The Spanish Alphabet is one of those topics you should master first when learning this language. It is quite simple to remember and really important to master it for spelling purposes. This short lesson will show you how to pronounce all of the consonants and vowels that are part of the Spanish Alphabet. You will find examples of nouns with each letter. Let’s start…
A brief introduction to the Spanish Alphabet: Vowels and Consonants
The Spanish Alphabet, often called “Abecedario” or “Alfabeto”, is formed by twenty seven letters. Before 1994, the alphabet was composed by twenty nine letters, but the “Real Academia Española” (RAE) decided to exclude two of them: “CH” and “LL”. This way, only single letters are considered to be part of the alphabet and not these two special cases. Just like in English, the Spanish alphabet contains 5 vowels: “a, e, i, o, u”. Here is a picture showing all of the letters in the “abecedario” plus a recording to listen to the pronunciation of the alphabet in Spanish.
How to pronounce the Spanish alphabet: sounds and examples
As you can see, all of the letters in the picture can be found in the English alphabet, except for the letter “Ñ”. Remember there is also special letters like “CH” and “LL”. Next, we will show you the right pronunciation of each letter in the Spanish alphabet, followed by some examples of nouns with the vowels and consonants in the alphabet.
A, a – Avión, Águila A, a – Airplane, Eagle |
B, b – Barril, Bota B, b – Barrel, Boot |
C, c – Casa, Hamaca C, c – House, Hammock |
Ch, ch – Chile, Chocolate Ch, ch – Chile, Chocolate |
D, d – Dentista, Dedo D, d – Dentist, Finger |
E, e – Experto, Estudiante E, e – Expert, Student |
F, f – Fuego, Flor F, f – Fire, Flower |
G, g – Gato, Gallina G, g – Cat, Hen |
H, h – Hermano, Hielo H, h – Brother, Ice |
I, i – Isla, Iglesia I, i – Island, Church |
J, j – Joya, Jarrón J, j – Jewel, Vase |
K, k – Kimono, Kilo K, k – Kimono, Kilogram |
L, l – Lodo, Limón L, l – Mud, lemon |
LL, ll – Llama, Silla LL, ll – Llama, Chair |
M, m – Mamá, Mono M, m – Mama, Monkey |
N, n – Nuevo, Noticias N, n – New, News |
Ñ, ñ – Niño, Cariño Ñ, ñ – Child, Affection |
O, o – Ojo, Olor O, o – Eye, Smell |
P, p – Papá, Poder P, p – Dad, Power |
Q, q – Queque, Queso Q, q – Cake, Cheese |
R, r – Rosa, Ratón R, r – Rose, Mouse |
S, s – Sábado, Amigos S, s – Saturday, Friends |
T, t – Tigre, tomate T, t – Tiger, tomato |
U, u – Uno, Universidad U, u – One, University |
V, v – Vaso, Velo V, v – Glass, Veil |
W, w – Web, Kiwi W, w – Web, Kiwi |
X, x – Taxi, Boxeo X, x – Taxi, Boxing |
Y, y – Yeso, Yema Y, y – Plaster, Yolk |
Z, z – Zapato, taza Z, z – Shoe, cup |
The pronunciation and sometimes names of some of the consonants may vary from one country to another, e.g. “V” (uve, ve chica) and “Y” (ye, i griega). Know that the letter “Z” has a different pronunciation in Spain compared to Latin America, where it sounds very similar to “S” – almost the same actually. Another interesting fact is that the letter “R” in Spanish has both a weak and strong pronunciation, something that you learn to recognize with practice, e.g. Marte (weak “R”) and “Rosa” (strong “R”). It is also very important to remember that the letter “H” is silent, which means that even if the word has an “H” somewhere you should not pronounce it at all. Please check the examples with the Spanish alphabet above again and see how these rules were applied.
There is much more to learn about the alphabet in Spanish and we will certainly make use of this content in future lessons. We will focus on basic spelling rules in some lessons and provide examples of real situations where you might need this knowledge. Thanks for joining us! Enjoy learning Spanish!
Extra Practice: Spanish alphabet worksheet
Before you leave, we have created a worksheet for your to practice the alphabet in Spanish along with the vocabulary for farm animals and pets. Please follow the link and practice on your on.