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 Español
  Lección Sesenta y tres (63)
  REVISION AND NOTES
  1 The alphabet : here are the 28 letters of the Spanish alphabet with their figured pronunciation :

a (ah) — b (bay) — c (say) —- ch (tchay) — d (day) — e (aye)
— f (ayfay) — g (Hay) — h (atchy) — i (ee) — j (Hota) — k (ka) — l (aily)
— ll (between ay-iay and ailiay) — m (aimy) — n (ainy)
— o (o) — p (pay) — q (koo) — r (ai-rry) — s (aicy) — t (tay)
— u (oo) — v (oovy) — x (aykiss) — y (iay or : ee griaiga)
— z (thayta or : thayda).

Ail letters are feminine : una a, una j, una z.
When you use the dictionary remember that ch and ll have their own pages; and don*t look for them at c
and l.

In writing, never cut ll at the end of a line, as in English : mil-lion, bil-let; write : mi-lion, bi-llete.
The same for rr (dobly ai-rry) although it is a double letter : bu-rro, ass; tie-rra, land; te-rrible, terrible.

You may have remarked that Spanish spelling is very simple and rational.
Thus : ortografía : orthography; fotografía, photograph(y);
teatro, theatre; bicicleta, bicycle; atención, attention; difícil, difficult.
The chief spelling difficulty for the Spaniards is the use of b and v;
and this interests us, remembering the similar pronunciation of these two letters.

A sentence like : servir un vaso de vino, to serve a glass of vine, is full of traps for a Spanish schoolboy, who might spell it : serbir un baso de bino, trusting his ear.

In the alphabet, b and v were called formerly : la b and la v, but the teachers, sounding them, as everybody did, like a slack b, were obliged, in order to make themselves understood, to add :
b de burro, v de corazón (v being heart-shaped), or again o de vaca.

There is also a certain confusion between g and j, in words such as
mujer, woman, región, region, dirigir, to direct,
in which either letter has the same phonetic value.

S and m are never double : comisión, commission; cómodo, commodious; inmenso, immense; inmoral, immoral.

Double n and double c are found in a few words :
innovación, innumerable, lección, elección, etc.,
and the syllable is parted between the two;
but on the whole, Spanish avoids double letters :
aceptar, to accept; acelerar, to accelerate; acusar, to accuse, etc...
   
  2 Después de... + infinitive;
después de comer : after eating.
— Después de amenazar al dueño : after menacing the landlord.
— Después de preguntar : after asking.
   
  3 Let us see over again :
1 — Es costumbre; es mi costumbre.
— 2 He caído en ello.
— 3 Esto me vendrá bien. —
4 ¿Se ha divertido usted?
— Regular, nada más.
-— 5 Voy (or : me voy) a aprender esta canción de memoria.
— 6 Présteme un paraguas (parra-gwass, from agua, water, "parry-water"), he perdido él que compré anteayer (or : antes de ayer).
  1 It's the habit; it's my habit
— 2 I've got it [understood, fallen into it]).
— 3 This will do me good, or suit me.
— 4 Have you enjoyed yourself?
— So so, no [thing] more.
— 5 I'm going to learn this song by heart.
— 6 Lend me an umbrella, I have lost the one that I bought the day before yesterday.