Pronouncing the alphabet in Spanish
Learning how to read and write Spanish can only get you so far, because if you don’t know how to pronounce your pero from your perro, you may get into many sticky situations! The good news is that Spanish is a phonetic language, which means that you can look at almost any word and immediately know how to pronounce it.
This blog post will go over how to pronounce the alphabet in Spanish:
Letter |
Approximate pronunciation |
Example |
Pronunciation of example |
a | Like ‘a’ in father | gato | gah-to |
b | a) When the ‘b’ is between vowels, pronounce like the English ‘b’ but softer | bebiba | beh-bee-dah |
b) When ‘b’ is not in between vowels, pronounce like the English ‘b | bueno | bweh-noh | |
c | Like ‘k’ in kite | cabra | kah-bra |
ce / ci | Like ‘s’ in say | centro | sehn-troh |
d | Like the English ‘d’ | dar | dah-r |
e | Like the ‘e’ in net | esta | eh-stah |
f | Like the English ‘f’ | feliz | feh-lis |
g | Like ‘g’ in get | ninguno | neen-goo-noh |
ge / gi | Like ‘k’ in lock | urgente | oor-kh-ehn-teh |
h | Silent | ¡hola! | ola |
i | Like ‘ee’ in feet | sí | s-ee |
j | Like ‘ch’ in Scottish loch | bajo | bah-khoh |
k | Only found in foreign words. Pronounce like the English ‘k’ | karate | kah-ratay |
l | Like the ‘l’ in call | tal | ta-ll |
m | Like the English ‘m’ | mamá | mah-mah |
n | Like the English ‘n’ | nada | nah-da |
o | Like the ‘o’ in no | dos | doh-s |
p | Like the ‘p’ in English | pero | peh-ro |
q | Like ‘k’ in kick | que | keh |
r | Roll your tongue especially when the ‘r’ is at the beginning of the word | río | ree-oh |
s | a) like ‘s’ in same | sus | s-oos |
b)When the ‘s’ is before ‘b/d/g/l/m/n’ pronounce like ‘z’ | mismo | meez-moh | |
t | Like the English ‘t’ but make your tongue touch the back of your frontteeth | té | teh |
u | a) Like ‘oo’ in food | uno | oo-noh |
b) Silent after ‘g’ and ‘q’ | que | keh | |
v | Pronounced like ‘beh’ | envase | en-ba-seh |
w | Only found in foreign words. Pronounce like the English ‘w’ | whisky | whisky |
x | a) Like the “ks” in the word “talks” | examen | eks-amin |
b) The second is pronounced like the English letter “h” and used for certain proper nouns | México | Meh-hico | |
y | a) Depending upon the region, ‘y’ can sound like the English ‘y’ or the English ‘j’ | ya | yah |
b) When alone, pronounced like ‘ee | y | ee | |
z | Like ‘s’ in same | brazo | brah-soh |
Letters and sounds specific to the Spanish alphabet
Letter |
Approximate pronunciation |
Example |
Pronunciation of example |
ll | Like the ‘y’ in yellow | lleno | yeh-noh |
ñ | Like the ‘n’ in onion | niño | nin-nyoh |
rr | Really roll your tongue! Pronounce like ‘airrr-ay’ | arriba | ah-rree-bah |
ü | Like ‘we’ in well | antigüedad | ahn-tee-gweh-dahd |
Pronunciation of Spanish spoken in Spain
Letter |
Approximate pronunciation |
Example |
Pronunciation of example |
ce/ci | Like ‘th’ in thin | centro | then-troh |
d | Like the English ‘d’ apart from when the ‘d’ is in between vowels or at the end of the word. Then pronounce like ‘th’ in thin, but softer | usted | oos-teth |
z | Like ‘th’ in thin | brazo | brah-thoh |