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The Alphabet (El Alfabeto)
By learning this page well, you will be able to read
anything in Spanish and sound like a native speaker.
This alone will take you a long way
in your Spanish learning journey!
Letter
mayúscula - minúscula
name of the letter in Spanish
Application
A - a
a
Abrir (to open)
¿Podría abrir la puerta, por favor?
(Could you [lit:would you be able] to open the door please?)
B - b
be
Brincar (to jump)
El burro brincó de felicidad cuando vio las bayas.
(The donkey jumped with joy when it saw the berries.)
C - c
Ch - ch
D - d
ce
che
de
Cantar (to sing)
Me gusta cantar en el carro a las cinco, cuando voy a la casa.
(I like to sing in my car at 5 when I am going home.)
Charlar (to chat)
Charlamos mientras chequeamos los cheques.
(We chatted while checking the checks.)
Decir (to say)
Te digo que debes darme el dinero este domingo.
(I am saying to you that you must give me the money this Sunday.)
E - e
F - f
G - g
H - h
I - i
J - j
K - k
L - l
Ll - ll
M - m
N - n
Ñ - ñ
O - o
P - p
Q - q
R - r
rr
No word stars with "double r" in Spanish
e
efe
ge
hache
i
jota
ka
ele
doble l
eme
ene
eñe
o
pe
cu
ere
doble r
Entender (to understand)
No entiendo nada de eso.
(I don't understand none of that.)
Firmar (to sign)
¿Puede rellenar este formulario y firmarlo, por favor?.
(Can you fill out this form and sign it, please?)
Gustar (to like)
A la gente le gusta gritar cuando está emocionada.
(People like to scream when they are excited.)
Hablar (to speak)
Hay dos hermanos que saben hablar español.
(There are two brothers that know how to speak Spanish.)
Ir (to go)
Ella necesita ir a la tienda para comprar comida.
(She needs to go to the store to buy food.)
Jugar (to play)
Los jóvenes quieren jugar al fútbol.
(The young people want to play soccer.)
Kilómetro (Kilometer)
¿Cuántos metros tiene un kilómetro?
(How many meters in a kilometer?)
Leer (to read)
La mujer lee un libro diariamente.
(The woman reads a book daily.)
llamar (to call [oneself])
Me llamo Roberto Garcia.
(My name is [lit: I call myself] Robert Garcia.)
Mostrar (to show)
Me mostró el mostrador donde estaba el vaso.
(He showed me the counter where the cup was located [unknown time].)
Necesitar (to need)
Necesitamos salir ahora mismo.
(We need to leave right now.)
Ñoñear (to whine)
Los niños de la señora siempre están ñoñeando.
(The children of the woman are always whining.)
Obedecer (to obey)
Debes obedecer a tus padres.
(You must/should obey your parents.)
Poder (to be able to / can)
No puedo hablar mucho español.
(I can't speak [lit: not able to speak] a lot of Spanish.)
Querer (to want)
Quiere quitar la ropa mojada.
(He/She/You want to take of his/her/your wet clothes.)
Romper (to break)
(A ella) Se le rompió un vaso, pero tiene otros.
(She broke a glass, but she has others.)
El Perro (the dog)
El perro ladra cuando pasan los carros.
(The dog barks when the cars pass by.)
S - s
T - t
U - u
V - v
W - w
X - x
Y - y
Z - z
ese
te
u
ve
doble ve
equis
i griega
zeta
Saber (to know)
Pedro sabe hablar siete idiomas.
(Peter knows [how to speak] seven languages.)
Tener (to have)
Tienes tres instrumentos.
(You have three instruments.)
Usar (to use)
Puedes usar mi celular, si lo necesitas.
(You can use my cell phone if you need it.)
Vivir (to live)
Vivo cerca de un valle.
(I live near a valley.)
El Wafle (the waffle)
Esta noche queremos comer los wafles.
(Tonight we want to eat (the) waffles.)
Xerocopiar (to photocopy)
Voy a xerocopiar estos formularios.
(I am going to xerox these forms.)
Yuxtaponer (to juxtapose)
Las pinturas yuxtapuestas crean una sensación nueva y moderna.
(The juxtaposed paintings create a new and modern feel.)
Zanjar (to settle)
Pablo ha de zanjar el problema con su identificación antes de trabajar para la compañía.
(Paul has to settle the problem with his ID before working for the company.)
The Vowels (Las Vocales)
A - a, E - e, I - i,
O - o, U - u
Un Dicho (a saying)
A, E, I, O, U, el burro sabe más que tú.
(A,E, I, O, U, the donkey knows more than you.)
The Diphthongs (Los Diptongos)
The letters A, E, and O are considered strong vowels. I and U are weak ones. When a strong vowel is next to a weak one, they form one syllable. If the pronunciation requires them to be two (syllables), then the weak vowel should be accented.
Las letras A, E, y O se consideran vocales fuertes. I y U son débiles. Cuando una vocal fuerte está junto a una débil se forma una sola sílaba. Si la pronunciación requiere que sean dos, se debe acentuar la vocal débil.
ai -> caigo (I am falling / I fall)
au -> jaula ( cage)
ay -> hay (there is / there are)
ei -> reinar (to reign)
eu -> Europa (Europe)
ey -> rey (king)
ia -> hacia (towards)
ie -> cien (one hundred)
io -> rio (river)
iu -> ciudad (city)
oi -> oir (to hear)
oy -> voy (I am going / I go)
ua -> guantes (gloves)
ui -> cuidado (caution / be careful)
ue -> luego (then)
uo -> cuota ( fee)
Información Importante: (Important information)
> Á á, É é, Í í, Ó ó, Ú ú : Estas vocales con tilde (acento) NO se pronuncian diferente a las demás, simplemente tienen tilde (acento) para que el lector sepa cuál sílaba debe acentuar. (These accented vowels are not pronounced differently, they are simply accented in order for you to know which syllable is stressed when speaking.)
> "B" and "V" are so close in pronunciation that when spelling names, a native Spanish speaker may ask to clarify whether it is "B" or "V". They may use one of several terms or phrases to clarify: "be larga o ve corta", "be alta o ve baja", "be de burro o ve de vaca" or something similar. "V" can be referred to as "uve" [oobay], but primarily in Spain and not in Central and South American countries.
> "CH, LL, & RR" were all originally separate letters until more recently and can cause confusion in certain dictionaries where Cinco would come before Chavo alphabetically.
> "C", just like in English, makes a "kah" sound when placed in front of "a,o, & u" as in carro [Karro], Cota [Kohtah], Cumplir [Koompleer] and an "Sss" sound when in front of "e or i" as in Cinco [Sinkoh] or Cero {Sayroh]. In Spain the 'Ci' or 'Ce' would cause the 'C' to produce a sound similar to the English 'TH': Cinco [Thinkoh].
> "D" when at the beginning of a word sounds a lot like the English 'D', however when in the middle of a word it sounds like the English 'TH' sound.
> "G" sounds similar to the English 'G', like in the word Good, when coming before an 'a'; gato [Gahtoh], an 'o'; gota [Gohtah] or 'u'; gustar [Goostar], but when coming before an 'e' gente [Hentay] or 'i' girar [Heerahr] it sounds like the English 'H' sound.
> "H" is silent in Spanish: hotel [Ohtell]
> "J" is similar to the English 'H': jabon [Habohn]
> "K" and "W" are only used with the metric system Kilómetro and imported words like Karate or Walki-Talki.
> "Ll" and "Y" sounds like the English 'Y' when in front of a vowel like yo-yo but can also have slight variations depending on the country. In some areas it would sound similar to the jee in jeep lightly said before the y: llamo {Jeeyamoh] and sometimes can sound like the English "sh" sound.
> "Ñ" according to the modern view of the alphabet, this is the only letter that does not exist in the English alphabet. It sounds like the 'ny' sound as pronounced in the word 'canyon'.
> " Q" sounds like the English letter 'K': quinto [Keentoh]
> "R" and "RR" make the famous Spanish trilled sound. The single 'R' will only make the trilled sound when at the beginning of a word, but when it is between two vowels will sound like the English 'D' but lighter and like the English 'R' when in front of a consonant.
> "X" will sound like the English 'X' when coming after a vowel like in éxito [Exseetoh] and will sound like the English 'S' when coming at the beginning of a word like xilófono.
> "Z" sounds like the English 'S' except in Spain where it sounds like the English 'TH' sound.
