1.2: El alfabeto (el abecedario)

The Alphabet

Pronunciation

Alphabet Chart

The Spanish Alphabet

Letter	Letter name and pronunciation	Example	Pronunciation in a word
A	a = [ah] (as in "father")	Argentina, América	“ah” in “aloha”
B	be =[beh] (as in "book")	Bolivia, Belén	bebé
C	ce = [seh] (like "say")	Carlos, Cecilia	C + a/o/u/consonant = sounds like "k" C + e/i = sounds like "s" in Latin America or "th" in Spain
D	de =[deh] (as in "day" but softer, tongue lightly touches teeth)	Dolores, Dinamarca	“d” sound, softens between two vowels
E	e = [eh] (as in "bet")	Elena, elefante	“ay” (like “may”)
F	efe = [EH-feh]	Francia, Fabio
G	ge =[heh] (like English "hey"; before E or I, sounds like an English "h")	Gustavo, gato, gente	G + a/o/u/consonante = sounds like [guh] G + e/i = sounds like [heh] in Himalaya
H	hache = [AH-cheh]	Humberto, hola	The ‘h’ is SILENT, thus “hola” sounds the same as “ola” c+h = pronounce it "ch" as in "choice"
I	i = [ee]	Isabel, iglesia	“ee” (like “me”, “see”, “pea”)
J	jota = [HOH-tah] (as in "hot")	Japón, jalapeño	Like the sound “h” in English (as “home”)
K	ka = [kah]	Keiko, Kodac
L	ele = [EH-leh]	Laura, Lupita	When doubled, it makes the English "j" sound: lleno, llanta, tortilla
M	eme = [EH-meh]	Marta, Martín
N	ene = [EH-neh]	Nicaragua, nada
Ñ	eñe = [EH-nyeh] (like "lasagna")	piña, años	ñ = “ny” as in “opinion”
O	o = [oh] as in "so" but shorter	Octavio, Olga	“o” as in “Ohio”
P	pe = [peh]	Pablo, pasta
Q	cu = [Koo]	queso, quince	The vowel “u” goes with letter Q but not pronounced. The vowel(s) after ‘qu' is pronounced as in “keso” for "queso".
R	erre = [EH-rreh] (strongly thrilled)	Ricardo, caro, carro	The R is pronounced soft unless a word begins with R or spelled doubled (RR) If a word begins with R or is doubled (RR), pronounce it strongly trilled.
S	ese = [EH-seh]	Sergio, Suzana
T	te = [the]	Teresa, Tomás, té
U	u = [oo] (as in "moon", lips rounded)	Uruguay, último	“oo” sound like “moon”
V	ve; uve = [beh] or [OO-beh] (pronounced like "B")	Valencia, verde	“b” sound, some countries a little softer
W	doble ve; double u = [doh-bleh BEH]; [doh-bleh OO]	Washington
X	equis = [EH-kees] (often pronounced [ks] in "box", sometimes [h] in Mexico)	México, examen	"h" sound as in México ("mé-hee-co"); and “ks” sound, like “ek-samen”
Y	i griega = [ ee gree-EH-gah]	yogur, ya	sounds like "j" in "juice"
Z	zeta = [SEH-tah] in Latin America; [THEH-tah] in Spain	Zacatecas, lápiz	“s” sound in Latin America and "th" sound in Spain

Some Variations

As with any language, there are regional variations within the Spanish language.

• In Spanish, the letters B and V are generally pronounced the same, especially in standard speech. There is no distinction between them in terms of pronunciation, and both are usually pronounced as a soft b sound, similar to [b] in words like "vaca" (cow) and "boca" (mouth). Therefore, to distinguish them, Spanish speakers called the letter V “be”, “ube”, "be chica" (small or short b), or even "be de vaca" ("b" as in "cow") while they call "b" "be de burro" ("b" as in "donkey").
• The letter W can be “doble ve”, “ve doble”, “doble uve” or “uve doble”
• The letter Y can be “ye” or “i griega”
• Some countries say the double R as “erre” while others say “doble ere”
• The Y and LL are pronounced like a “shuh” or “zhuh” in Argentina and Uruguay.
• For the letter X there are a few words that make a “huh” sound instead of the KS. They are older words (usually names Xavier = Javier, Ximena = Jimena), like México and Don Quixote.
• In Spain, the letters Z and “ce” and “ci” make a “thuh” sound instead of the “S” sound. Thus “cinco” in Spain is pronounced as “thinko” (not as “sinko”).

The Spanish Vowels

The key to your Spanish pronunciation and comprehension is mastery of the vowels.

There is only one way to pronounce each of these letters.

A – ah (in “aloha”)

E – eh (in “elephant”)

I – ee (in “eagle”)

O – oh (in “Ohio”)

U – oo (in “soup”)