The Spanish Alphabet “El alfabeto”
Some notes on the Spanish alphabet… In English, sometimes vowels take on different pronunciations Pronounce the following words: back, bake water, later roaring, pouring In Spanish, 99.99999999% of the time, vowels keep the same pronunciation, making it very easy to pronounce the word if you know how each letter is pronounced
Aa [ah] amigo, manzana
Bb [bey] Bolígrafo
*Soft C sounds like sent or cent; before the vowels “e” or “i” precio, principal *Hard C sounds like cat or the letter k; before all other letters Cinco, poco, como Cc [se]
Ch [che] Chico
Dd [dey] Dos
Ee [e] elefante
Ff [effe] Falda
Gg [hay] Garage, goma, tengo *Soft G sounds like h in hint or house; before vowels “e” or “i” gigante, gesto *Hard G sounds like go; before all other letters garage, goma Garage, goma, tengo Gg [hay]
Hh [ah-che] NEVER PRONOUNCED!!! Hola, ahora *Pronounce the vowel after! [ah-che]
Ii [ee]
Pronounced like an H…yes you do make the H sound with this letter… Jj junio, julio [hota]
Kk [kah]
Ll [elay] Lola, Lima, limón
ll [ay-yay] **Pronounced like a Y, as in yes or year Tortilla Ella Ellos [ay-yay]
Mm [em-eh]
Nn [en-eh]
Ny sound, like in canyon or ni in onion España año ñ [en-yay]
Oo [oh]
Pp [peh]
Qq [ku]
Rr [ere] Pero, para, rápido
rr [errrrrre] (roll tongue) Many are unable to roll their r’s right away, so if you can’t, don’t worry rr [errrrrre] (roll tongue)
Ss [ese]
Tt [te]
Uu [oo]
Pronounced like B, but slightly more soft Vv [ve] vaso
Ww [doblay ve]
Xx [eh-kees] Exam, extraño, excelente *may be pronounced like an English “H” in some words– México, Texas
Yy [ee-gre-egg-ah] *Pronounced like: 1. the letter i at the end of a word (hoy) 2. like the y in yes (ya) Yy [ee-gre-egg-ah]
Zz [zeta] Zapatos, zorro *Pronounced like the letter s *In Spain, pronounced like the letters th (lisp) Zz [zeta] Zapatos, zorro
¡Que Bueno! You are now a master of the alfabeto…