Consonant Sounds: b/v

The Spanish "b" (be larga) and "v" (be corta) are pronounced exactly alike. These letters have two separate sounds, hard and soft. At the beginning of a word and after "m" or "n", the hard Spanish "b/v" closely resembles the "b" in the word "boy," except that the lips are held tense. In other situations, the "b/v" is pronounced like an English "b" in which the lips are not allowed to touch. (This is a sound that does not exist in English.)