Learn Spanish for Beginners: Easy Step-by-Step Method to Start Learning Spanish Today

The Alphabet (El Alfabeto):

Unlike English, Spanish is a very phonetic language, this means that the letters within the words sound very similarly to the way in which they sound standing alone. With a few exceptions, which we will touch on later in this chapter, knowing how each letter sounds will allow you to know how a word is pronounced.

The Spanish alphabet is exactly the equivalent as in English but with the accumulation of the framed ñ which is very widely used and does not really have an equivalent in English. The origin of this framed n is in Old Spanish where some words were spelled with a double n and the ~ arose as shorthand to indicate the doubling of letters. Spanish has evolved a lot since then and the ñ was added to the alphabet in the eighteen century.

The Spanish alphabet is therefore made up of 27 letters and while there may be regional variations on the pronunciation, the letters all sound similar everywhere. Below is the full alphabet, the pronunciation of each letter, and what the letter is called in Spanish.

A: Pronounce it like the A in Back — Ah

B: Pronounce it like the B in Bottom – Beh (Big b, be grande)

C: Mostly Pronounce it like the C in Car though there are a few exceptions, which we will look into soon enough — Ceh

D: Pronounce it like the D in Do — Deh

E: Pronounce it like the E in Earnest — Eh

F: Pronounce it like the F in Fought — Efeh

G: Mostly Pronounce it like the G in Gustav but there are a few exceptions, which we will study later in this chapter. — Ghé

H: The H is always silent, unless combined with a C, where it is pronounced just like the CH in Change; or an S where it is pronounced as the Sh in Shock- Hache

I: Pronounce it like the EE in Bee — Ih (pronounced Ee)

J: Pronounced almost like the H in Hall, only with a louder, stronger exhalation — Jota

K: Pronounce it like the K in Kind — Kah

L: Mostly Pronounce it like the L in Like but when it is doubled up (Ll) it sounds like the J in Joy - Eleh

M: Pronounce it like the M in Mother — Emeh

N: Pronounce it like the N in Not — Eneh

Ñ: The closest sound in English for this letter is the NI in Onion but that will only give you a rough idea, if you know Italian or French then the sound is the same as the "gn or if you know Portuguese it is like the nh" sound — Eñe (énye)

O: Pronounce it like the O in Open — Oh

P: Pronounce it like the P in Pack — Peh

Q: Pronounce it like the Q in Question — Cuh

R: Pronounce it like the TT in Butter in American English. When doubled up (Rr) it makes that famous Rolling sound — Ere

S: Pronounce it like the S in Same — Esse

T: Pronounce it like the T in Tame — Teh

U: Pronounce it like the OU in Youth or the OO in Loot — Uh

V: Pronounce it like the V in Vital — Veh (Small v, ve chica).

W: Pronounce it like the W in Window. The W is only used in Spanish to account for words in English that have migrated to Spanish such as Wi-Fi – Doble Uh (literally double-u) it may also be called Doble Veh (Double-V)

X: Mostly pronounce it like the X in Exam, though there are regional variations, which we will touch on soon — Equis (pronounced ekis)

Y: It can be used either as a consonant or a vowel, when used as a consonant it sounds just like the letter Y in English, and as a vowel it will sound just like the I sound in Spanish which, if you remember sounds like the double E in Bee. — Ih (Greek I, I Griega)

Z: In most Spanish-speaking countries this is pronounced just like the S in Soy; however in Spain, this is Pronounce it like the TH sound in This — Zeta (pronounced Seta or Theta)

Practice the sounds out loud, some are quite hard to manage by English speakers such as the J and RR; however, if you practice and practice you will manage it in the end.

Now, we mentioned some exceptions to the pronunciation rules and now we will discuss them. Most are very similar to the exceptions in English so it will not be too hard to grasp them.

First the exceptions to the