1.4.0: Vocabulario

Spanish Alphabet

Letters	Names of Letters in Spanish		Examples
a	a	armadillo	Álamo	San Antonio
b	be, be larga	bota	burro	bailar
c	ce	caballo	cactus	casería
d	de	Dallas	Río Grande	disparo
e	e	extenso	explorar	Eldorado
f	efe	fábrica	flor	familia
g	ge	generoso	gente	General Santa Ana
h	hache	heno	huerto	cohete
i	i	iguana	independencia	Irene
j	jota	jaripeo	jinete	jornalero
k	ca (ka)	bikini	Karina	kilo
l	ele	Libélula	Laredo	libreta
m	eme	margarita	campesino	maestro
n	ene	Nevada	Natalia	Navarro
ñ	eñe	niño	ñandú	español
o	o	Odesa	petróleo	rodeo
p	pe	El Paso	pescador	patriota
q	cu	queso	Raquel	Quemado
r	erre	barril	becerro	corral
s	ese	Sarita	Salado	San Benito
t	te	Tejas	taco	tornado
u	u	Uvalde	único	universidad
v	uve, ve, or ve corta	vaca	vaquero	venado
w	uve doble, doble ve, or ve doble	Wildorado	Weslaco	kiwi
x	equis	anexar	xilofón	Extremadura
y	i griega or ye	yegua	Yucatán	yacaré
z	zeta	zoológico	zacate	corazón

More information on the pronunciation of Spanish letters

Most letters in Spanish have only one pronunciation, and thus, spelling can be said to be easier in Spanish than in English. However, there are some exceptions:

• When c appears before a, o, u and the consonants l and r, it sounds like /k/ (e.g., carismático, Costa Rica, cultura, clima, crema). When c is followed by e or i, it sounds like /s/ (e.g., centro, emocional) in Latin America, but like /th/ in some parts of the world, when c is followed by h, it is pronounced like the ch in cheese (e.g., China).
• When g appears before a, o, u and the consonants l and r, it sounds like an English hard /g/ (e.g., arrogante, amigo, gusto, globo, gracias). When g is followed by e or i, it sounds like the English /h/ (e.g., generoso, ágil). However, if a u is between g and e or i, g is pronounced like a hard /g/, and the u is NOT pronounced (e.g., guía, espagueti). Sometimes, in the combinations gue and gui, the u is pronounced if it is marked with a diéresis (the two dots above the ü). In these cases, the g in combination with the u is pronounced /w/. Examples: bilingüe, lingüística.
• Double l (ll) is pronounced like English /y/ in yes (e.g., me llamo, amarillo, pollo, calle). In some parts of Argentina and Uruguay, this sound is pronounced like /sh/.
• Q can only be found in the combinations que and qui. In these cases, the u is silent, and the q is pronounced /k/ (e.g., ¿qué?, quinto [fifth]). Q cannot be followed by a, o, or u (unless u is followed by e or i).
• When r is at the beginning or in the middle of a word and appears as a double r (rr), it is pronounced like a rolling r (e.g., Río Grande, Rosa, guitarra).

Click below to hear the different pronunciations of each letter.