LAS LETRAS
LETTERS

  All letters in Spanish are feminine in gender: la a, la be, la o, la qu, …

la consonante = consonant

la vocal = vowel

el acento = accent, stress mark

la tilde = tilde (mark on the n to make letter ñ)

• c + a/o/u: like  hard English c in cat
• c + e/i: like English s  [In Spain, this
  sequence is pronounced like English th in thanks]

• g + a/o/u: Like  hard English g in goal

ü (u con diéresis) before e and i is pronounced.

• g + e/i: Like a strong English h

H: Not pronounced, unless in the sequence CH,
which is pronounced as in English

 J:  Like a strong English h; same sound as g+e/i

 LL: A letter combination with a special sound in
Spanish; its pronunciation is more or less like y
in yellow [in some areas, like Argentina and
Uruguay, the sound is closer to j]

Ñ: The most emblematic Spanish letter, it
sounds almost like ny in canyon

Q: Like in English, always followed by ue  or ui
(the u is never pronounced in this sequence)

• hard, rolled r: at the beginning or end of a
  word, or between a consonant and a vowel;
  the same sound as in rr, which only appears
  between vowels
• soft, flap r: in between vowels

V: Sounds like the Spanish b – there is no
difference between the sound of the letters b and
v in Spanish.

W: Like English W; words with W in Spanish
always come from other languages

• the most common pronunciation is similar
  to English
• as a hard h in a few words of Mexican
  origin

• followed by a vowel: similar to ll almost
  everywhere in the Hispanic world
• at the end of a word: Like Spanish i

Z: Like English s; it only appears before a/o/u.
[In Spain, z, as ce/ci, is pronounced like the
English th in thanks.]

In Spanish there is no sound like the sound of z  in English zoo.