Cómo pronunciar la letra g en español

Why is there a silent u in “guitarra” and “guerra” in Spanish?

The letter g has two sounds in Spanish. With a, o, u it is hard, like the g in “go”: gato, gota, gusto. But with e or i it turns soft, almost like an English h: gente, giro. So how do you keep the hard sound before e and i? You add a silent u. That gives you gue and gui, where the u is not pronounced.

That is why guitarra (guitar) and guerra (war) have a u you never hear. The clip drills it: gallina, golosina, guanábana, then guerra, guitarra. Compare the soft gerente (manager) with the hard guitarra to feel the difference.