Spanish Alphabet

Spanish alphabet consists of 27 letters. *

The names of the letters and their sound correspondences:

Out of the alphabet:

* You may find alphabet variants of 26 to 30 letters, but they just repeat the alphabet letters while ñ doesn’t repeat anything.

The pronunciation of some words in this self-study course is given in a simplified transcription in square brackets [...].

Pronunciation Rules

Vowels (Vocales)

There are five vowels in Spanish: a, е, i, о, u which are pronounced distinctly. In Spanish, unlike English, there is no reduction or unstressed vowels — all Spanish vowels are pronounced equally, both in stressed and unstressed syllables.

Therefore, you need to learn to pronounce the vowels very clearly, especially the unstressed a, o, e.

u

as ‘oo’ in the word ‘book’. However, in letter combinations: que, qui; gue, gui — ‘u’ is not pronounced, but if the same combinations include diaeresis (colon) — ü, then u is pronounced, for example:

y

The Spanish letter ‘y’ is similar to the letter ‘i’ and pronounced as [i] between two consonants, mainly when it is a conjunction, and as the sound [j] when in conjunction with vowels, for example:

In Spanish, vowels are considered either strong (a, e, o) or weak (i, u).

Diphthongs and triphthongs (diptongos у triptongos)

The combination of two vowel sounds (strong and weak, weak and strong or two weak sounds), and also the combination of three vowel sounds (weak, strong, weak), pronounced as one syllable with one stress, are called diphthongs and triphthongs.

In a diphthong with the vowel u, you need to pronounce every vowel, taking into account that in this letter combination the strong vowel is always under stress (poor vowel:) while the weak vowel u is pronounced briefly, for example: Europa [ewˈropa], auto [ˈawto], bueno [ˈbweno]. The letter combination is pronounced as one syllable: Eu-ropa, au-to, bue-no.

Thus:

For example:

The combination of two weak vowels, for example, iu, ui, are pronounced as [ju], [wi] so that the stress falls on the second vowel, for example:

The combination of vowels which has the graphic stress over a weak vowel do not form diphthongs and triphthongs, for example:

Consonants (consonantes)

b

b = v

The letters b and v are read equally. Each of them has two sound correspondences:

1. b and v are pronounced as the English [b] (as in „bob”, but less explosive), if they:
   • is used after pauses, such as at the beginning of a sentence or when a word is standing alone and begins with b or v, for example:

      

     boca

     [ˈboka]

     mouth

      

     bastante

     [basˈtante]

     enough

      

     vaca

     [ˈbaka]

     cow

      

     ventana

     [benˈtana]

     window

   • come after m and n, for example:

      

     cambiar

     [kamˈbjar]

     to change

      

     sombra

     [ˈsombra]

     shadow

      

     tranvía

     [tramˈbi-a]

     tram

      

     un vaso

     [umˈbaso]

     a glass

2. In addition to the above-mentioned combinations, b und v appear in other phonetic combinations and mean another sound, which does not exist in English. In our transcription it will look like this: [β]. It’s a voiced bilabial fricative. It’s similar to the English v (but It’s not the English v!) but your lips should barely touch (or not even touch at all) right before moving on to the next sound of the word.

   When pronouncing this sound, the lips are a bit thown out equally, almost as in pronunciation of [b], as if we try to put out a candle. This way the air jet flows out and by creating friction the sound [β] is produced, the teeth are not participating here, for example:

    

   la vaca

   [laˈβaka]

   the cow

    

   abuela

   [aˈβwela]

   grandmother

    

   la boca

   [laˈβoka]

   the mouth

    

   ave

   [ˈaβe]

   bird

   Don’t forget that the English sound [v] doesn’t exist in standard Spanish.

   The difference between [β] and the Spanish [b]:

   • There should be a gap between your lips when you pronounce [β]; your lips are together when you pronounce [b].
   • The sound [b] ends as soon as you separate your lips; [β] ends as soon as you run out of air :)

c

c before e, i z always

The consonant c before vowels е, i, and the consonant z are pronounced as the voiceless sound in English denoted by the letter combination th in the word truth. In transcription, it’s [θ].

In some provinces of Spain, for example, in Andalucía, and in most countries of Latin America, it is pronounced as [s].

Both pronunciations are correct.

c in other combinations

is pronounced as [k], for example:

ch

ch

as in English (e.g. chips), is pronounced as [ʧ], for example:
muchacho [muˈʧaʧo] boy.

d

d at the beginning or after a pause and after n, l

is pronounced similarly to the English [d] (but not exactly), for example:

d in the middle of the sentence

is pronounced as the English sound [ð] in the letter combination th (e.g. this), for example:

d at the end of the word

Depending on the region, the letter d at the end of a word or sentence is pronounced differently (ð, θ, t, r) or even not pronounced at all. [ð] is considered as the correct one while silent d is common in colloquial speech.

f

f

as English [f].

g

g before e, i j always

is pronounced as the Russian sound [х] or you can just pronounce it like a strong English h, as they do in the south of Spain or in Latin America. However, if you are going to pronounce it as [х], lift your tongue a little bit, just as if you were going to pronounce the letter k, for example:

g before u and before a consonant

is pronounced as [g], for example:

h

h

is not pronounced, for example:

hijo [ˈiho] son

k

k

similar to [k] in English.

In Spanish, k is used for words of foreign origin.

l

l

similar to [l] in English.

ll

ll

similar to the English sound [j] in the word ‘onion’ ['ʌnjən]. It’s [ʝ] in our transcription, for example:

[ʝ] is the most common pronunciation. There are also 3 other variants: similar to [ʤ], like in the English word ‘jet’ (also common); sounds in the English words: ship, million (rare).

m

m = [m] at the beginning or in the middle, and before b

as English [m], for example:

m at the end of a word

is like the English sound [ŋ] in the word ‘long’, for example:

harem:

n

n at the beginning

as English [n], for example:

n at the end of a word and before c [k]

is pronounced as the consonant m at the end of a word [ŋ], for example:

nunca [ˈnuŋka] never

n before v

is pronounced as m [m], for example:

tranvía [tramˈbi-a] tram

ñ

ñ = [ɲ]

This sound doesn’t exist in English, but it’s not difficult to pronounce. It’s as if you add the letter ‘y’ after ‘n’. Try to say ‘n’ and then ‘yah’. You may hear it in the English word ‘canyon’. It’s [ɲ] in the transcription. For example, the Spanish word niño we read as: [ˈniɲo].

p

p

close to the English p [p]:

papá [paˈpa] dad

q

q

like English q and k [k]. u after q is not pronounced.

r, rr

r, rr

English [r] and Spanish [r] are not the same. Please keep that in mind all the time. There also could be two [rr] at the same time. Let’s listen to the examples:

It’s difficult to explain this sound. The easiest will be: try using Russian [r] here. No? Straaange... Ok, try focus on English d [d] first. Here is a piece of advice from a forum:

"You can try substituting the English letter ‘d’ for a single r. For example: Pero (Spanish) = Pedo (English). If you say it quickly it begins to take on the character of the Spanish r. I learned this from a friend from Colombia whose name was Miriam. She hated the swallowed ‘r’ that Americans make when they say her name, so she suggested that they call her Medium. Said quickly, that was much closer to the Spanish pronunciation of Miriam."

s

s im most cases

almost like English s [s].

sino [ˈsino] but; except

s before a voiced consonant

like soft English z [z]:

mismo [ˈmizmo] same

t

t

like t [t] in English, but not aspirated. This means that you don’t hear the puff of air, like in top and ten.

v

v

Compare: b = v (see ‘b’ above)

x

x before a consonant

can be either [ks] or [s] (no rule here, sorry), for example:

x between vowels

usually it's pronounced as [ks], for example:

examen [ekˈsamen] exam

z

z

Compare: c before е, i (see ‘c’ above)

Stress

Spanish words that end with a vowel usually have the penultimate syllable stressed, for example: mesa [ˈmesa], ventana [benˈtana].

Words that end with a consonant, except for n, s, have the last syllable stressed, for example: hablar [aˈβlar], color [koˈlor].

In all other cases, there is the accent mark over a vowel, which shows that the vowel is stressed, for example:

Note:

The same goes for the plural form of nouns. For example: lápiz pencil and lápices pencils both have the accent mark because there are both pronounced not according to the general rule; while here: salón, salones only salón has the accent mark because it ends with n but has the last syllable stressed (salones has the penultimate syllable stressed because the word ends with s).

In order to differentiate some of the monosyllabic (one syllable) words, the accent mark is placed above them, for example:

Join our Telegram channel @lingust and: