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Spanish · Sounds and spelling · A1

The Spanish alphabet: 27 letters and their sounds

The Spanish alphabet (el alfabeto, el al-fah-BEH-toh) has 27 letters: the 26 you know from English plus ñ. Spanish spelling is phonetic, which means each letter stands for the same sound almost every time. Once you know the 27 sounds on this page, you can read any Spanish word aloud, even one you have never seen.

On this page
EL ALFABETO · 27 LETRAS ABCDEFG HIJKLMN OPQRST UVWXYZ Ñ eñe Ñ comes after N. H is written but never pronounced.
Ñ is a separate letter with its own place after N, so in a dictionary año (year) comes after every word starting an-. H is shown faded because Spanish never pronounces it.

All 27 letters, with names and sounds

Each letter has a name, which you use when spelling a word aloud, and a sound, which you use when reading. Pronunciations are written in English-style syllables, with the stressed syllable (the one said a little louder) in capitals. Press ▶ to hear the example word.

LetterNameSound, for English speakersExample
A a aah Always “ah”, as in father. aguaAH-gwah · water
B b bebeh Like English b at the start of a word; softer between vowels, with the lips barely touching. bocaBOH-kah · mouth
C c cetheh / seh “k” before a, o, u. Before e or i: “th” in most of Spain, “s” in Latin America. cenaTHEH-nah · SEH-nah · dinner
D d dedeh Tongue on the back of the top teeth. Between vowels it softens to the “th” in this. dedoDEH-dhoh · finger
E e eeh Always “eh”, as in bed. eneroeh-NEH-roh · January
F f efeEH-feh As in English. fuegoFWEH-goh · fire
G g geheh Hard “g” as in go before a, o, u. Before e or i, a throaty “h”. gatoGAH-toh · cat
H h hacheAH-cheh Always silent. horaOH-rah · hour
I i iee Always “ee”, as in see. islaEES-lah · island
J j jotaHOH-tah A throaty “h”, like ch in Scottish loch. jovenHOH-ben · young
K k kakah As in English; only in borrowed words. kiloKEE-loh · kilo
L l eleEH-leh A clear l, tongue just behind the top teeth. libroLEE-broh · book
M m emeEH-meh As in English. madreMAH-dreh · mother
N n eneEH-neh As in English. nubeNOO-beh · cloud
Ñ ñ eñeEH-nyeh “ny”, as in the middle of canyon. niñoNEE-nyoh · child
O o ooh A short, pure “oh”, without the glide of English go. ochoOH-choh · eight
P p pepeh Like English p without the puff of air. padrePAH-dreh · father
Q q cukoo Always “k”, always followed by a silent u. quesoKEH-soh · cheese
R r erreEH-rreh One quick tap inside a word; rolled at the start of a word. peraPEH-rah · pear
S s eseEH-seh Always “s”, never “z”. casaKAH-sah · house
T t teteh Tongue on the back of the top teeth, no puff of air. trentren · train
U u uoo Always “oo”, as in food. uvaOO-bah · grape
V v uveOO-beh Exactly the same sound as b. Spanish has no English “v” sound. vinoBEE-noh · wine
W w uve dobleOO-beh DOH-bleh “w” or “gw”; only in borrowed words. Also called doble uve. wifiWEE-fee · wifi
X x equisEH-kees “ks” between vowels. In some Mexican names, a throaty “h”. taxiTAHK-see · taxi
Y y yeyeh Like y in yes. Alone, as the word for “and”, it is “ee”. yoyoh · I
Z z zetaTHEH-tah / SEH-tah “th” in most of Spain, “s” in Latin America. zapatothah-PAH-toh · sah-PAH-toh · shoe

Letter names are feminine in Spanish, because the word for letter, la letra, is feminine. So you say la a, la be, la eñe. Grammatical gender, the class every Spanish noun belongs to, is explained in gender and articles.

Ten letters that sound different from English

Most consonants sound close to English. These ten do not, and they are the ones that make an English accent noticeable. Each card shows the English habit on the left and the Spanish sound on the right.

b / v English: b and v are different sounds. Spanish: Both letters make the same sound: a b at the start, a soft b between vowels.
c / z English: c before e is “s”; z is “z”. Spanish: “th” in most of Spain, “s” in Latin America, for both ce/ci and z.
d English: A firm d with the tongue on the ridge behind the teeth. Spanish: Tongue touches the teeth. Between vowels it softens almost to “th” in this.
g English: Soft g in gem. Spanish: Before e or i, the throaty j sound; never the sound in gem.
h English: Breathed, as in hat. Spanish: Always silent.
j English: “j” as in jam. Spanish: A throaty “h” from the back of the mouth.
ll English: An l sound. Spanish: Like y in yes for most speakers; in Argentina, like “sh”.
qu English: “kw”, as in queen. Spanish: Just “k”; the u is silent.
r / rr English: A loose r with the tongue pulled back. Spanish: A single tap, or a roll for rr and r at the start of a word.
vowels English: Vowels glide (go sounds like “goh-oo”) and weaken to “uh”. Spanish: Five short, pure vowels that never weaken, even in unstressed syllables.

Two of these, c before e or i and z, sound different in Spain and in Latin America. Both are correct; choose one and keep to it. The Spanish pronunciation guide compares the two systems in full, and the rolled R lesson teaches the tap and the trill step by step.

Five letter pairs with one sound: ch, ll, rr, qu, gu

A digraph is two letters that together spell one sound, like sh in English ship. Spanish has five. Until 2010, ch and ll were counted as letters of their own, so older dictionaries list them separately; today they are pairs, and the alphabet has 27 letters.

ch Always “ch” as in church. It never sounds like “k” or “sh”.
Muchomuchchocolate.chocolate
MOO-choh choh-koh-LAH-teh “A lot of chocolate.” Why: Spanish puts the describing word (here “much”) before the noun for amounts, just as English does.
ll “y” as in yes for most speakers. In Argentina and Uruguay, “sh” or “zh”.
MemyselfllamocallLola.Lola
meh YAH-moh LOH-lah “My name is Lola.” Why: Spanish says “I call myself Lola”. Llamo is the verb llamar (to call) with -o for “I”.
rr A strong roll of the tongue, several quick taps. It only appears between vowels.
Eltheperrodogcorre.runs
el PEH-rroh KOH-rreh “The dog runs.” Why: Both perro and corre have rr, so both get the full roll. Pero (but), with one r, has a single tap.
qu “k” before e and i. The u is silent; it only tells you the c-sound stays hard.
¿Quéwhatquieres?(you) want
keh KYEH-res “What do you want?” Why: Spanish writes que, qui instead of ce, ci for the k-sound, because ce and ci would be read “theh” or “seh”.
gu A hard “g” before e and i. The u is silent. With two dots (gü) the u is said: pingüino.
Latheguitarraguitaresisnueva.new
lah gee-TAH-rrah es NWEH-bah “The guitar is new.” Why: Without the u, gi would be read “hee”. The silent u keeps the g hard, the same job u does after q.

Where ñ comes from

The wavy line over ñ is called a tilde (TEEL-deh). It began as a scribe’s shortcut. Medieval scribes copying Latin by hand saved space by writing a double nn as one n with a small n above it. Over time the small n flattened into a wave, and the sound “ny” got its own letter.

LATIN annus annus · year MEDIEVAL SCRIBES ano n a small n written above MODERN SPANISH año año · AH-nyoh · year
Latin annus became Spanish año. The same shortcut explains why Latin nn words often have ñ in Spanish: pannus (cloth) became paño.

Leaving the tilde off changes the word, not just the spelling. Año (AH-nyoh) means year; ano (AH-noh) means anus. On an English keyboard, ñ is typed with Alt + 0241 on Windows, Option + N then N on a Mac, or a long press on n on a phone.

Spelling a word aloud

You will need letter names on the phone, at a hotel desk or when giving an email address. This short exchange shows the three questions and answers that come up most. Every word is glossed (given its English meaning underneath) so you can see how the sentence is built.

Clerk
¿Cómohowseitselfescribewritessuyourapellido?surname
KOH-moh seh es-KREE-beh soo ah-peh-YEE-doh “How do you spell your surname?”
Why: Spanish asks “how does it write itself?”. Su is the polite “your”, used with strangers and at work.
You
Seitselfescribewritesjota,Jo,Oene,Ne,Eese.S
seh es-KREE-beh HOH-tah, oh, EH-neh, eh, EH-seh “It’s spelled J, O, N, E, S.”
Why: You answer with the same pattern, then give each letter’s Spanish name. Jones said in Spanish would start “HOH-nes”.
Clerk
¿ConwithbeBoorconwithuve?V
kon beh oh kon OO-beh “With a B or a V?”
Why: B and v sound the same, so this question is common. Some speakers say “be larga” (long b) and “uve corta” (short v).
You
ConwithhacheHalat-theprincipio.beginning
kon AH-cheh ahl preen-THEE-pyoh “With an H at the beginning.”
Why: H is silent, so a listener cannot hear it. Al is a + el (at + the), which Spanish always joins.
Clerk
¿Meto-meloitrepite,repeatporforfavor?favour
meh loh rreh-PEE-teh por fah-BOR “Could you repeat that, please?”
Why: Spanish puts the small words “me” and “it” before the verb. Por favor, literally “for favour”, means please.

Email addresses add three symbols: @ is arroba (ah-RROH-bah), a dot is punto (POON-toh) and a hyphen is guion (gee-ON). So ana.ruiz@correo.es is read “ana punto ruiz arroba correo punto es”.

Where to go next

Next guideSpanish pronunciationThe five vowels, soft consonants, linking words and Spain versus Latin America. Next guideStress and written accentsThree rules tell you which syllable to stress; the accent mark shows every exception. Next guideThe rolled RThe single tap and the full trill, with a step-by-step method. Course mapSpanish hubThe full course map from A1 to C2, and your first sentence.