The Spanish alphabet, sound by sound

Here's a fun fact to start with. If a Spaniard reads the name "Rajesh" off a list, they'll probably say something like "Ra-KHESH", with a throaty sound in the middle. Not because they're careless, but because in Spanish the letter J always makes that sound. Spanish letters are wonderfully loyal: each one does its job the same way, almost every time.

That's why the alphabet is the best place to start with Spanish pronunciation. Learn the 27 letters and their sounds once, and you can read almost any Spanish word out loud, even words you've never seen. In this post I'll take you through the whole Spanish alphabet, sound by sound, with Hindi sound-alikes wherever they help, a full table to save, and a little practice in spelling your own name. ¡Vamos!Let's go!Used to cheer someone on or get moving.

How many letters are in the Spanish alphabet?

The Spanish alphabet, el abecedariothe alphabetThe everyday word for the ABC. You'll also hear el alfabeto., has 27 letters. That's the 26 you know from English, plus one extra: ñ.

You may have seen older books that list 29 or even 30 letters, with ch and ll as separate letters. For a long time they were treated that way. Then in 2010 the Real Academia EspañolaRoyal Spanish AcademyThe institution that publishes the official rules of Spanish spelling and grammar., together with the other Spanish language academies, published new spelling rules that made it clear: the alphabet has 27 letters, and ch and ll are digraphs. A digraph is simply two letters that work together to make one sound.

Spanish has five of these pairs: ch, ll, rr, qu and gu. They're not letters of the alphabet, but you'll meet them in almost every sentence, so I'll cover them too.

The letter names in Spanish

Every letter has a name, and the names are feminine: you say la athe letter aLetter names are feminine in Spanish., la emethe letter mLetter names take la.. You need the names to spell words, to understand someone spelling their email over the phone, and in class when I say "that word has a tildeaccent markThe written accent, like the one on é. on the e".

Here's the full alphabet: each letter, its Spanish name, the sound it makes and an example word.

Save this table, or screenshot it. Now let's go through the letters that need a little more explanation.

The five vowels: A, E, I, O, U

Spanish has just five vowel sounds, and they never change. An a is always "ah", whether it's in casahouseBoth a's sound exactly the same. or mañanatomorrow, or morningThree a's, all the same short ah.. There's no lazy "uh" sound like the second vowel in English "banana".

The great news for Hindi speakers: our ए and ओ are already pure, steady sounds, exactly like Spanish e and o. English speakers have to work hard not to say "may-sa" for mesatableSay it with a clean e, like ए.. You just say it.

I've written a whole post on this: the 5 Spanish vowels and why they're easy for Indians.

B and V sound the same

This one surprises people. In Spanish, b and v make the same sound. TubotubeWritten with b. and tuvohe hadWritten with v, but sounds exactly like tubo. sound identical, and vinowineStarts like ब, not like English v. starts with a ब sound. There's no English "v" with your teeth on your lip.

At the start of a sentence or after m or n, it's a firm ब. Between vowels, it gets softer: your lips come close together but don't fully close, so a little air slips through. Listen for it in hababroad beanThe b between vowels is soft. or uvagrapeThe v between vowels is soft, same as b..

Because they sound the same, even Spanish speakers sometimes ask "with b or with v?" when spelling a word. You'll hear be de burrob as in donkeyA way to say which b you mean. and uve de vacav as in cowA way to say which v you mean.. In many Latin American countries, people call them be largalong bA Latin American name for b. and ve cortashort vA Latin American name for v..

C, Z and the famous "th" sound

C has two sounds, and the vowel after it decides which one.

• Before a, o, u or a consonant, it's a k sound, like क: casahouseC before a sounds like k., cosathingC before o sounds like k., cunacradleC before u sounds like k., claseclassC before l sounds like k..
• Before e and i, it changes. In most of Spain, it's the "th" of English "think": cenadinnerIn Spain, THEH-na., cinecinemaIn Spain, THEE-neh., graciasthank youIn Spain, GRA-thyas.. In Latin America, the Canary Islands and parts of southern Spain, it's a simple s.

Z always makes that same sound as c before e and i: "th" in most of Spain, "s" in Latin America. ZapatoshoeIn Spain, tha-PA-to., azulblueIn Spain, a-THUL., dieztenIn Spain, dyeth..

G, J and the throaty ख़ sound

J is one of my favourite letters to teach Indian students, because you already have the sound. It's the ख़ of Urdu and Hindi words like ख़ुश or ख़बर, made at the back of the throat. In Spain it's often quite strong and raspy. In much of Latin America it's softer, closer to an English "h".

• jamónhamStarts with the throaty ख़ sound. → kha-MON
• jovenyoungStarts with the throaty ख़ sound. → KHO-ben
• ojoeyeThe j in the middle is ख़. → O-kho

G works like c: the vowel after it decides.

• Before a, o, u or a consonant, it's a hard ग: gatocatA hard g, like ग., gordofatA hard g., graciasthank youA hard g before r..
• Before e and i, it's the same ख़ as j: gentepeopleSounds like KHEN-teh., gimnasiogymSounds like khim-NA-syo..

So how do you write a hard ग sound before e or i? You add a silent u: guerrawarThe u is silent: GEH-rra., guitarraguitarThe u is silent: gi-TA-rra.. And if you need to hear that u, Spanish puts two dots on it: pingüinopenguinThe two dots mean you say the u: pin-GWEE-no..

H is always silent

H is the easiest letter in Spanish, because you don't say it at all. Ever. HolahelloSay it OH-la, with no h. is "OH-la". HotelhotelSay it o-TEL. is "o-TEL". Hablarto speakSay it a-BLAR. is "a-BLAR".

The only time an h makes a sound is inside ch, which is the च sound in चाय: chocolatechocolateCh like च., nochenightCh like च: NO-cheh., muchoa lotCh like च..

D, T and P: where Hindi gives you a head start

English speakers say t and p with a little puff of air, like थ and फ. Spanish doesn't. Spanish p is a clean प and Spanish t is a clean त, with the tongue touching the back of your top teeth. Hindi speakers already make these sounds every day.

D is like द, also with the tongue against the teeth. Between vowels and at the end of a word, it softens into something close to the "th" in English "this": nadanothingThe d between vowels is soft, close to th in this., MadridMadridThe final d is very soft, almost silent in casual speech..

Ñ, LL and Y

Ñ, the letter that makes Spanish look like Spanish, is called eñethe letter ñIts name rhymes with the sound it makes.. It sounds like the "ny" in English "canyon", said as one smooth sound: niñoboyNEE-nyo., EspañaSpaines-PA-nya., mañanatomorrowma-NYA-na..

LL today, in most of Spain and Latin America, sounds the same as y: like य, or the "y" in English "yes". Llamarto callSounds like ya-MAR., pollochickenSounds like PO-yo., callestreetSounds like KA-yeh.. In some regions, like Argentina, both sound more like "sh" or the "s" in "pleasure", so don't be surprised if you hear that.

Y is a consonant like य at the start of a syllable: yoISounds like yo., playabeachPLA-ya.. On its own or at the end of a word, it's a vowel, the same as i: yandSaid like a short ई., muyverySounds like mwee., hoytodaySounds like oy..

I go deeper into all three in Ñ, LL, J and other tricky Spanish sounds.

R and RR

Spanish has two R sounds: a quick tap, like the र in पर, and a rolled trill. One r between vowels is a tap: perobutOne quick tap.. A double rr, or an r at the start of a word, is a trill: perrodogA rolled trill., rojoredStarts with r, so trilled.. I've written a full guide on how to roll your R, with drills.

Q, K, W and X: the rare ones

• Q always comes with a silent u, and only before e or i: quesocheeseSounds like KEH-so., quincefifteenSounds like KEEN-theh in Spain.. Never "kw".
• K and W appear mostly in words borrowed from other languages: kilokiloPronounced like English., karatekarateA borrowed word., webwebsitePronounced like English web., wifiwifiUsually WEE-fee..
• X sounds like "ks" between vowels: taxitaxiTAK-see., examenexamek-SA-men.. At the start of a word, it's usually an s: xilófonoxylophoneSounds like see-LO-fo-no.. And in a few place names, it keeps an old spelling for the ख़ sound: MéxicoMexicoSounds like ME-khee-ko, not ME-ksi-ko., OaxacaOaxacaSounds like wa-KHA-ka..

How to spell your name in Spanish

This is where the letter names become useful. In your first Spanish class, and in real life at a hotel desk or on a phone call, someone will ask:

¿Cómo se escribe?How do you spell it?Literally, how is it written? The most common way to ask.

You answer with the letter names, one by one. Let's try a few Indian names:

• Priya: pe, erre, i, ye, ap, r, i, y, aThe letter names for Priya.
• Arjun: a, erre, jota, u, enea, r, j, u, nThe letter names for Arjun.
• Vipasha: uve, i, pe, a, ese, hache, av, i, p, a, s, h, aThe letter names for Vipasha.

Notice Arjun. A Spaniard who reads it will say "ar-KHOON", with the ख़ sound. So when you introduce yourself, say your name clearly and spell it if needed. It's completely normal.

For email addresses, two more words help: arrobaat, the @ symbolYou'll hear it every time someone gives an email address. for @ and puntodotAs in punto com, dot com. for the dot. Punto comdot comThe end of many web addresses..

Common mistakes with the Spanish alphabet

1. Saying the h. HolahelloNo h sound: OH-la., not "ho-la". This is the single most common slip.
2. Using an English v. Vamoslet's goStarts like ब: BA-mos. starts like ब, with both lips.
3. Adding a puff to p and t. Use your Hindi प and त. You're already better at this than most English speakers.
4. Saying j like English "jam". Spanish jotathe letter jIts name starts with the throaty ख़ sound. is always ख़.
5. Saying "kw" for qu. QuesocheeseKEH-so, never kweh-so. is "KEH-so".
6. Reading x as "ks" in México. It's MéxicoMexicoME-khee-ko., with ख़.

Keep going

The alphabet is your toolkit. Once you know what each letter does, every new word becomes something you can read out loud on the first try, and that confidence makes speaking so much easier. Go slowly, say each sound out loud, and keep the table handy for a week or two. Poco a pocoLittle by littleProgress comes step by step..

Next, have a look at the 5 Spanish vowels, or the Spanish sounds you already know from Hindi. And if you'd like someone to listen and correct you as you go, my live A1 batches on Google Meet are small, up to 5 students, so you'll speak in every class. ¡Venga!Come on!A friendly push to get going.