How do you pronouce Usted?
How do you pronouce Usted? I think I am hearing both "Usteth" and "Usted" in my Rosetta Stone Spanish Lessons, and don't know which one is right! (It probably just sounds like they are different, and they are actually not, since there are different people speaking the words.) Thank you.
5 Answers
Like previously mentioned, D's in Spanish take the sound of an English "TH" very often. Though, it's the TH sound in the, that, or this, not the TH sound in words like thick or thin. Typically, the pattern is that the D will take the TH sound when it's between two vowels, or when it follows most consonants other than L & D.
So, past participles such as "preocupado" & "comido" are pronounced "preocupatho" & "comitho". But present participles such as "bailando" & "haciendo" are pronounced how they're spelled.
You might also want to note that the letters B & V have similar pronunciation differences. B's take the sound of a V unless they're at the beginning of a word. And V's work the exact same way.
So, 'AR' verbs conjugated with the imperfect tense such as "estaba" & "trabajaba" are pronounced "estava" & "travajava".
OO (as is too)
Ste (as in stem)
D (as in TH from the)
oo-ste-th
What they said. When the D is not at the beginning of a word it's like a very hard English TH. Not like in THIS, but more like in THOSE, only harder.
Your problem might be that the D in Spanish is much softer than in English when it is not the 1st letter.
Example Madrid might sound like Mathrith to you.
D at the beginning of a word or after N or L is like the English D, otherwise it's more like English TH.
The site has a video that talks about usted: http://www.spanishdict.com/translate/usted#
