Spanish alphabet
Alphabet, pronunciation and punctuation
This list shows the letters of the Spanish alphabet and how they are pronounced.
| A: ah | J: chota (as in loch) | R:eray (soft 'r') |
| B: bay | K: ka | RR: erray (rolled 'r') |
| C: thay | L: ellay | S: essay |
| CH: chay (as in chair) | LL: eyay | T: tay |
| D: day | M: emmay | U: oo |
| E: ay | N: ennay | V: oobay |
| F: effay | Ñ: enyay | W: oobay doblay |
| G: chay (as in loch) | O: oh | X: ekiss |
| H: atchay (as in chair) | P: pay | Y: ee-gree-ayga |
| I: ee | Q: koo | Z: theta |
Points to note
- Sometimes 'K' and 'W' are not included in the Spanish alphabet as they normally occur only in words of foreign origin.
- 'CH', 'LL', 'Ñ' and 'RR' count as separate letters.
- Older dictionaries used to list words beginning with 'CH' after all the 'C's and those beginning with 'LL' after all the 'L's. However, that is no longer the case and in most modern dictionaries the words are alphabetised as they would be in English (except that the 'Ñ' comes after the 'N').
Pronunciation
Spanish pronunciation is, compared to English, fairly straightforward with all the letters in a word being pronounced, including final vowels. However certain letters can pose problems:
- 'B' and 'V' are pronounced almost exactly alike, with the 'v' being slightly softer and more like an English 'b' sound. So both 'Barcelona' and 'Valencia' will sound as if they start with a 'b'.
- 'C' is pronounced as the 'c' in 'cat' except when it is followed by the letters 'e' or 'i' when it is pronounced as the 'th' in 'thing', apart from in Latin America when it is pronounced with an 's-' sound.
- 'CH' is always pronounced as in 'chocolate'.
- G is pronounced as the 'g' of 'goat', except when it is followed by 'e' or 'i' when it is pronounced as the 'ch' in 'loch'.
- 'H' is never pronounced.
- The letter 'J' is always pronounced as the 'ch' in 'loch'.
- 'Qu-' is pronounced as an English 'k'.
- In words with 'gue' or 'gui', such as 'guitarra' or 'guerra', the letter 'U' is not pronounced.
- 'Z' is always pronounced as 'th' as in 'thing', apart from in Latin America when it is pronounced with an 's' sound.
Punctuation
Exclamation marks appear twice each time they are used - once (upside down) at the start of the sentence, and once at the end.
For example:
'¡Silencio, por favor!' - 'Quiet, please!'
'¡Levántate!' - 'Get up!'
Question marks behave in a similar way, but their first occurrence can actually be in the middle of a sentence, with their second at the end.
For example:
'¿Dónde vives?' - 'Where do you live?'
but
'Trabajas mucho, ¿no?' - 'You work hard, don't you?'
Other punctuation used in Spanish can include a stress mark, like a French acute. See Stress on Spanish words.