Learn the Spanish Alphabet

El abecedario

Learn to read the Spanish Alphabet (El abecedario): all 27 letters with names, sounds and audio, plus flashcards, listening, typing and matching practice.

Letter	Name	Latin letters	Sound
A a	A	a	always an open a as in father, never as in cat
B b	Be	b	like English b at the start of a phrase or after m; softer, lips barely touching, between vowels
C c	Ce	c	k before a, o, u; th as in think before e, i (s in Latin America)
D d	De	d	like d in day with the tongue touching the teeth; softens toward th in 'this' between vowels
E e	E	e	like e in bed, short and pure, never 'ay'
F f	Efe	f	f as in fan
G g	Ge	g	hard g as in go before a, o, u; a throaty h (like Scottish loch) before e, i
H h	Hache	h	always silent: hola sounds like 'ola'; ch sounds like ch in church
I i	I	i	like ee in see, short and pure
J j	Jota	j	a strong throaty h, like ch in Scottish loch
K k	Ka	k	k as in kite; used only in borrowed words
L l	Ele	l	a clear l as in leaf; double ll sounds like y in yes
M m	Eme	m	m as in mother
N n	Ene	n	n as in no
Ñ ñ	Eñe	ñ	ny as in canyon
O o	O	o	like o in for, short and pure, never 'oh-oo'
P p	Pe	p	p as in spin, without a puff of air
Q q	Cu	q	always written qu, sounding k before e or i (the u is silent)
R r	Erre	r	a single tap like tt in American 'butter'; rolled at the start of a word or when written rr
S s	Ese	s	s as in sun, never z
T t	Te	t	like t in stop, tongue against the teeth, no puff of air
U u	U	u	like oo in food; silent in que, qui, gue, gui (unless written ü)
V v	Uve	v	same sound as Spanish b, not like English v
W w	Uve doble	w	w as in water; used only in borrowed words
X x	Equis	x	ks as in taxi; like h in some names such as México
Y y	Ye	y	like y in yes; like ee when alone ('y' = and) or at the end of a word
Z z	Zeta	z	th as in think (s in Latin America), never a buzzing z

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