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- "¿Eres mexicano?"
69 Comments
Very small point - "Are you a Mexican?" would be understood in English, but adding the "a" gives it an odd-ish twist. Adding the "a" or "an" in relation to occupation or sports ("Are you a lawyer", "Are you a soccer player") or affiliation ("Are you a Republican?") is common, but with nationalities or religious affiliation ("Are you a Catholic?"), "a" or "an" isn't as common.
There is no rule for it; you just have to memorize which words take which sound. Some «x»s are like (in IPA) [x] (depending on where you are from either [h] like in English, or like the „ch“ in German „ach“): «México, mexicano, etc.». Others are like [ks], such as «éxito, examen, experto, sexto, etc.». It can even make the [t͡ʃ ] sound, the Spanish «ch» sound, in some proper nouns like «Xitle, Xela, etc.».
http://www.studyspanish.com/pronunciation/letter_x.htm
In Spanish, it is only these three sounds, but English has a few alternate sounds for "x," and Portuguese even has five different ways to pronounce it. :D
1816
A little of history.
The X used being a spanish J in the old times. Nowadays it has changed and mostly words have a J instead of a X (for example, Don Quijote used being spelled as Don Quixote).
Mexico keeps its X for tradition. We just accostumed to read it and spell it that way for 500 years (the same apply to many cities and towns in Mexico, that were founded or discovered in the XVI).
The RAE accepts Mexico with J, but personally, it makes our eyes bleed.
The "X" can be "H" or "KS" or "SH". There's no rule. I still wonder how to pronounce the names Xavier/Ximena/Xavi and is it Ximena or it's Jimena??? Some people pronounce Xavi as Shavi. But as ZuMako8_Momo said, the "X" used to be the Spanish "J" once upon a time. In my language (Bulgarian) and in other Slavic languages, our "H" is "X". And when we say "hahaha" we write it "xaxaxa" but the "x" there is "h".
31
When I lived in Mexico (for 5 years) Xavier was generally written "Javier" and was pronounced "Havier."
Mexico was ALWAYS pronounced "meHico." Most of the audio on DuoL is wrong on this word.
429
Just got this question on studies. Since I was born American some 70 years ago, I quickly answered w/o thinking "Are you American" which is only one country to the south, but still wrong. What'd know..... did they mark me wrong? Nope, gave me an Correct answer response! Honest mistake if transaction is between humans, but assume I'm dealing with auto response robots..... FEED BACK PLEASE
Almost, but that does not quite work. 'Tú' has to before 'eres', and 'tu' also needs an accent mark over the 'u'. The former is because the subject must always be before the main verb in Spanish. The latter is because 'tu' is 'your' while 'tú' means 'you', so without the accent you are asking, "Are your Mexican?"
Also, be careful when mentioning nationality: 'Mexican' is English; you must say 'Mexicano' or 'Mexicana' when using Spanish.
The «h» is always silent in Spanish, so the «x» here is pronounced like the «j» in «rojo». I think I know what you mean: how the sound is actually pronounced. I've heard different Spanish speakers pronounce it differently. I hear Spaniards pronounce it like the "ch" in German „Buch“ and some Spanish speakers in the US pronounce it more like an English "h" as in "house."