why do they do that?

Question

why do literally all the Spanish-speaking nations of Latin America NEVER pronounce the 's' when it's at the end of a word or in front of a consonant? why, and I mean WHY are they so cruel to all the Spanish learners?

un abrazo, a frustrated Spanish fascinate

• I know many natives who pronounce the "S" perfectly. =) - NikkiRivera Dec 3, 2011
• Then just be glad you're not learning French... - RosaVerde Dec 4, 2011

Answer 1

Why don't Americans pronounce the t when it's in the middle of a word like dentist, printer, water, Atlanta, etc? It's just a culturall thing.

I'm from Argentina, and I do pronounce the s at the end of a word.

"Comerse la eses" (this is what we called it) is a sign of being uneducated there.

• I had to read through your list of words. Actually, I pronounce the first "T" in all of them except "water". There it sounds like a soft "D" :D - NikkiRivera Dec 3, 2011
• Great answer,Guillermo! - territurtle Dec 3, 2011
• At first, I thought you were wrong, Guillermo. I said to myself, "I do pronounce the Ts." But that is only if I am focusing on the pronunciation. When speaking normally I find I say dennist, prinner and wadder. L O L. - webdunce Dec 4, 2011
• See, I thought you had confused our accent with some UK accents wherein they use a glottal stop for many Ts or just don't pronounce them. -- e.g., prin-er, den-iss, wa-er. - webdunce Dec 4, 2011
• I met someone from India who actually had two different ways of pronouncing 'internet', (with and w/o middle t) depending on whether he was talking to an American or an Indian. :) - Valerie Jan 10, 2012

Answer 2

I think it's a combination of things. A regional accent, the level in education, and it's probably one of those letters that just get lost when they're speaking fast/at their normal pace.

I'm originally from Boston, so I speak really fast in English (as least, according to everyone not from the East Coast ), which means I will glaze over some of the letters in words. For instance what Guillermo said, how we glaze over those T's. In my mind, it sounds like I'm saying the T, but in reality it's probably just a hint of a letter and to a non-native speaker it probably sounds like I skipped it all together.

If you asked them to speak very slowly and enunciate, you would probably hear the S. I think it's just one of those things that will remain frustrating until you get used to it and have more of a feel for the language. If it makes you feel better, I have no clue what anyone's saying in Spanish with or without the S! One day though, one day...

Answer 3

Querido gallez, I read and reread you question many times before

I felt comfortable enough to answer you , then after deep and

meaningful search all I can say is , " thank god I do not live in a perfect world

where everyone speaks correctly in a precise and grammatically erudite

manner . I want to learn to speak Spanish so that I may converse with

all manner of peoples ,not merely professors at the academy or boring

old farts who teach elocution .

• Rock on Ray!! - Birdland Dec 4, 2011
• do not rock on. there is one Spanish language. the once defined and describe by the Royal Academy - gallez Dec 4, 2011
• " ones defined" G'day gallez , I am not denigrading the language in any way at all , merely ones method , and or reason for learning it , the language is beautiful and well structured , but i find it better to take the middle ground in all things, thanks - ray76 Dec 6, 2011
• Hey Birdland , don't let them grind you down is my motto , get out there and give them heeps! Thanks mate. - ray76 Dec 6, 2011
• Hallelujah! - pacofinkler Jan 10, 2012

Answer 4

It is obvious that that is their sole intent. It is a conspiracy.

• Jajaja! =D You get my vote. - NikkiRivera Dec 3, 2011
• ;)) - territurtle Dec 3, 2011
• One of my many vices is to swallow the final S as in Unas y Las - pacofinkler Jan 10, 2012

Answer 5

You think they're cruel? How about all of our English idiosyncrasies? There, their, they're. To, two, too. The many words that have multiple meanings. I for one, am very glad I learned to speak English first, and Spanish second!

• Make that two! ;) - territurtle Dec 3, 2011
• Me, too. I'm an English teacher and sometimes I find myself apologising to my students. English is SO hard. - Ada-S Dec 4, 2011
• I second that Ada. :) - Valerie Jan 10, 2012
• The lovely thing about English is its simple verb conjugations (excusing the inevitable irregulars) - BelugaBebe Jan 10, 2012

Answer 6

They really mostly do pronounce the "s" or at least aspirate it if you listen to audio or review tables of statistics on the research done on this phenomenon. Its just the times they don't pronounce it that sticks out. Here is something I just wrote about this topic:

En el idioma español, se considera la aspiración o la pérdida de la [s] uno de los procesos dialectales más comunes y más conocidos. Este proceso tiene lugar cuando se encuentra la “s” en posición débil, es decir, a fines de sílaba o a fines de palabra. Se puede ver la presencia de este fenómeno en todos los dialectos bajeños aunque el resultado no es siempre lo mismo. La aspiración ocurre cuando la [s] o [z] (fricativo sibilante alveolar sordo o sonoro) se debilita y se convierte en [h] (fricativo aspirado glótico sordo). Por ejemplo: [es-pe-rár] -> [eh-pe-rár], [r̄áz-ɣo] -> [r̄áh-ɣo], [pu̯és-ta] -> [pu̯éh-ta], [tá-sas] -> [tá-sah]. Muchas veces no se pronuncia el glótico [h] porque es uno de los sonidos más difíciles de percibir, y el resultado es la pérdida de la “s” (Teschner 200). Los ejemplos anteriores se convierten en los siguientes: [es-pe-rár] -> [e-pe-rár], [r̄áz-ɣo] -> [r̄á-ɣo], [pu̯és-ta] -> [pu̯é-ta], [tá-sas] -> [tá-sa]. El proceso mediante el cual se pierde por completo la “s” y es reemplazada por la consonante siguiente es conocido como “geminación consonántica” y los ejemplos son:
[es-pe-rár] -> [ep-pe-rár], [r̄áz-ɣo] -> [r̄áɣ-ɣo], [pu̯és-ta] -> [pu̯ét-ta].

• thank you so much for that erudite explanation great to see you are from the school of advanced " phonetic phabricators with an honors degree in farnarkling , well done , you are now the 'Prince of dags". - ray76 Dec 4, 2011

Answer 7

It's not just Latin America, many españoles say their words like that too, especially at the end of "nosotros" conjugated verbs.

• So it is a more widespread conspiracy that we originally thought. - qfreed Nov 30, 2011
• Now I'm really laughing out loud! :D - territurtle Dec 3, 2011

Answer 8

This video of a native Englishman (a soccer player) talking about soccer really helped me be more understanding of Spanish accents (I can barely understand this fellow):

Video.

Answer 9

Gonna hafta aks da man boutit, aight?

Answer 10

I'm from Argentina, and I do pronounce the s at the end of a word. "Comerse la eses" (this is what we called it) is a sign of being uneducated there.

In the UK the same linguistic prejudice exists, it's recognised as "dropped aitches"=leaving out the "h".

Example: 'orses for courses.

Dickens used it a lot to indicate class differences. Linguistically speaking, it's interesting how such prejudices "translate" across languages.

Answer 11

I blame the andaluz.....thank heavens for flamenco!!

Answer 12

In my experience with the Spanish from México, I usually hear people pronounce the final "s" in words, but I have found a wide variation of word pronunciation in general, such as some emphasizing vowels and others dropping them. Spanish speaking people have regional dialects just as do English speaking people.