How to read this sentence in Spainish, "Viva la vida"?
It is /biva la bida/ or /biva la vida/ or just /viva la vida/?
hope you guys understand what i am talking about : )To be honest, i think it should be pronounced as /biva la vida/. In my Spanish textbook, it says: If there is a "b/v" letter at the beginning of a word or after "m" or "n", it pronounces as /b/. In other situations, it is /wa/. The first V in this sentence is the beginning so it's /b/. But the second and the third V is closely after the vowels "i" and "a", so it is /wa/.

Question

How to read this sentence in Spainish, "Viva la vida"?
It is /biva la bida/ or /biva la vida/ or just /viva la vida/?
hope you guys understand what i am talking about : )To be honest, i think it should be pronounced as /biva la vida/. In my Spanish textbook, it says: If there is a "b/v" letter at the beginning of a word or after "m" or "n", it pronounces as /b/. In other situations, it is /wa/. The first V in this sentence is the beginning so it's /b/. But the second and the third V is closely after the vowels  "i" and "a", so it is /wa/.

Answer

Hi Patricia! As a native Spanish speaker, I can tell that we don't pay much attention to the mentioned pronunciation rule. After pronouncing the sentence myself a few times and based on what I remember from school, the correct form of pronunciation would be (just as you thought) /biva la vida/. But again, it really is not an important rule.

I hope my answer helps to clarify your question.

Saludos!
Nahuel.

Answer

It's /biba la bida/

Answer

Hola Patricia,

En algunos países de América la pronunciación es /viva la vida/
Los dientes incisivos superiores pegan con el labio inferior cuando pronuncias la letra *V*. Esto se conoce como articulación labiodental. En cambio, la pronunciación de letra *B* solo involucra ambos labios. Conocida como articulacón bilabial.

Answer

Hola Patricia.

In the most of Spanish - speaking areas the sound (phonetics) /b/ or /v/ hasn´t difference.

Thus, you have to pronounce as a /b/ : biva la bida. Is correct pronunciation.

In the past, the Spanish speakers used to distinguis between:

/b/ Explosive Bilabial Sound, like => Bomba (Bomb in English)

/v/ Labiodental Fricative Sound, like => Válvula (Valve in English)

Now you can forget about two sounds and to pronunce as /b/.

Regards.
Antonio

No pierdas la oportunidad de aprender un idioma desde la comodidad de tu casa. ¡Explora nuestra selección de profesores de idiomas con experiencia e inscríbete ya en tu primera clase!