The Spanish Alphabet

[AnnaC]

We have many newbies that may not be aware of all the letters in the Spanish Alphabet.

The Spanish alphabet has 30 letters, 26 letters are the same in the English alphabet, plus 4 others. The letters that are the same are pronounced differently of course.

A
B
C
CH
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
LL
N
Ñ
O
P
Q
R
RR
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z


Vowel Sound Similar English sound Examples

A [ah] father,
E [ay] they, hey
I [i] machine, thing
O [o] no, own
U [u] rule, blue



More latter. In the mean time for you Spanish speaking members go ahead and add the sound of the rest of the alphabet. Let's all help out.


Thanks

[carina]

The Royal Spanish Academy state the official Spanish alphabet is
a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.

For alphabetization purposes, since 1994, the letters ch and ll are to be considered as they would be in English. They're still considered letters, but they aren't treated that way for alphabetizing.

rr is not considered a letter.

[Hillbilly]

No RR as a letter but there is a "trill" sound for the RR.

Actually, that sound, taught to children with the ERRE con ERRE, cigarro, ERRE con ERRe, barril... rhyme, is much like the double "T" sound we have in English in words like BATTLE and BOTTLE, CATTLE and RATTLE.

Mostly it is a question of training the tongue and the eye.
The eye has to identify the RR as that double :T: sound, tell the brain to send the signals to the muscles and produce that RRRRRRRR sound.

Another toughy for English speakers is the "D" and :T: sounds and the :R: sound.

In English the "D" and the :T: are made by touching the tip of the tongue to the alveolar ridge behind your top front teeth. Try it: say "tough" and "tongue" or "drink" or "did" .. Feel where your tongue is?

But in Spanish that is where the "r" is pronounced. So when a gringo pronounced the word "TODO" the Spanish speaker hears the word "TORO"....
The Spanish "T"and "D" are done with the tongue either just behind the front teeth or between (interdental) the teeth, as in the case of "DEDO" or any
VOWEL-D-VOWEL combination. "LADO" "RUEDO" "CODO" ....

Hope this helps...

HB, the hidden linguist...

[AnnaC]

Thank you so much. The themod to my madness always works

Now can someone explain the B and V sounds please.

[Stodgord]

Also,

remember that when a word starts with a single "R", it is pronounced the same as a double "RR" like in rosa, Roberto, Rosario, roto etc...

[xamaicano]

From spanishpronto.com

The names for the Spanish letters, in order, are the following:

a (a), be (b), ce (c), che (ch), de (d), e (e), efe (f), ge (g), hache (h), i (i), jota (j), ka (k), ele (l), elle (ll), eme (m), ene (n), eñe (ñ), o (o), pe (p), cu (q), ere (r), erre (rr), ese (s), te (t), u (u), uve (v), uve doble (w)*, equis (x), i griega (y), zeta/zeda (z)

*The Oxford Spanish Dictionary, second edition, lists four ways to say "w" in Spanish: "doble ve," "doble u," or, in Spain: "doble uve" or "uve doble." The Real Academia Española uses "uve doble," but "doble u" seems more common in Latin America.

These letter names are, of course, prounounced with Spanish pronunciation; not "ay," "bee," "cee," (as in English), but:
"ah," "bay," "say" ("thay," in Spain), "chay," "day," "ay," "AY-fay," "hay," "AH-chay," "ee," "HOH-ta," "kah," "AY-lay," "AY-lyay," "AY-may," "AY-nay," "AY-nyay," "oh," "pay," "coo," "AY-ray," "AY-rray," "AY-say," "tay," "oo," "OO-vay," "OO-vay DOH-blay" (or "DOH-blay OO"), "AY-kees," "EE gree-AY-gah," and "SAY-tah" ("THAY-tah," in Spain).

[Stodgord]

Originally Posted by Anna Coniglio

Thank you so much. The themod to my madness always works

Now can someone explain the B and V sounds please.

They are pronounced the same but in some Spanish speakers try to make a distinction in their pronounciation of them. When they do, it looks so obvious that they are making the effort.

This is why many Latinos (not just Dominicans) have a hard time in English with the V and B.

[mkohn]

If you make a b sound but vibrate your lips slightly like you're going to make a v sould, you'll be as close as can be.
For spelling purposes, you can ask v de vaca o b de burro. Or v chica o b grande. But the pronunciation is the same.
mkohn