← First Syllables in Spanish and Portuguese · Lesson 1 of 3
Steady vowels
Spanish has five vowel sounds, written a, e, i, o, u, and each letter keeps its sound almost everywhere. That steadiness is why Spanish spelling is easy to sound out.
Portuguese uses the same five letters but has more vowel sounds: an e or o can be open or closed (é and ê, ó and ô), and some vowels are nasal, as in mãe, "mother".
Why is Spanish spelling easy to sound out?
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