The RULES of the use of the W

The w, Double Vee or go double It is one of the letters of the Spanish language less used. It is only used to designate words from other languages, especially German, English and Visigothic and also in translations of some Asian words.

In this lesson from a TEACHER we will explain the rules for using the W, that is, the rules that must be taken into account in order to use it. In addition, you will also find a printable exercise with solutions so you can see the most common words in the Spanish language that are written with this letter.

If you want to know in depth the use of the W in Spanish you have to take into account something very important: this letter it is not typical of the Spanish language rather, it is part of foreign voices. Nevertheless, the RAE admits the words with W although, in general, it bets on its adaptation to Spanish through the use of "g" or "gu", since it is the most common form in our language.

W is a typeface that is normally used to refer to new technologies or terms that are part of other languages ​​(known as "

language loans"or"foreigners"). Some examples of this are words like "web", "waffle", "water polo", and so on.

That said, to know the rules for using the W you have to know that the general rule indicates the following:

1. Linguistic loanwords are written with W that go with W. Thus, in the case of terms such as "Web", "Water polo", the RAE admits that this semiconsonant is used.
2. They are changed by "v-" or by "gü-" the words incorporated into Spanish. Thus, those terms that are used constantly in our language can be adapted to the Spanish standard and changed to the appropriate consonant on each occasion. A clear example of this is the English term "Whiskey" which in Spanish should be written "Güisqui".

As it is not a Spanish letter, there are not many more rules. You can only use it if the word in origin goes with W unless the term has been "Castilianized", that is, it has been adapted to Spanish regulations.

Now that you know the few rules for the use of the W in Spanish, we are going to finish the lesson by giving you some examples of words with W so you can see in the contexts that we use this particular letter. Although it may not seem like it, the truth is that we currently have a large number of words that have this semiconsonant; here are some examples:

• Bungalow: this word is also accepted into Spanish and, therefore, its adaptation according to the standard would be "bungalow"
• Hardware
• Hawaiian / Hawaiian
• Newton
• Sandwich (and all derivatives)
• Show
• Swing
• Software
• taekwondo
• Twist
• Walkie-talkie
• Walkman
• Water polo
• Web
• Watt
• Windsurfing