# pronunciation - s, lost at end of word



## Nucleara

Buenas noches,

I've tried using the thread searching tool above but I couldn't find this topic. After I've been noticing this ,I couldn't hear the "-s" sound at the end of a word. For example, "No mas"(No more) - I hear only _"No ma.."_ ,"Miluska"(a girl's name) - sometimes, they say _"Miluka" _, "Tres"(3) - sometimes, I hear only _"Tré"  _. There are more words that I can't hear the sound "s" when people here say.  This really confused me at first because I didn't understand what they say. Though now I can understand them since I've noticed the lost -s sound--  But I want to know if this happens all the time, only some latin American countries, only in the country(en el campo),  or all informal conversations ? 

Muchas Gracias : )


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## duvija

They get lost all over, but only in syllable final position (including end of words, of course). In the Caribbean, they're gone. In other places, it varies.


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## 涼宮

Well, if you visit Venezuela you have to prepare your ear because you will hear many sounds removed at the end the words or even in the middle, not only nouns but also verbs and articles; of course that phenomenom is more coloquial.

You could hear a conversation like this:

1)Vamo' pa' lo' río' que quedan por detrá' de la casa 'e mi abuela.

_Vamos para los ríos que quedan por detrás de la casa de mi abuela._

2)Me gustaría comé' un gran plato 'e pasta con to'o. (Or even tó)

_Me gustaría comer un gran plato de pasta con todo._

There are many people in several countries that omit the final sounds, just do not get confused, it is usually quite easy to grasp becuase of context. As regard to verbs sometimes they can lose the last sound as well as they cannot, it depends on the context or the verb, I am afraid it doesn't have a rule, so you will have to learn them by heart and instinct.

LG.


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## asm

Nucleara said:


> Buenas noches,
> 
> I've tried using the thread searching tool above but I couldn't find this topic. After I've been noticing this ,I couldn't hear the "-s" sound at the end of a word. For example, "No mas"(No more) - I hear only _"No ma.."_ ,"Miluska"(a girl's name) - sometimes, they say _"Miluka" _, "Tres"(3) - sometimes, I hear only _"Tré"  _. There are more words that I can't hear the sound "s" when people here say.  This really confused me at first because I didn't understand what they say. Though now I can understand them since I've noticed the lost -s sound--  But I want to know if this happens all the time, only some latin American countries, only in the country(en el campo),  or all informal conversations ?
> 
> Muchas Gracias : )


We don't understand them either
It's pretty common in some areas and varies as others have said here.
Suerte


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## Nucleara

涼宮 said:


> There are many people in several countries that omit the final sounds, just do not get confused, it is usually quite easy to grasp becuase of context. As regard to verbs sometimes they can lose the last sound as well as they cannot, it depends on the context or the verb, I am afraid it doesn't have a rule, so you will have to learn them by heart and instinct.
> 
> LG.


 
Oh my godd!!!! haha
Well I hope I'd get acostomed to it: D


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## Istriano

This is common in European Spanish too (Canarias, Extremadura, Andalucía, La Mancha, Murcia, and by some Madrileños).

From Mexico to Colombia: highlands and mountain regions pronounce s's clearly, but coastal areas prefer aspiration.

Even in the aspiration-zones there are differences: Argentinians are easier to understand than Chileans or Venezuelans. Extremadurans are easier to understand than Andalusians.


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## gringuitoloco

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1162189
this may help


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## Nucleara

Thank you every one!
: ) I have to learn a lot more


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## Wandering JJ

When I started doing business in the Canaries, I was surprised when, having ordered a zumo de tomate, I was asked if I wanted tobacco in my drink - it turned out they were offering me tabasco, but the 's' being in syllable final position, was completely lost to me!

The other initial problem was I was unable to tell if I was being addressed as tú or as usted: Qué quiere(s) tomar? Both sounded the same.


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## Nucleara

Wandering JJ said:


> When I started doing business in the Canaries, I was surprised when, having ordered a zumo de tomate, I was asked if I wanted tobacco in my drink - it turned out they were offering me tabasco, but the 's' being in syllable final position, was completely lost to me!
> 
> The other initial problem was I was unable to tell if I was being addressed as tú or as usted: Qué quiere(s) tomar? Both sounded the same.


 
Haha, that's so funny

And yea ,me too-- sometimes I'm quite unsure that maybe I'm being addressed as usted when the -s sound is lost in the verbs.


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## _SantiWR_

Wandering JJ said:


> When I started doing business in the Canaries, I was surprised when, having ordered a zumo de tomate, I was asked if I wanted tobacco in my drink - it turned out they were offering me tabasco, but the 's' being in syllable final position, was completely lost to me!
> 
> The other initial problem was I was unable to tell if I was being addressed as tú or as usted: Qué quiere(s) tomar? Both sounded the same.




Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, perhaps it's worth pointing out that the Canarians themselves do distinguish tabaco/tabasco or ¿qué quieres/quiere tomar? It's just that you were not used to their accent, not to mention not being a native speaker.


Santiago.


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## Wandering JJ

_SantiWR_ said:


> Well, at the risk of stating the obvious, perhaps it's worth pointing out that the Canarians themselves do distinguish tabaco/tabasco or ¿qué quieres/quiere tomar? It's just that you were not used to their accent, not to mention not being a native speaker.
> 
> 
> Santiago.


 
Hi Santiago - I did say when I first started doing business there. Later, I was aware of a ligera aspiración that I couldn't detect initially. 

Saludos


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## duvija

Native speakers always understand each other. In Spanish, when we get rid of the syllable final 's', the character of the preceding vowel changes ever so slightly (duration and pitch). Not enough for a foreigner, but plenty for a native (trust me in this one, or I'll have to introduce my spectrography right here . And no one wants that...)


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## jmx

duvija said:


> Native speakers always understand each other.


Native speakers of the same dialect, but not necessarily if they speak different dialects, of Spanish for instance.


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## duvija

jmartins said:


> Native speakers of the same dialect, but not necessarily if they speak different dialects, of Spanish for instance.


 
Oh, sure, I meant native speakers from the same region understand each other. Of course we can't completely understand people with a very different intonation/accent/vowel quality, vowel quantity, loudness, etc. but still, all Spanish speakers can manage to be understood by other Sp. speakers (even with different words for food, animals, plants, etc.) We may find it weird, but we manage.


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## Istriano

Some Canarians pronounces syllable final s's as  (so _Badajoz_ _rhymes _with _reloj_) , but for many of them they're silent.

In Argentina, syllable final s's are different than _jota _because, -s is  while j is [x] (and not  as in Canaries, Southern Spain or in the Caribbean).


([x] as in German _Bach_,  as in German _haben_, or English _have_).


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## duvija

Istriano said:


> In Argentina, syllable final s's are different than _jota _because, -s is  while j is [x] (and not  as in Canaries, Southern Spain or in the Caribbean).
> 
> 
> ([x] as in German _Bach_,  as in German _haben_, or English _have_).





Do you mean 'syllable final 's' is , and syllable final 'j' is [x]? or syllable final  is different from anywhere 'j' [x] ?


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## gringuitoloco

Jota in Spanish is not like the h in English; it's raspier. In Argentina, the final-syllable s is pronounced like the jota.   "Que asco" is pronounced "que ajco".....(I've had this conversation a few times with some Argentines while living there.)


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## duvija

gringitoloco said:


> Jota in Spanish is not like the h in English; it's raspier. In Argentina, the final-syllable s is pronounced like the jota. "Que asco" is pronounced "que ajco".....(I've had this conversation a few times with some Argentines while living there.)


 

It's pronounced like 'j' [x] only before velars [k/g] as in 'mojka, mujgo'. Always the syllable/word final 's' matches the point of articulation of the following consonant. It's called 'assimilation to PoA'. (Nasals do the same).


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## gringuitoloco

duvija said:


> It's pronounced like 'j' [x] only before velars [k/g] as in 'mojka, mujgo'. Always the syllable/word final 's' matches the point of articulation of the following consonant. It's called 'assimilation to PoA'. (Nasals do the same).



Could you give an example of a word where it is pronounce differently? I can't think right now....


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## duvija

gringitoloco said:


> Could you give an example of a word where it is pronounce differently? I can't think right now....


 

Before non-velar consonants, it's just an .
esbozo [ehbóso], es dedo [ehdédo], esfuerzo [ehfwérso/efwérso], es justo [ehxúhto], es ley [ehléy], esmero [ehméro], asno [áhno], espuela [ehpwéla], Israel [ihrrael], estoy [ehtóy], es yerba [ehyerba]

esguince [ehginse], escuela [ejkwela]


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## Istriano

gringitoloco said:


> Jota in Spanish is not like the h in English; it's raspier.



It depends on a accent,

in Southern Spain, Canaries, Caribbean (Venezuela, Cuba, R. D., Yucatán, Quintana Roo)
j is , your normal English H.


*jaja  *[haha]
and not [xaxa]

In Central Spain j is [x], but in Northern Spain is harder, almost like a Parisian r.


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## Nucleara

This is so funny-- Now my -s sound is lost too! 

I wasn't aware, but today I found that I said "Hoy día lleque a colegio ma' temprano!"


It's easier to pronounce when the -s sound is lost, also I feel like I speak faster. That's all I want to tell you, haha: D


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## raedh

NUEVA PREGUNTA--HILOS UNIDOS​
Hi all,

I'm new to spanish and I'm listening to many of podcasts from different countries from spain and latin america and noticed that specially people in latine american faded the "S" in words like "nos vemos" and for some words no like in "bastante" , is there a rule when to pronunce it and fade it?

Thanks


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## Magnalp

In Mexico it is common to fade the final _s'_s, almost as common as with final _d_'s, I think. But Spanish is read as it is written, it is better to pronounce it, more correct; this is not as in English, where you don't pronounce some letters as a rule (/ˈaɪlənd/, for _island; /_ˈɔːfən/_, _for _often_), don't worry.


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## Wandering JJ

Hi Raedh,

The 's' in some parts of the world tends to 'fade' in syllable final position - that is at the end of a syllable and therefore also at the end of a word. So, 'nos vemos' would sound rather like /novemo/. When 's' is in other positions, including between vowels, then it is pronounced. Los homres dicen que... = /lo ombre di:sen ke.../


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## raedh

that's interesting , its now more clear , and beginners need time to get used with pronounciation variation of "s" ,"c", "z", "j", and "g" of spanish speakers in spain and latin america

Thanks for clarification


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