¿Cómo se escribe? (How is it spelled?)
The following is the Spanish alphabet. It has 29 letters of which 5 are vocals (a, e, i, o, u). The name of each letter is given in the brackets.
EL ALFABETO
Vocales
a e i o u
Consonantes
b (be) c (ce) ch (che) d (de) f (efe) g (ge) h (hache) j (jota)
k (ka) l (ele) ll (elle) m (eme) n (ene) ñ (eñe) p (pe) q (cu)
r (erre) s (ese) t (te) v (uve) w (uve doble) x (equis) y (i griega)
z (zeta)
If your mother language has some letters with umlaut such as Ö, Ü-----we have those letters in Turkish, some other languages like German have them as well-----or other special letters like Ç, Ş, I you may express them as follows while spelling
- Ö: o con puntos
- Ü: u con puntos
"con" means with and "punto" means point. So, you simply say o with points. Our teacher told us that technically it is correct to use "diéresis" instead of "puntos" but in conversations one should use puntos
- Ç: c con cedilla
- Ş: s con cedilla
- I: i sin punto (sin:without)
¿Cómo se pronuncia? (How is it pronounced?)
In Spanish, there are basically nineletters whose pronunciations need special attention: j, h, b, v, g, c, ch, ll, ñ
- j: make a strong h sound coming from the throat
- h: it is not at all pronounced in Spanish
- b: as we are used to pronounce it in English if it is the first letter of the word (lips touch each other). If b is not the first letter of the word make a sound as if you are going to say "b" but don't touch the lips with each other
- there is no v sound in Spanish. When you see "v" in a word, apply the rules for the pronunciation of "b". (see 3)
- g:
- if "e" or "i" follows "g" then it is pronounced as j in Spanish (example in Spanish: general)
- if "a" or "u" or "o" follows "g" then it is pronounced as guitar in English (examples in Spanish: gorila, guitarra)
6. c:
- if "e" or "i" follows c, then it is pronounced as "z" (ex. cinko)
- if "a", "o", "u" follows c, then it is pronounced as "k" in kilo in English (ex. casa)
7. ch: pronounce it like you pronounce chair in English.
8. ll: make "y" sound
9. ñ: make an n-y sound one after the other. (If on the keyboard there is no ñ letter, it is written as ny)
