Today we’ll be diving into the alphabets of the Spanish language. The best part is that they are pronounced exactly as seen.
In 2010 many changes were made to the Spanish alphabet by the Royal Spanish Academy.
They officially removed two letters of the alphabet 'ch' and 'll', making the official count from 29 to 27.
The Spanish alphabet now consists of the 26 letters of the English alphabet plus the letter 'ñ'.
Though in some Latin American countries 'rr' is considered a part of the alphabet, it has not been officially accepted by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE).
Two other letters the 'w' and the 'y' have also gone through some changes. Previously 'w' was called 'doble ve/ doble u/ uve doble' and now after the change it is called “doble uve”.
Similarly, previously 'y' was called 'I griega' but currently it is called as 'ye'.
In many places you may see 'v' as 'uve' or 've', it is the same thing!
Letter Name Pronunciation
A A Ah
B Be Beh
C Ce Seh
D De Deh
E E Eh
F Efe Ef-eh
G He Heh
H Hache Ah-che
I I Ee
J Jota Hotah
K Ka Kah
L Ele El-eh
Ll Elle Eh-yeh
M Eme Em-eh
N Ene En-eh
Ñ Eñe En-yeh
O O Oh
P Pe Peh
Q Cu Coo/koo
R Ere Air-eh
Rr Erre Err-eh
S Ese Es-eh
T Te Teh
U U Ooh
V Ve Veh
W Dobleve Doh-bleh-veh
X Equis Eh-keys
Y Ye Yeh
Z Zeta Seh-tah
Some consonants when paired with different vowels are pronounced differently.
C
C followed by a,o,u- ‘k’- coche (car), cuchara (spoon)
C followed by e, i- ‘s’- cita (appointment)
G
G followed by a,e,o,u- ‘g’- gato (cat)
G followed by e,i- ‘h’- gente (people)
G followed by 'ue'- ge- guerra (war)
G followed by 'ui'- gi- guitarra (quitar)
G followed by 'ü'- gu- vergüenza (shame)
Q
Q followed by 'ue'- ke- quiero (want)
Q followed by 'ui'- ki- quien (who)