El alfabeto

A (a) N (ene)

B (be) ñ (eñe)

C (ce) O (o)

*Ch (che) P (pe)

D (de) Q (cu)

E (e) R (ere)

F (efe) *rr (erre)

G (ge) S (ese)

H (hache) T (te)

I (i) U (u)

J (jota) V (ve)

K (ka) W (doble ve)

L (ele) X (equis)

*Ll (elle) Y (i griega)

M (eme) Z (zeta) *No longer officially part of the alphabet ©YB Smith

Traditional Letter Names

La pronunciaciónde las vocales

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples

a ah yacht, hot nacho, taco

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples e eh rent, send mesa, peso

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples i ee machine, trio sí, cine

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples o oh cold, sold loco, foto

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples u oo moon, June mucho, puro

Semivocal

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples y ee see, tee y (and) , hay, voy

©YB Smith

La pronunciaciónde las otras letras

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples

b, v b (begins word, after m, n) book beso, vamos, ambos, enviar

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples b, v b (elsewhere) non-existent (open-mouthed b) tubo, tuvo, sabe

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples c s (before e or i)

(Spain before e or i) city, sent cinco, cine

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples c k (elsewhere) cat, cold casa, Cuba

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples d d (begins word, after l, n) door, dad día, aldea, anda

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples d th (elsewhere) lather, bother usted, nada, cada

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples g h (before e or i) hot general, gimnasio

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples g g (elsewhere) gap, gum gato, gracias

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples h silent hour, honest hola, hora

©YB Smith

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples j h hot José, julio

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples ll, y y, j, su yes, joke, measure yo, llamo, silla

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples ñ ny canyon español, mañana

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples q (qu) k Albuquerque que, queso

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples r dd ladder, muddy loro, mira, cara

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples r rr (begins word)

(also after l, n, s) non-existent (trill) rico, rápido

(alrededor, Enrique, Israel)

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples rr trill non-existent (trill) perro, carro, burro

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples x ks socks taxi, excelente

Letter Pronunciation English examples of sound Spanish examples z s

) six, story zapato, lápiz

©YB Smith

La pronunciación HELPFUL TIPS

B, V

C

D

These 2 letters are pronounced exactly the same. Native speakers /larga /corta

These 2 letters make 2 sounds:

Hard like the English B (begins word, after M, N)

*Soft, open-mouthed B (non-existent in English) *Practice the sound: place your finger between your lips and practice saying these words: tubo, tuvo, sabe. Next, remove your finger and try to maintain that open-mouthed sound. In 2010 the name of V was officially recommended to be .

This letter makes 2 sounds:

Hard like the English K *Soft like the English S (only before E or I)

*Use this rhyme to help you remember:

This letter makes 2 sounds:

Hard like the English D (begins word, after L, N)

©YB Smith

G

H

J

Ll, Y

ñ

This letter makes 2 sounds: Hard like the English G *Soft like the English H (only before E or I) *Use this rhyme to help you remember:

This letter is ALWAYS silent!

This letter sounds like the English H, *but a little harder!

*Practice the sound: say a word containing the letter J while simultaneously clearing your throat.

These 2 letters are pronounced exactly the same by most natives. These 2 letters CAN make 3 sounds depending upon the country: Like the English Y (most common)

Like the English J Like the English SU of measure (least common)

No one of these is more correct they are dialectal differences. Whichever pronunciation you choose, you should be consistent!

.

This letter sounds like the English NY in the

©YB Smith

Q

R

rr

W

X

Z

This letter is ALWAYS followed by U. They are inseparable! The Qu makes the sound of the English K.

This letter makes 2 sounds:

*Hard trill/non-existent in English (begins a word, after L, N, S)

*Practice the sound: place your tongue behind your top front teeth. Exhale and relax the tip of your tongue. Adjust the force of

air until you get a vibration that makes the correct sound.

This letter combination always makes the trill (non-existent in English).See above for how to practice this sound.

This letter is referred to as: doble ve, doble u, doble uve, ve doble, uve doble. In 2010 the name of W was

This letter is USUALLY pronounced like the English KS

Words in which X begins the word (very few): The X is pronounced like the English S (xilófono)

Note: The X in México, mexicano, and Texas is pronounced like the English H. The X of other indigenous words has various pronunciations: the English H, S, SH.

Some examples of these place names are: Oaxaca, Tlaxcala, Uxmal.

This letter is ALWAYS pronounced like the English S. ( )

©YB Smith

Special Notes

ch, ll, rr In 1994 the Spanish alphabet was revised so that ch and ll, were considered letter combinations. Later in 2010 they were formally eliminated from the alphabet itself. Today the Spanish alphabet has the same letters as the English alphabet with the addition of ñ.

So why learn these letter combinations?

In the Spanish alphabet the ch, ll, rr, and ñ are traditionally individual letters. That means that in a dictionary the Ch would follow C so that cine would come before churro. The same was true for the letters L and Ll, N and ñ, R and Rr (rr never begins a word).

This is a relatively new change, and many

dictionaries still contain the traditional letters.

Old habits die hard and many Hispanics still cling to the letters they learned as children.

These traditional letters are still used when

spelling out loud.

©YB Smith