Y ⇒ E and O ⇒ U ?

Why in the world does the sentence say ‘difícil *e* inteligente’ rather than ‘difícil *y* inteligente’? I thought ‘and’ = ‘y’?

Many of us know that in Spanish, ‘and’ means ‘y’ and ‘or’ means ‘o’. However, there are exceptions, as in English when we need to say ‘an elephant’ or ‘an icicle’ because we can’t have a double vowel. In Spanish, we can’t have ‘y’ and ‘i’ or ‘hi’ together,  or double ‘o’.

AND = Y

The conjunction ‘y’ takes the form of ‘e’ when the next word starts with ‘i-’ or ‘hi-’.

Examples:

I want to play and imagine. = Quiero jugar e imaginar.Some giraffes and hippopotamus are together. = Algunas jirafas e hipopótamos están juntos.

OJO (note):

We need to ignore this rule if we have a diphthong*.

Example:

It is a marble and iron sculpture. = Es una escultura de mármol y hierro.

Or = O

The conjunction ‘o’ changes to ‘u’ when the next word starts with ‘o-’ or ‘ho-’.

Examples:

You can cook with seven or eight eggs. = Puedes cocinar con siete u ocho huevos.

Roses or hydrangeas are perfect for her.

Rosas u hortensias estarán perfectas para ella.

*Diphthong = a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another (huir, hielo, hiero).

Special thanks to Maestro Adrián for this grammar tip.

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