The Spanish The Spanish AlphabetAlphabet

““El alfabeto”El alfabeto”

Some notes on the Spanish Some notes on the Spanish alphabet…alphabet… In English, sometimes vowels take on In English, sometimes vowels take on

different pronunciationsdifferent pronunciations Pronounce the following words:Pronounce the following words:

back, bakeback, bake water, laterwater, later roaring, pouringroaring, pouring

In Spanish, 99.99999999% of the time, In Spanish, 99.99999999% of the time, vowels keep the same pronunciation, vowels keep the same pronunciation, making it very easy to pronounce the making it very easy to pronounce the word if you know how each letter is word if you know how each letter is pronouncedpronounced

Aa[ah]

amigo, manzana

Bb[bey]

Bolígrafo

Cc[se]

*Soft C sounds like sent or cent; before the vowels “e” or “i” precio, principal

*Hard C sounds like cat or the letter k; before all other letters

Cinco, poco, como

Ch[che]Chico

Dd[dey]

Dos

Ee[e]elefante

Ff[effe]

Falda

Gg[hay]

*Soft G sounds like h in hint or house; before vowels “e” or “i” gigante, gesto

*Hard G sounds like go; before all other letters garage, goma

Garage, goma, tengo

Hh[ah-che]

NEVER PRONOUNCED!!!

Hola, ahora

*Pronounce the vowel after!

Ii[ee]

Jj[hota]

Pronounced like an H…yes you do make the H sound with this letter…

junio, julio

Kk[kah]

Ll[elay]Lola, Lima,

limón

ll[ay-yay]

**Pronounced like a Y, as in yes or year

TortillaEllaEllos

Mm[em-eh]

Nn[en-eh]

ñ[en-yay]

Ny sound, like in canyon or ni in onion

España

año

Oo[oh]

Pp[peh]

Qq[ku]

Rr[ere]

Pero, para, rápido

rr[errrrrre] (roll tongue)

Many are unable to roll their r’s right away, so if you can’t, don’t worry

Ss[ese]

Tt[te]

Uu[oo]

Vv[ve]

Pronounced like B, but slightly more soft

vaso

Ww[doblay ve]

Xx[eh-kees]

Exam, extraño, excelente

*may be pronounced like an English “H” in some words– México, Texas

Yy[ee-gre-egg-ah]

*Pronounced like: 1. the letter i at the end of a word (hoy) 2. like the y in yes

(ya)

Zz[zeta]

*Pronounced like the letter s

*In Spain, pronounced like the letters th (lisp)

Zapatos, zorro

¡Que Bueno!You are now a master of the alfabeto…