El abecedario (El alfabeto)

Spanish and English both use the Latin alphabet, but learning your Spanish ABCs is more than just recognizing letters; it’s about getting those sounds just right!

It is easy for English speakers to mix up the pronunciation on Spanish vowels A, I, and E.

If you pronounce papa (potato) as PAY-puh, that’ll sound like pepa (seed) to a Spanish speaker. It may be tempting to pronounce pepa as PEE-puh, a Spanish speaker will think you’re trying to say pipa (pipe).

And that’s just the vowels!

The Spanish alphabet has a total of 27 letters. It includes the same 26 letters as the English alphabet, plus one more: Ñ.

The Spanish alphabet used to have more letters. In 2010, the Real Academia Española decided that the letters CH, LL, and RR should be combined with the letters C, L, and R. As a result, Spanish dictionaries no longer have separate sections for words that begin with those letter pairings.

Just like the English alphabet, the alphabet in Spanish has a name for every letter. When you learned the ABC song as a child, you were singing the names of the English letters. This is so basic that you probably don’t even think about it anymore. In English these names are only spoken and not written. In Spanish the names are written. So you may see them in print. For example, be is the name for the Spanish letter B.

Letter	Name	Example	Pronunciation	Translation
A	a	amigo	ah-MI-goh	friend
B	be (be larga, be alta)	bola	BO-lah	ball
C	ce	casa, cena	KAH-sa, SEN-a	house, dinner
D	de	día	DEE-ah	day
E	e	este	ES-te	this
F	efe	foto	FO-toe	photo
G	ge	gallo, gente	GAH-yo, HEN-te	rooster, people
H	hache	hola	OH-lah	hi
I	i	isla	EEZ-lah	island
J	jota	jefe	HEH-fay	boss
K	ka	kilo	KEE-loh	kilo
L	ele	libro	LEE-bro	book
M	eme	manzana	mahn-ZAH-nah	apple
N	ene	nube	NEW-beh	cloud
Ñ	eñe	niña	NEEN-yah	little girl
O	o	lobo	LO-boh	wolf
P	pe	pato	PAH-toe	duck
Q	cu	queso	KAY-so	cheese
R	erre	radio	RAH-dee-oh	radio
S	ese	sal	SAHL	salt
T	te	tomate	toe-MAH-tay	tomato
U	u	uva	OO-bah	grape
V	ve chica or  ve baja	vaca	BAH-kah	cow
W	doble ve, or doble u	wifi	WEE-fee	wifi
X	equis	México	MEH-hee-koh	Mexico
Y	i griega	yo	YOH	I
Z	zeta	zorro	SOU-rroh	fox

A particular letter makes the same sound with very few exceptions. Three exceptions are the letters C, G, and R. These tricky consonants change their pronunciation based on the other letters around them.

The letter C makes a “k” sound when followed by A, O, or U, but it makes an “s” sound (or in Spain, “th” like “thin”) when followed by E or I.

Spanish Word	Pronunciation	Translation
casa	KAH-sah	house
codo	KOH-DOH	elbow
cuna	KUH-nah	cradle
ceja	SAY-ha	eyebrow
cita	SEE-ta	appointment

The letter G makes a hard “g” sound before A, O, or U, but it makes an “h” sound before E or I.

Spanish Word	Pronunciation	Translation
gafas	GAH-fahs	glasses
gota	GOH-ta	drop
gusto	GOOSE-toe	taste, liking, pleasure
gesto	HEHS-toe	gesture
gigante	hee-GAN-tay	giant

The letter R is trilled when at the beginning of a sentence or when it’s a double RR:

Spanish Word	Pronunciation	Translation
recuerdo	rray-KWER-doh	memory
carro	KAH-rroh	car
caro	KAH-roh	expensive

Tongue twisters, or trabalenguas in Spanish, are a fantastic way to work on your pronunciation of the double r.

Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril. (R with R cigar, R with R barrel.)

Rápido corren los carros, sobre los rieles del ferrocarril. (Quickly run the carriages on the rails of the railway.)