Is the x often silent in Spanish?

Question

Is the x often silent in Spanish?

Made some light editorial changes on this good question. (capitalized "i," fixed a typo, and added a ? mark. May I also add a welcome to the Forum? - 0057ed01, FEB 2, 2010

Answer 1

Welcome to th forum!

Might you be thinking of the letter "h", which is silent in Spanish except when it is part of a "ch" combination?

The letter "x" is quite alive and well in Spanish pronunciation! In some words, such as "mexicano", etc, it has an English "h" sort of sound. Generally, however, it is just pronounced like the English letter "x", as you would pronounce it when you say the alphabet... "x, y, and z". Therefore "excellent" in English and "excelente" in Spanish definitely have a similar pronunciation of the letter "x"..

I am not an expert on the letter "x", and other people will be able to help you with other variations. but I will say that some place names in Mexico pronounce the "x" like an English "sh", such as "Uxmal", which sounds like "Ushmal".

I hope this has helped and that it hasn't been too lengthy!

This is an educated guess: "Uxmal" is an Aztec word, so the pronunciation is different from Spanish. - CalvoViejo, FEB 1, 2010

You're right, CalvoViejo. And Mexico is loaded with them, especially with place names, just as mountaingirl writes. Many are tough tongue-twisters, too. - 0057ed01, FEB 2, 2010

Answer 2

No. This link may help

Answer 3

Thanks, hdffsd, for the excellent link. I bookmarked it. However, for the life of me, I couldn't find the "continue" button so I could move on to practicing the "silent" and "sh" uses of "x."

Can you help?