Interchangeable

Question

There are different words for the word "and" "y" and "e" are they interchangeable and when do I use them? and May I have some examples please?

Answer 1

The word "y" means and. When you have to use and in Spanish before a word that begins with the letters "hi" or "i" , you use "e" instead.

(But not hie, like hielo and hierba which give a different sound. They still get "y")

Ella sabe hablar inglés, español e italiano. She speaks English, Spanish and Italian.

Son pobres e inocentes. They are poor and innocent.

Tenía muchas esposas e hijos. He had many wifes and children.

Similarly as Joydeep says the word "u" is used for or before words that begin with the letters "o" or "ho".

Obviously you will see "y" more often than "e" and "o" more often than "u".

But not hie, like hielo and hierba which give a different sound. :) - bosquederoble, Oct 5, 2014

Those still get y. - bosquederoble, Oct 5, 2014

Very good, I missed that! I'll edit it in since you did not post it as an answer. - Jubilado, Oct 5, 2014

Some good examples there :) - Joydeep_Singh, Oct 5, 2014

Answer 2

No they are not interchangeable ... likewise you also have two words for OR .. o and u .. and they are not interchangeable either,,

betwee y and e .. y is the basic form that will be used always except for the situations where your word starts with the eeeh sound .. in which case you would need to make a switch to "e" // this is the link to an older post regarding the same question :

Y or e

I mean the following word starts with the eeeeh sound - Joydeep_Singh, Oct 4, 2014