El abecedario

Hello again!

In this post we'll talk about the alphabet, something essential for those who want to speak Spanish. As most languages in Europe, Spanish has a latin alphabet, You'll probably recognise most of the letters, except for the ñ, a letter that doesn't exist in many other languages. In the image underneath, you'll find all the letters with typical Spanish words that you may know. Some of them (such as Barcelona, Cádiz or Huelva) are cities, while others are food (jamón, tomate, kiko, paella, ostra, yogur), countries (Francia, Irlanda), common words (nariz, león, ratón), etc.

In opposition to English, in Spanish each letter will usually represent a phoneme (sound), for example: J = /x/, but there are exceptions that we'll explain underneath. 

Consonants!

B, b and V, v represent both the following phoneme: /b/. So, when you pronounce Barcelona and Valencia, remember that both will start with the same sound.

C, c can change its sound depending on the letter which it's followed by. With a, o and u, c it will sound like /k/ (California, Congo, Cuba), while it will sound like /θ/ with e and i (Cervantes, ciudad [city]). In the second case, the phoneme is the same that we use in English for the th in thief or thought, and it's a sound represented by the Z, z as well, like in Zamora or Zaragoza. 

For the other representations of /k/ we have Q, q and K, k. Q is always followed by a mute u. This letter can only accompany i and e, since we already have the c to use that sound with a, o and u. K, k can be followed by any vowel, but is more common in foreign words adopted by Spanish, such as koala, karate or karaoke.

If a c is followed by an h, it will change it sound to /ʧ/, just like in English (choke, Chile, charming). This dygraph used to be a letter called che, but it is no longer considered like that.

G, g can change its sound depending on the letter that follows it. Followed by an a, o or u (just like the c), it will sound like /g/, the same as in go or gum, but we'll need to ad an u when we want it to sound like that with e and i. Then, we'll get guerra [war] and guía [guide], exactly the same as in English with Guiness, guilty or, again, guide. If we want the u to be pronounced, we'll have to add a special sign: ü. Then, we'll pronounce it in pingüino [penguin] and piragüa [pirogue]. The other sound represented by g is /x/, when it's followed by e or i without the u in the middle. Then, you'll say genio [genie, genious] and gitano [gipsy]. The sound /x/ is also represented by the letter J, j, like in jamón or Jerez. Notice that this sound doesn't exist in English, and don't confuse it with the sound represented by the letter x, which is a different one. Remember also that with foreign words (jazz, Jennifer), it sounds like in its original language.

H, h is the only letter in Spanish that doesn't represent any sound, you can just ignore it while speaking. Huelva, Habana and horno [oven] would sound the same if the h wasn't there. But be careful, take into account that it has a sound when it belongs to the che, as we explained above, and when it comes in a foreign word, such as hamster or hobby. Then, you'll pronounce it as in its original language.

L, l represents the phoneme /l/, like in English. Nevertheless, notice that there's a dygraph formed by two eles called elle, which, like the che, used to be considered a letter. This dygraph theorically represents the sound /ʎ/, but nowadays almost everyone pronounces it as /ʝ̞/, which is found in English words like jazz or joke. The same sound is sometimes represented by the y. So, in the words llover [to rain] and llave [key], the ll will sound like the y in yogur or baya [berry].

Ñ represents the phoneme /ɲ/ and it's a letter that doesn't exist in the common latin alphabet (look at your keyboard, you'll probably miss it). It can be found in words like España [Spain] or Gran Bretaña [Great Britain].

And here it comes! The most difficult phoneme in the Spanish language! The cause of your headache! If you want to pronounce the R, r, you'll have to learn how to roll your tongue. But you're lucky, because there's no need to do it always. If the r is the first letter in the word or you find a double r (like in robar [to steal] or perro [dog]), you'll have to make an effort and roll your tongue. But, if the r appears alone in the middle of a word or at the end, you'll do it softer (/r/), like in every single verb in its infinitive form (cantar [to sing], comer [to eat], escribir [to write]) or in words such as Paraguay and paraguas [umbrella].

The rest of the consonants, i. e., d, f, l, m, n, p, s, t, w and x, sound the same as in English.

Vowels

Here we have the easiest part, in Spanish there are only five vowels, and, unlike in English, each letter represents a phoneme. There are no middle grounds, and that's fantastic!

A, a represents the phoneme /a/, like in tacos, amigo [friend] and antiguo [ancient]. 

E, e represents the sound /e/, like in España.

I, i represents /i/, like in innoncence. It also receives the name of i latina to distinguish it from the y (i griega).

O, o corresponds to the phoneme /o/, like in Orlando, chorizo and tortilla. Be careful, don't pronounce it as in English, that would be ou in Spanish.

U, u is the sound /u/, like in Moscú, Úbeda or huracán [hurricane]. As with the o, take into account that is not pronounced like iu. 

¡Y esto es todo por hoy! [And this is all for today!]. As you may have observed, the Spanish alphabet, called alfabeto or abecedario, isn't very difficult, but there are some differences with the English one that you should take into account while learning the language. Nothing is impossible, so come on, roll your tongue and start speaking!