what is the rule about using "e" instead of "y" (which means and)

Question

What is the rule about using "e" instead of "y" in a sentence which means and. For example: Mi hermano y yo. The letter y means and

When does one use the letter "e"?

Answer 1

Y becomes e in front of words that start with the ee sound (generally if the next word starts with i or hi) because, if you used the y, you would not be able to hear it as Spanish would only pronounce one ee sound in a process called elision, and, trust me, it is already hard enough to hear y when an ee sound doesn't come after it.

By the way, I believe it would be "y yo," not "e yo" because yo does not start with the ee sound but rather a yuh or juh sound (depending on dialect).

Also, o becomes u in front of words that start with an oh sound (generally, words that start with o or ho).

Here is a good article about y / e and o / u.

Well stated! - 0074b507, Dec 2, 2009