understand you yet.

(Now I must leave, sorry )

[chewy]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Is constante an English word?

Do you mean when two vowels together form a syllable?

I don't understand you yet.

(Now I must leave, sorry )

I mean other constant letters like z,j,q,h... do they form their own syllables?

Sorry for the spelling error!

[laepelba]

I also just this afternoon bugged my Peruvian friend to say "veinte" for me a zillion times and made her say it slow ... and fast ... and had to pull the car over so that I could WATCH her say it ... and then I had her listen to ME say it, the same way, slow, fast, etc. She insists that I'm saying it correctly AND that you all are correct that it's "-eh" more than "-ay". AND .... so I assume that our American/English ears are hearing one thing and our American/English brains might be thinking another. Quite possibly I've been over analyzing this (but you all know me well enough by now that you are already aware of this tendency that I have ... LOL!!) I'll just make sure that I am careful not to pronounce dipthongs when I speak Spanish, because I know that this is a big obstacle to English-speakers learning Spanish.... A young Salvadoran friend of mine says that her biggest pet peave when English speakers try to speak Spanish is the "o"'s.... (But let's not address THAT one at this time nor in this thread......)