Pronouncing the S

Most of the time, the s of Spanish sounds the same as the s sound in English words such as see and bus, although perhaps a bit shorter. However, the sound of the Spanish s is also affected by the sound of the letter that follows it. When an s is followed by a voiced consonant — in other words, a b, d, voiced g, m, n, l, r or v — it is pronounced like a soft z sound. Note that the z-like sound occurs in Spanish only before those consonants. It does not occur at the end of words (such as in plurals) or when followed by a vowel. The s sound changes slightly merely because it is blending into the sound that follows. In some areas, native speakers frequently omit the s sound when it comes at the end of a syllable, so that  ¿Cà ³mo està ¡ usted? ends up sounding something like  ¿Cà ³mo età ¡ uted? You should be aware of this if youre traveling in such areas but shouldnt imitate it elsewhere. The question  ¿Cà ³mo està ¡ usted? (How are you?) is used in our audio lesson on pronouncing the Spanish . Words used to demonstrate the z-like sound of s are mismo (same) and desde (from).