In Spanish, there are twenty-seven letters in the alphabet (el alfabeto or el abecedario)—one more than in the English alphabet.The additional letter is ñ, which comes after n in alphabetized lists in Spanish. The letters k and w appear only in words borrowed from other languages. When you talk about letters in Spanish, you need to use the feminine gender (e.g., la letra a, la b, la ele, etc.).

Have a look at the table below, and listen to the audio files attached to each letter. For example, what difference do you notice in the pronunciation of the letter u? What do you notice about the pronunciation of the other vowels?

Letters	Names of Letters	Examples
a	a	armadillo	Álamo	San Antonio
b	be, be larga	bota	burro	bailar
c	ce	caballo	cactus	casería
d	de	Dallas	Río Grande	disparo
e	e	extenso	explorar	Eldorado
f	efe	fábrica	flor	familia
g	ge	generoso	gente	General Santa Ana
h	hache	heno	huerto	cohete
i	i	iguana	independencia	Irene
j	jota	jaripeo	jinete	jornalero
k	ca (ka)	bikini	Karina	kilo
l	ele	Libélula	Laredo	libreta
m	eme	margarita	campesino	maestro
n	ene	Nevada	Natalia	Navarro
ñ	eñe	niño	ñandú	español
o	o	Odesa	petróleo	rodeo
p	pe	El Paso	pescador	patriota
q	cu	queso	Raquel	Quemado
r	erre	barril	becerro	corral
s	ese	Sarita	Salado	San Benito
t	te	Tejas	taco	tornado
u	u	Uvalde	único	universidad
v	uve, ve, or ve corta	vaca	vaquero	venado
w	uve doble, doble ve, or ve doble	Wildorado	Weslaco	kiwi
x	equis	anexar	xilofón	Extremadura
y	i griega or ye	yegua	Yucatán	yacaré
z	zeta	zoológico	zacate	corazón

More information on the pronunciation of Spanish letters   Most letters in Spanish have only one pronunciation, and thus, spelling can be said to be easier in Spanish than in English. However, there are some exceptions:

• When c appears before a, o, u and the consonants l and r, it sounds like /k/ (e.g., carismático, Costa Rica, cultura, clima, crema). When c is followed by e or i, it sounds like /s/ (e.g., centro, emocional) in Latin America, but like /th/ in some parts of Spain. When c is followed by h, it is pronounced like the ch in cheese (e.g., China).
• When g appears before a, o, u and the consonants l and r, it sounds like an English hard /g/ (e.g., arrogante, amigo, gusto, globo, gracias). When g is followed by e or i, it sounds like the English /h/ (e.g., generoso, ágil). However, if a u is between g and e or i, g is pronounced like a hard /g/, and the u is NOT pronounced (e.g., guía, espagueti). Sometimes, in the combinations gue and gui, the u is pronounced if it is marked with a diéresis (the two dots above the ü). In these cases, the g in combination with the u is pronounced /w/. Examples: bilingüe, lingüística.
• Double l (ll) is pronounced like English /y/ in yes. In some parts of Argentina and Uruguay, this sound is pronounced like /sh/ (e.g., me llamo).
• Q can only be found in the combinations que and qui. In these cases, the u is silent, and the q is pronounced /k/ (e.g., ¿qué?, quinto [fifth]). Q cannot be followed by a, o, or u (unless u is followed by e or i).
• When r is at the beginning or in the middle of a word and appears as a double r (rr), it is pronounced like a rolling r (e.g., Río Grande, Rosa, guitarra).

Let’s use these letters actively:

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Click on the following button to continue applying what you learned about the alphabet.

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Now it’s time to learn about the diversity of the Spanish-speaking world: