'e' or 'y' ?
Ok. I get the basic idea that if a stressed 'i' or 'hi' sound precedes the 'y' in Spanish, it changes to 'e'. Well, my brain started stirring in Spanish class and I asked the teacher, what if I wanted to say 'Armani and Emmanuel'? Now someone suggested I just switched the arrangement, so it would be 'Emmanuel and Armani' (Emanuel y Armani), but I want to know what it would be if I decided to not switch the arrangement.
2 Answers
See this post from earlier and the other posts referenced in the answer. Click on link below:
Switching the arrangement would be like fooling your own mind and a good friend should never suggest that because such an approach in the long run can put a lot of impediments in your way to become a successful Spanish speaker ..
The right approach is to deal with the situation/concern/doubt/question etc.there and then instead of looking for a temporary fix ..
Well the answer to your question is that when we suggest you "i" or "hi" we are not essentially talking about the letters but the sound they make .., and how they would be pronounced.. Now if the following word has an eeeehhh sound (like in Italy or International or India ) Take the words India and Italy for example .. what sounds are they starting with /// an eeeehhh sound .. which is the same sound that the letter "y" makes when we use as the conjunction "Y" so the rule of the thumb is that if the initial sound (or the sound of the first syllable) in the following word is the same as that of "y" itself (which is the eeehhh sound as in India or Italy or Indiana or Ink etc.) so in that case to avoid the duplicacy and possible mixing up of the two sounds abutting each other ,, we will change the "y" to an "e" so that the two "eeeeh" sounds don't come in tandom and don't get fused into each other while speaking fluently (speaking fast as natives usualy do) .. So in your case the choice between "Y" and "e" would actually depend on how you pronounce the name emanuel .. because different people may pronounce it differently ... if you pronounce the first syllable with an "eeeehhhh" sound (like the beginning of India or Italy) then yes you need an "e" .. but if you may pronounce it slightly differently like aahmanuel or aymanuel (wheere the starting sound is not exactly an "eeeehhh" sound) then you can still stick with the regular "y" but going with the Spanish pronunciation ..Emanuel will be pronounced as aymanuel .. not imanuel because Spanish is a phonetic language and the letters are pronounced according to their set phonetic sounds.. so if talking in accordance with the Spanish pronunciation system it will be Armani y Emanuel (because per the spanish pronounciation system the first syllable would be pronounced like Ayy sound as in gate, or date or ate ) hope you get the idea now ..
