{"id":144951,"date":"2023-06-09T23:39:47","date_gmt":"2023-06-10T03:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/learn\/dominican-spanish\/"},"modified":"2025-02-24T04:35:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T09:35:40","slug":"dominican-spanish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fluentu.com\/blog\/spanish\/dominican-spanish\/","title":{"rendered":"What Sets Dominican Spanish Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dominicans have an energy and style that’s totally beyond compare.\u00a0There are so many beautiful words that you need in your vocabulary, words like aguacero<\/em> (heavy rain), callao<\/em> (a pebble or a dance) and ratat\u00e1<\/em>\u00a0(really cool).<\/p>\n

Learning how to speak and understand Dominican Spanish trains your ears and your tongue in a new dialect, and that means you can even try out new words and phrases that are unique to it.<\/p>\n

[fluentu-toc]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Personal Pronouns in Dominican Spanish<\/h2>\n

Unlike Spanish from Spain (also known as Peninsular Spanish), Dominican Spanish doesn’t use the pronoun\u00a0vosotros <\/em>as a second-person plural pronoun. Instead, it uses ustedes<\/em>, like many other Latin American countries.<\/p>\n

Vosotros<\/em> and\u00a0ustedes<\/em> both refer to a group of people, so think of it as the American slang word “y’all” (or just a plural “you”).<\/p>\n

If you’re not used to using ustedes<\/em>, it’s super easy to learn. It follows the same conjugation rule as\u00a0ellos<\/em> and\u00a0ellas<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For example:<\/p>\n

Vosotros habl\u00e1is<\/strong><\/em> \u2192 Ustedes hablan<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(You all talk)<\/p>\n

Vosotros com\u00e9is<\/strong><\/em> \u2192<\/em> Ustedes comen<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(You all eat)<\/p>\n

Vosotros vais<\/strong><\/em> \u2192 Ustedes van<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0(You all go)<\/p>\n

Pronunciation Quirks in Dominican Spanish<\/h2>\n

Included in this section are phonetic sounds<\/strong> (in square brackets.) For help pronouncing these sounds, refer to\u00a0this\u00a0IPA chart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dropping the s<\/em><\/h3>\n

Spanish in the Caribbean is faster and more relaxed than general Latin American Spanish. As with many Caribbean regions, Dominicans play it fast and loose with their s<\/em> sound, omitting it nearly all of the time; I’d say they use this sound less than any other Spanish dialect.<\/p>\n

This can be problematic for understanding and can create more homophones<\/a> (words that sound the same but have different meanings) than usual. S<\/em>\u00a0is only pronounced as\u00a0[s] (sounds like s<\/em>) when there’s a stressed vowel in the next word. The rest of the time it’s silent or aspirated.<\/p>\n

For example, in las<\/span> a<\/strong>las<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(the wings), the underlined s<\/em>\u00a0would be pronounced because the a<\/em> in bold is stressed, while the other s<\/em>\u00a0wouldn’t be pronounced. S<\/em> within a word may also be deleted, e.g. isla<\/em>\u00a0is often\u00a0pronounced as [ila] (sounds like “eyh-lah”)<\/p>\n

Ye\u00edsmo<\/em><\/h3>\n

There’s no longer any difference between the\u00a0y<\/em>\u00a0[\u029d-j] and ll<\/em> [\u028e] sounds as both are pronounced like the first sound. This is known as ye\u00edsmo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This is quite common in Spanish now, but it’s still worth being aware of. The best way of getting accustomed to these sounds is to listen to the IPA sounds by following the links placed below and notice the subtleties in pronunciation.<\/p>\n

To help train your tongue to these sounds, notice that [\u028e] is produced with the tongue “sticking” to the roof of the mouth and [\u029d-j] requires a slightly looser tongue. Listening to and producing this sound repetitively should help you master it.<\/p>\n

Ye\u00edsmo<\/em> creates some homophones that you’ll want to watch out for, like baya<\/em> (berry) and valla<\/em>\u00a0(fence.) Make sure you listen to the Latin American Spanish examples on the links and not the Spanish dialects!<\/p>\n

Seseo<\/em><\/h3>\n

A pronunciation phenomenon known as seseo<\/em>\u00a0operates in Dominican Spanish as it does in all the Latin American Spanish varieties.<\/p>\n

There’s no\u00a0[\u03b8] sound (“th” in English) in Dominican Spanish, only\u00a0[s] (“s” in English). This means that s<\/em> and z<\/em> spellings are both pronounced as [s]. You’ll be familiar with this if you’re learning Latin American Spanish.<\/p>\n

This again can create homophones, e.g. between la casa<\/em> (the house) and la caza<\/em>\u00a0(the hunt.)<\/p>\n

The Dominican N<\/em><\/h3>\n

N<\/em> within a word is often nasalized to [\u014b] (sounds like the “ng” in the English “sing” or the Spanish Domingo<\/em>\u00a0(Sunday)) especially if followed by a vowel.<\/p>\n

It may be left out altogether (and the previous vowel nasalized) if followed by b, d <\/em>or g. <\/em>For example, mango<\/em>\u00a0(mango) becomes\u00a0[m\u00e3go] (sounds like “mahn-go”) or possibly\u00a0[ma\u014bgo] (using the “ng” sound as above) depending on the speaker and the speed of speech.<\/p>\n

The Dominican\u00a0D<\/em><\/h3>\n

The\u00a0d<\/em> is silent in ado<\/em>, <\/em>ido<\/em> and eda<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For example, casado<\/em> (married) is [kasao] (sounds like “cas-a-oh,”), dedo<\/em> (finger\/toe) is\u00a0[d\u00e9o] (sounds like “day-oh”) and partido<\/em>\u00a0(game, competition) is\u00a0[part\u00edo] (sounds like “part-i-oh”).<\/p>\n

Regional Variations of Dominican Spanish<\/h2>\n

Cibao (North)<\/h3>\n

The birthplace of Merengue! This is definitely somewhere to visit the island. Famous for mountains and beautiful valleys, it’s an important fertile area for growing cacao and coffee.<\/p>\n

Here, r<\/em>\u00a0and l<\/em> at the ends of syllables can be pronounced as an i<\/em>, e.g. correr<\/em> (to run) can be\u00a0[korei] (sounds like “cor-ay-ey.”)<\/p>\n

Interestingly, this is thought to be an Afro-Portuguese\u00a0feature that slaves who were born in Portugal picked up and brought to the area, later incorporating it into Dominican pronunciation as they learned Spanish.<\/p>\n

L<\/em>\u00a0here is pronounced as\u00a0[\u028e] (that “tongue stuck to the roof of your mouth” sound you practiced earlier) as in Portuguese, a subtle feature that you could easily miss if you’re not listening for it.<\/p>\n

Ozama (South)<\/h3>\n

Known for its large lake, Enriquillo, the southern region is mostly arid and hot with stunning coastal lagoons.<\/p>\n

The l<\/em>\u00a0at the end of syllables can be pronounced as\u00a0r<\/em>\u00a0in this region. For example, Miguel may be\u00a0[mi\u0270er] (sounds like “mi-guer.”) This is a Puerto Rican feature that may have originated from Andalusia.<\/p>\n

Seibo (East)<\/h3>\n

The great plains of the Caribbean are situated here, home to sugar plantations and savanna.<\/p>\n

R<\/em> and l<\/em> sounds at the ends of words aren’t pronounced here, so fuerte<\/em>\u00a0can be\u00a0[fu\u025bte] (sounds like “fu-e-tay.”)<\/p>\n

Santo Domingo (Capital)<\/h3>\n

Santo Domingo is the first settlement of Europeans in the Americas and so has a great deal of history. The colonial zone of the city is a UNESCO heritage site! It also has winds that create a perfect temperate climate and a stunning metropolitan cityscape.<\/p>\n

In Santo Domingo, the r<\/em>\u00a0at the end of a syllable is commonly pronounced as an l<\/em>.<\/p>\n

For example, correr<\/em>\u00a0(to run) can be [korel] (sounds like “cor-el”). This is also an Andalusian feature of speaking, although it’s less common in Puerto Rican speech.<\/p>\n

Grammatical Differences in Dominican Spanish<\/h2>\n

As many Dominicans speak very rapidly, shortening of phrases is pretty common, e.g:<\/p>\n

Speaker 1:\u00a0[\u00bfpond\u025bva?] (sounds like “pon-dev-ah”)<\/p>\n

Speaker 2:\u00a0[vu\u00e1 santo \u00f0omi\u014bgo] (sounds like “voo-ah san-toh do-miny-go”)<\/p>\n

This might seem difficult to understand and, in a lot of cases, you may have to use context to help you work out what Dominicans mean, although many of them will slow down and enunciate for a gringo upon request.<\/p>\n

You can also get your ears acquainted with the language on a program like FluentU<\/a>, which uses Spanish videos with interactive subtitles to teach you the language.

FluentU<\/strong> takes authentic videos\u2014like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks\u2014and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.<\/p>\r\n

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You can try FluentU for free for 2 weeks. Check out the website or download the iOS app<\/a> or Android app.<\/a><\/p>\r\n

P.S. Click here to take advantage of our current sale! (Expires at the end of this month.)<\/a><\/i>\r\n<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\n \"FluentU\r\n

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