Las cinco vocales — The Five Pure Spanish Vowels

Part of Vowel clarity (a/e/i/o/u pure) · Section 1 of 5

IntroductionUnit: Phonics & Pronunciation (SSC)GCSE

This introduction covers Las cinco vocales — The Five Pure Spanish Vowels within Vowel clarity (a/e/i/o/u pure) for GCSE Spanish. Revise Vowel clarity (a/e/i/o/u pure) in Phonics & Pronunciation (SSC) for GCSE Spanish with 11 exam-style questions and 12 flashcards. Use this page as part of a wider topic revision path rather than treating it as an isolated fact. It is section 1 of 5 in this topic. Use this introduction to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.

🔤 Las cinco vocales — The Five Pure Spanish Vowels

Each Spanish vowel has ONE sound only — they never shift or glide.
Letter Closest English sound Examples
a 'a' in "father" casa, hablar, España, mañana
e 'e' in "bed" ese, beber, verde, enero
i 'ee' in "feet" isla, vivir, amigo, decir
o 'o' in "more" (short, no glide) todo, boca, hola, como
u 'oo' in "food" uva, mucho, gustar, uno

Practice questions for Vowel clarity (a/e/i/o/u pure)

  • A. Two — one short and one long
  • B. One — always the same pure /a/ sound
  • C. Three — depending on the surrounding consonants
  • D. It depends on whether it is stressed or unstressed
1 mark1

Quick recall flashcards

Diphthong 'au'
/au/ — like English 'cow': auto · causa · aunque · autor
Diphthong 'ai' / 'ay'
/ai/ — like English 'eye': aire · baile · hay · vais

11 questions on Vowel clarity (a/e/i/o/u pure) — practise free

Instant marking, adaptive difficulty and spaced-repetition flashcards — all aligned to your exam board.

Start revising free →