Gee! Geh! Gwah! Gwoh! While that probably reads like an opera star’s vocal exercises, the words are actually the English equivalent of different sound combinations for the Spanish digraph Gu. The actual sound “GU” makes in Spanish depends upon the consonant or vowel following the “gu.” El dígrafo Gu is one of five main Spanish digraphs. Read more about this digraph below, or check out the free Spanish Digraph Gu Worksheet (meant for PK-1st grade) at the bottom.
What’s a Digraph?
Digraphs exist in many languages, so you likely use them all the time without realizing it. There are two types of digraphs, but the ones you’ll see the most are called heterogeneous digraphs. At their core, heterogeneous digraphs are two letters that, when combined, make a new sound that you can’t find in the sounds the letters make alone. Here are some examples from English:
- ng, as in the words flying and dancing
- ch, as in the words chips and chimes
- sh, as in the words shout and shine
- Etc.
We’ll dedicate a full post to digraphs in the future, but in the meantime, here is the list of the five main Spanish digraphs. If you see a link, you can download a free Spanish digraph worksheet for that digraph, too!
Pronunciation
There are 27 “official” letters in the Spanish alphabet, but “GU” has never been a Spanish letter. It does, however, have a name: la gu or el dígrafo gu.
While the letters G and U often appear together in the Spanish language, when followed by either the letter I or the letter E, the U is not pronounced. For example:
- gui, as in guiso or águila – the sound GEE in English
- gue, as in guerra or gueto – the sound GEH in English
Otherwise, digraph Gu creates combinations of other sounds where the U is pronounced (but not as an English U):
- gua, as in guapo(a) or guardar – GWAH in English
- guo, as in antiguo(a) – GWOH in English
Worksheet Learning Focus
One of the key digraph Gu errors that students, learners, and even many native speakers make is hypercapitalization or hypercorrection. The capital digraph is Gu, and the lowercase is gu. So, this worksheet supplies practice with these skills and more.
- Identifying capital Gu
- Identifying lowercase gu
- Forming capital Gu
- Forming lowercase gu
- Familiarization with “Gu” vocabulary and a common infinitive
Spanish Vocabulary
- colorea
- guía
- guíar
- guisantes
- infinitivo
- mapa
- mayúsculas
- minúsculas
- traza
- y
What’s Included
In this two-page Spanish Digraph Gu Worksheet, you’ll find PK-1st grade oriented activities involving «la gu», such as practicing formation of capital letters (mayúsculas) and lowercase letters (minúsculas) and being introduced to “Gu” vocabulary. Because of the age group targeted, directions are scaffolded in English and Spanish or use English/Spanish cognates.
Newsletter subscribers can download all five Spanish digraphs as one free bilingual or all-Spanish file in the email-Subscriber’s Library.
¿buscas algo totalmente en español? Hay una versión en español en la misma página gratuita para personas en nuestra lista de correo. Subscríbete (o inicia sesión) aquí para recibir notificaciones de nuevas entradas, noticias y acceso a la biblioteca de recursos.
Ideas for Use
Students in preschool and kindergarten will likely benefit most from this worksheet, but this free Spanish digraph Gu worksheet is great for any student who needs a little extra digraph and Spanish vocabulary practice.
Download Your Free Gu Worksheet
