Word letters in spanish

What Are the Letters of the Spanish Alphabet?

The majority of the letters in Spanish have their own special names (some even have more than one!) and people use them all the time when spelling out words.

Below you’ll find all 27 letters of the abecedario and their names, along with an example word for each.

How Do You Pronounce the Spanish Alphabet?

While the majority of the letters in Spanish are always pronounced the same way, there are a few whose pronunciation changes depending on the letters with which they combine. Let’s take a look at some of the trickier combinations.

Ge Before a Vowel

When ge comes before i or e, it’s pronounced like a raspy English h.

• gente(people)
• Gibraltar(Gibraltar)

Before other vowels (a, o, u), it’s pronounced like the g in English good.

• gol(goal)
• guapo(handsome)
• gato(cat)

Ce Before hache

When ce comes before hache, it’s pronounced like the ch in English cheese.

• chícharo(pea)
• chicharra(cicada)

Double ele

When two eles appear together, they can be pronounced like the y in English yellow, the j in English judge, or the sh in English show, depending on what country you’re in.

• llamar(to call)
• valle(valley)

Double erre

When two erres appear together, they are trilled (the sound you make when you roll your tongue). A single erre at the beginning of a word is also trilled.

• carro(car)
• burro(donkey)
• rojo(red)

Equis Marks the Spot

The equis is usually pronounced like the ks in English socks. However, in place and person names (especially those from Mexico), it can be pronounced like a raspy English h, an s, or even the sh in English show.

Check out these examples:

• Like the ks in English socks: examen(exam)
• Like a raspy English h: México(Mexico)
• Like an s: Xochimilco(Xochimilco, a neighborhood in Mexico City)
• Like sh in English show Xicalango(Xicalango, a town in Mexico)

Let’s finish up by seeing how the abecedario is used in everyday life!

Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the Spanish language. The alphabet uses the Latin script. The spelling is fairly phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English, having a relatively consistent mapping of graphemes to phonemes; in other words, the pronunciation of a given Spanish-language word can largely be predicted from its spelling and to a slightly lesser extent vice versa. Spanish punctuation includes the use of inverted question and exclamation marks: ⟨¿⟩ ⟨¡⟩.

Spanish uses capital letters much less often than English; they are not used on adjectives derived from proper nouns (e.g. francés, español, portugués from Francia, España, and Portugal, respectively) and book titles capitalize only the first word (e.g. La rebelión de las masas).

Spanish uses only the acute accent, over any vowel: ⟨á é í ó ú⟩. This accent is used to mark the tonic (stressed) syllable, though it may also be used occasionally to distinguish homophones such as si (‘if’) and sí (‘yes’). The only other diacritics used are the tilde on the letter ⟨ñ⟩, which is considered a separate letter from ⟨n⟩, and the diaeresis used in the sequences ⟨güe⟩ and ⟨güi⟩—as in bilingüe (‘bilingual’)—to indicate that the ⟨u⟩ is pronounced, [w], rather than having the usual silent role that it plays in unmarked ⟨gue⟩ and ⟨gui⟩.

In contrast with English, Spanish has an official body that governs linguistic rules, orthography among them: the Royal Spanish Academy, which makes periodic changes to the orthography. The currently valid work on the orthography is the Ortografía de la lengua española, published in 2010.

Alphabet in Spanish[edit]

The Spanish language is written using the Spanish alphabet, which is the Latin script with one additional letter: eñe ⟨ñ⟩, for a total of 27 letters.^[1] Although the letters ⟨k⟩ and ⟨w⟩ are part of the alphabet, they appear only in loanwords such as karate, kilo, waterpolo and wolframio (tungsten or wolfram) and in sensational spellings: okupa, bakalao. Each letter has a single official name according to the Real Academia Española’s new 2010 Common Orthography,^[2] but in some regions alternative traditional names coexist as explained below. The digraphs ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨ll⟩ were considered single letters of the alphabet from 1754 to 2010 (and sorted separately from ⟨c⟩ and ⟨l⟩ from 1803 to 1994).^[3]

Spanish alphabet

Uppercase	A	B	C1	D	E	F	G	H	I
Lowercase	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h	i
Name[4]	a	be (alternative: be larga, be alta)	ce	de	e	efe	ge	hache	i
Phoneme(s)	/a/	/b/	/k/, /θ/2	/d/	/e/	/f/	/ɡ/, /x/	silent3	/i/

^1 The digraph ⟨ch⟩ represents the affricate /tʃ/. The digraph was formerly treated as a single letter, called che.

^2 The phonemes /θ/ and /s/ are not distinguished in most dialects; see seseo.

^3 With the exception of some loanwords: hámster, hachís, hawaiano, which have /x/.

Uppercase	J	K	L	M	N	Ñ	O	P	Q
Lowercase	j	k	l	m	n	ñ	o	p	q
Name[4]	jota	ka	ele	eme	ene	eñe	o	pe	cu
Phoneme(s)	/x/	/k/	/l/4	/m/5	/n/, /m/5	/ɲ/	/o/	/p/	/k/6

^4 The digraph ⟨ll⟩ (e.g. calle) represents the palatal lateral /ʎ/ in a few dialects; but in most dialects—because of the historical merger called yeísmo—it, like the letter ⟨y⟩, represents the phoneme /ʝ/.

^5 The exact realization of nasals in syllable-final position depends on phonetic attributes of following consonants (even across word boundaries) so that ⟨n⟩ can represent a nasal that is labial (as in ánfora), palatal (as in cónyuge), velar (as in rincón), etc. In rare instances, word-final ⟨m⟩ is used, but there is no actual pronunciation difference.

^6 Used only in the digraph ⟨qu⟩.

Uppercase	R8	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Lowercase	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
Name[4]	erre	ese	te	u	uve, ve, ve corta, ve baja, ve chica	uve doble, ve doble, doble ve, doble u	equis	ye, i griega	zeta
Phoneme(s)	/ɾ/, /r/	/s/	/t/	/u/	/b/	/w/, /b/	/ks/, /s/9	/ʝ/, /i/	/θ/2

^8 The digraph ⟨rr⟩, which only appears between vowels, represents the trill /r/.

^9 Old orthography with the letter ⟨x⟩ representing /x/ has been preserved in some proper names such as México.

For details on Spanish pronunciation, see Spanish phonology and Help:IPA/Spanish.

When acute accent and diaeresis marks are used on vowels (⟨á⟩, ⟨é⟩, ⟨í⟩, ⟨ó⟩, ⟨ú⟩, ⟨ý⟩ and ⟨ü⟩) they are considered variants of the plain vowel letters, but ⟨ñ⟩ is considered a separate letter from ⟨n⟩. This makes a difference when sorting alphabetically: ⟨ñ⟩ appears in dictionaries after ⟨n⟩. For example, in a Spanish dictionary piñata comes after pinza.

There are five digraphs: ⟨ch⟩ («che» or «ce hache»), ⟨ll⟩ («elle» or «doble ele»), ⟨rr⟩ («doble erre»), ⟨gu⟩ («ge u») and ⟨qu⟩ («cu u»).^[5][6][7] While che and elle were each formerly treated as a single letter,^[1] in 1994 the tenth congress of the Association of Spanish Language Academies, by request of UNESCO and other international organizations, agreed to alphabetize ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨ll⟩ as ordinary sequences of letters.^[8]

Thus, for example, in dictionaries, chico is alphabetized after centro and before ciudad, instead of being alphabetized after all words beginning with cu- as was formerly done.^[9]

Despite their former status as unitary letters of the alphabet, ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨ll⟩ have always been treated as sequences with regard to the rules of capitalization. Thus the word chillón in a text written in all caps is CHILLÓN, not *ChILlÓN, and if it is the first word of a sentence, it is written Chillón, not *CHillón. Sometimes, one finds lifts with buttons marked LLamar, but this double capitalization has always been incorrect according to RAE rules.

This is the list of letters from most to least frequent in Spanish texts: ⟨E A O S R N I D L C T U M P B G V Y Q H F Z J Ñ X W K⟩;^[10] the vowels make up around 45% of the text.

Alternative names[edit]

B and V^[1]

The letters ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ were originally simply known as be and ve, which in modern Spanish are pronounced identically. In Old Spanish, they likely represented different sounds but the sounds merged later. Their usual names are be and uve;^[11][12] in some regions, speakers may instead add something to the names to distinguish them. Some Mexicans and most Peruvians generally say be grande / chica (‘big B’ / ‘little V’); Argentines, Uruguayans and Chileans, be larga / corta (‘long B’ / ‘short V’). Some people give examples of words spelt with the letter; e.g., b de burro / v de vaca (‘b as in burro‘ / ‘v as in vaca‘); Colombians tend to say be grande for B and ve pequeña for V. In Venezuela, they call B b de Bolívar and V v de Venezuela, or be alta and ve baja (‘tall B’ / ‘short V’). Regardless of these regional differences, all Spanish-speaking people recognize be as the official name of B.

R^[1]

The digraph ⟨rr⟩ is sometimes called doble erre or erre doble. It is sometimes suggested that the name of the letter ⟨r⟩ be ere when it is single, and erre when it is double, but the dictionary of the Real Academia Española defines the name of ⟨r⟩ as erre. Ere is considered obsolete.^[13] The name ere was used when referring specifically to the alveolar tap /ɾ/ and erre referring to the alveolar trill /r/. The two contrast between vowels, with the latter being represented with ⟨rr⟩, but the sounds are otherwise in complementary distribution so that a single ⟨r⟩ may represent either. As a referent to the trill sound rather than the phoneme, erre can refer to a single or double ⟨r⟩.

W^[1]

In Latin American Spanish, ⟨w⟩ is sometimes called doble ve, ve doble, or doble uve. In Colombia, Mexico, and in some Central American countries, because of English acculturation, the letter is usually called doble u (like English «double u»). In Spain it is usually called uve doble.

I

Because of its origin, ⟨i⟩ is occasionally known as i latina («Latin i») to distinguish it from ⟨y⟩, which is known as i griega («Greek i»).

Y^[1]

The most common name for ⟨y⟩ in Spain is i griega, but in Latin American Spanish it has been commonly superseded by ye, in an effort to standardize on a one-word name, as opposed to a name consisting of two words. Using ye as the only name for the letter is one of the newest proposed changes specified by the 2010 new common orthography.^[1]

Z^[1]

The name for ⟨z⟩ is zeta (formerly also spelled ceta, pronounced the same).^[14] In older Spanish, it was called zeda or ceda, and the diminutive form of this word, cedilla, is now used in both Spanish and English to refer to the diacritic mark exhibited in the letter ⟨ç⟩.

Other characters[edit]

Besides the letters, other characters are specially associated with Spanish-language texts:

• The currency symbols of Spanish-language countries: ⟨¢⟩ (centavo), ⟨₡⟩ (colón), ⟨₧⟩ (peseta), ⟨$⟩ (peso), ⟨₲⟩ (Paraguayan guaraní).
• ⟨℆⟩, abbreviation of cada una (‘each one’)
• ⟨º⟩ and ⟨ª⟩ are used in abbreviations like 1.º, 1.ª (‘first’) or D.ª («doña»); in ordinal numbers they match the grammatical gender of the noun being modified: masculine ⟨º⟩ and feminine ⟨ª⟩. N.º (número, ‘number’) can be represented as one character ⟨№⟩.
• ⟨@⟩ is the symbol of the arroba, a pre-metric unit of weight (about 11.502 kg, 25.3 pounds).
• ⟨¿⟩ and ⟨¡⟩ are used at the beginning of interrogative and exclamatory sentences, respectively. They are also used in the middle of a sentence if only part of the sentence is a question or exclamation: Spanish: Juan se puso a comer y ¡recórcholis! («John started eating and wow!»)
• The guillemets (Spanish: comillas) ⟨«⟩ and ⟨»⟩ are used in formal settings in the same sense as quotation marks, although they are very uncommon in informal usage.^[15]

Orthography[edit]

Orthographic principles[edit]

Spanish orthography is such that the pronunciation of most words is unambiguous given their written form; the main exception is the letter ⟨x⟩, which usually represents /ks/ or /s/, but can also represent /x/ or /ʃ/, especially in proper nouns from times of Old Spanish, as in México or Pedro Ximénez (both /x/). These orthographic rules are similar to, but not the same as, those of other Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Portuguese, Catalan and Galician.

The converse does not always hold, i.e. for a given pronunciation there may be multiple possible spellings, as a result of decisions by the Royal Spanish Academy. The main issues are:

• the use of both ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩ for /b/;
• the use of both ⟨j⟩ and ⟨g⟩ for /x/ before ⟨e⟩ and ⟨i⟩;
• the silent ⟨h⟩;
• for the speakers who have merged /ʝ/ and /ʎ/, the various use of ⟨y⟩, ⟨ll⟩ or ⟨hi⟩ in different words;
• the use of ⟨hu⟩, ⟨gu⟩ or ⟨bu⟩ before a vowel for /w/ (although many speakers distinguish some or all of these combinations);
• for some speakers, the use of both ⟨s⟩ and ⟨x⟩ for /s/ before consonants (in a few Greek-derived words, ⟨x⟩ is used for word-initial /s/ from etymological ξ);
• the occasional use of accents to distinguish two words that sound the same, such as tú /tu, sí / si, and más / mas.

In addition, for speakers in Latin America and south of Spain:

• the use of ⟨c/z⟩ and ⟨s⟩ for /s/.

The use of ⟨b⟩ and ⟨v⟩, ⟨j⟩ and ⟨g⟩, and the silent ⟨h⟩ is mostly based on etymology. In particular, using ⟨b⟩ in many cases is not a living continuation of Old Spanish (which often had ⟨v⟩ in place of intervocalic ⟨b⟩ as a result of Vulgar Latin merger, as in other Romance languages), but an artificial restitution based on Latin: caballo ‘horse’ is spelled as Latin caballus and unlike French cheval, Italian cavallo, Portuguese cavalo, or Catalan cavall. The letter ⟨h⟩ is used in place of Latin ⟨h⟩ and ⟨f⟩ (in a few words also ⟨g⟩): hoy<hodie, hablar<fabulare, hermano<germanus. Additionally, ⟨h⟩ is a purely orthographical sign used before word-initial rising diphthongs.^[16] However, in some words RAE mandated counteretymological spellings because of established tradition of usage, e. g. abogado<advocatus.

The Ortografía includes a series of «rules of thumb» on using the letters ⟨b/v⟩, ⟨g/j⟩, ⟨ll/y⟩, ⟨c/s/z⟩, ⟨h⟩, and ⟨x⟩. For example, verbs ending in -bir are spelled with ⟨b⟩, except hervir, servir, vivir, and their derivatives.

Use of different letters for the same sound

sound	before ⟨e/i⟩	elsewhere
/θ/ or /s/	⟨c⟩ (or ⟨z⟩ in some loanwords) or ⟨s⟩	⟨z⟩ or ⟨s⟩
/k/	⟨qu⟩ (or ⟨k⟩ in some loanwords)	⟨c⟩ (or ⟨k⟩ in some loanwords)
/x/	⟨g⟩ or ⟨j⟩ (or ⟨x⟩ in Mexico)	⟨j⟩ (or ⟨x⟩ in Mexico)
/ɡ/	⟨gu⟩	⟨g⟩
/ɡw/	⟨gü⟩	⟨gu⟩

In some Spanish verbs, the same stem is spelled differently before different verb endings. This is required to keep the regularity of the conjugated forms in terms of sound, when a letter represents different sounds, or to avoid unusual combinations, such as -ze- or -zi-:

• /k/: c—qu: tocar > toquemos (-car), delinquir > delincamos (-quir).
• /θ/: z—c: gozar > gocemos (-zar), vencer > venzamos (-cer).
• /x/: g—j: proteger > protejamos. But in verbs ending in -jar, the j is kept before e: mojar > mojemos (not *mogemos).
• /ɡ/: g—gu: negar > neguemos (-gar), distinguir > distingamos (-guir).
• /ɡw/: gu—gü: averiguar > averigüemos (-guar).

Likewise, words with a stem ending in z change this letter to c before e and i in their forms and derivatives: lápiz — lápices, plaza — placita.

Letter-to-sound correspondences[edit]

Consonants[edit]

Consonants

Letter	Context	IPA	Examples	English approximation
b or v	word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[b]	bestia; embuste; vaca; envidia	practically the same as the typical English ⟨b⟩, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. about
elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩)	[β]	bebé; obtuso; vivir; curva; mi bebé; mi vaca[17]	between baby and bevy (like the typical English ⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth)
c	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[θ] (central and northern Spain) or [s] (most other regions)[18]	cereal; encima	same as the English voiceless ⟨th⟩ (as in thing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English ⟨s⟩ (as in sass) in all other regions
before voiced consonants	[ɣ]	anécdota	a sound between a light English ⟨g⟩ and the typical English ⟨h⟩ (between gold and ahold)
elsewhere	[k]	casa; claro; vaca; escudo	same as certain instances of English ⟨k⟩ or ⟨c⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can)
ch	everywhere[19]	[tʃ] or [ʃ] (depending upon the dialect)	ocho; chícharo	same as the typical English ⟨ch⟩; church
d	word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨l⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[d]	dedo; cuando; aldaba	practically the same as the typical English ⟨d⟩, except that it is fully voiced and the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth; e.g. adore
elsewhere	[ð]	dádiva; arder; admirar; mi dedo; verdad[17]	same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this
f	before voiced consonants	[v][20][21]	afgano; Afganistán	same as the typical English ⟨v⟩; e.g. vase
elsewhere	[f]	fase; café	same as the typical English ⟨f⟩; e.g. face
g	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[x] or [h]	general	similar to a «strong» English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven)
not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡ]	gato; grande; vengo	practically the same as the typical English ⟨g⟩ sound, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. ago
not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ]	trigo; amargo; signo; mi gato[17]	a sound between a light English ⟨g⟩ and the typical English ⟨h⟩ (between gold and ahold)
gu	before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡw]	guante; lengua	a sound like the ⟨gu⟩ in English language
before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣw]	agua; averiguar[17]	similar to the typical English ⟨w⟩, but preceded by a soft guttural sound
before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡ]	guerra	practically the same as the typical English ⟨g⟩ sound, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. ago
before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣ]	sigue[17]	a sound between a light English ⟨g⟩ and the typical English ⟨h⟩ (between gold and ahold)
gü	before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩	[ɡw]	güero, pingüino	a sound like the ⟨gu⟩ in English penguin
before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts	[ɣw]	averigüe[17]	similar to the typical English ⟨w⟩, but preceded by a soft guttural sound
h	everywhere	(silent)[16]	hoy; hacer; prohibir; huevo; hielo	silent (like the English ⟨h⟩ in English honor or hour)
everywhere; occurs in loanwords and foreign proper names	[x] or [h]	hámster, hawaiano, hachís, yihad, haiku, dírham, Yokohama, Wahid[22]	similar to a «strong» English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven)
hi	before a vowel	[j] or [ʝ]	hierba; hielo	similar to or the same as the typical English ⟨y⟩; e.g. you (but often more strongly pronounced, sometimes resembling the English ⟨j⟩, as in jam)
hu	before a vowel	[w]	hueso; huevo[23]	same as the typical English ⟨w⟩; we (sometimes sounds closer to the English ⟨gw⟩, like in Gwen, or ⟨bw⟩, like in cobweb)
j	everywhere	[x] or [h]	jamón; eje; reloj;[24]	similar to a «strong» English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven)
k	rare; only occurs in a few loanwords and sensational spellings	[k]	kilo, karate, okupa	same as certain instances of English ⟨k⟩ or ⟨c⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can)
l	everywhere	[l]	lino; alhaja; principal	same as the typical English ⟨l⟩ (especially like the clear ⟨l⟩ of British English, rather than the dark ⟨l⟩ of American English);e.g. pull/pəɫ̩/
ll	everywhere	[ʎ], [ʝ] or [dʒ] (depending upon the dialect)	llave; pollo	similar to the ⟨lli⟩ in English million (in some dialects simplified to a sound between the typical English ⟨y⟩ and ⟨j⟩, e.g. between yes and Jess)
m	everywhere except word-finally	[m]	madre; comer; campo[25]	same as the typical English ⟨m⟩; madam
word-final	[n] or [ŋ] (depending upon the dialect)	álbum	varying between the typical English ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ng⟩, e.g. the ⟨ng⟩ in English sing
n	sin
everywhere but before other consonants	[n]	nido; anillo; anhelo	same as the typical English ⟨n⟩; e.g. nun
before other consonants[25]	[m] [ɱ] [n] [ɲ] [ŋ]	invierno confite mundo enyesar cinco	same as the typical English ⟨m⟩; madam same as the English ⟨m⟩ in symphony same as the typical English ⟨n⟩ (as in nun) same as the English ⟨ny⟩ in canyon same as the typical English ⟨ng⟩ (as in sink or sing)
ñ	everywhere	[ɲ]	ñandú; cabaña[25]	roughly like minions
p	everywhere	[p]	pozo; topo; esposa	same as certain instances of English ⟨p⟩; e.g. span or typing (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /p/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in pan)
in the consonant cluster ⟨pt⟩[26]	[β]	optimista	between baby and bevy (like the typical English ⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth)
qu	only occurs before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[k]	quise	same as certain instances of English ⟨k⟩ ⟨c⟩ or ⟨q⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or unique (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in key)
r	word-initial, morpheme-initial,[27] or after ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, or ⟨z⟩; in emphatic and oratorical or formal speech, may also be used instead of [ɾ] in syllable-final (especially before ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, ⟨s⟩, ⟨t⟩, or ⟨d⟩) and word-final positions (before pause or consonant-initial words only)	[r]	rumbo; honra; alrededor; israelí; Azrael; subrayar; amor puro	trilled or rolled ⟨r⟩
elsewhere	[ɾ]	caro; bravo; partir; amor eterno	flapped ⟨r⟩; e.g. the same sound as the ⟨dd⟩ of ladder in American English
rr	only occurs between vowels	[r]	carro	trilled or rolled ⟨r⟩
s	before a voiced consonant (e.g. ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨d⟩,⟨g⟩)	[z]	isla; mismo; desde; jurisdicción;deshuesar; atisbo; presbítero; resbalar; rasgo; riesgo; desvelar; esvarar[28]	same as the typical English ⟨z⟩; e.g. the ⟨s⟩ in is or busy; in central and northern Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [z] of English busy and the palato-alveolar [ʒ] of pleasure
everywhere else	[s]	saco; casa; deshora; espita[28]	same as the typical English ⟨s⟩; sass; in central and northern Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of sure
sh	Not considered to be a Spanish digraph (hence words like sherpa, show, flash are considered extranjerismos crudos), but used in proper names from other languages, some of them being accentuated in the Spanish manner (names from Native American languages or from languages using non-Latin writing systems)	[ʃ] or [tʃ] (sometimes [s])	Áncash; Shanghái; Washington	same as the typical English ⟨sh⟩; e.g. sheesh; when this digraph is equated with the phoneme /s/ (typically in northern and central Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes), the sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she
t	everywhere	[t]	tamiz; átomo	same as certain instances of English ⟨t⟩; e.g. stand (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /t/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in tan). Also, the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth, rather than the alveolar ridge and found in the word month /mənt̪θ/
before voiced consonants	[ð]	atmósfera	same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this
tl	rare; mostly in loanwords from Nahuatl	[tl] or [tɬ]	tlapalería; cenzontle; Popocatépetl	similar to the combined ⟨tl⟩ sound in English cat-like
tz	rare; from loanwords	[ts]	quetzal; Pátzcuaro	same as the «ts» in English cats
w	rare; in loanwords from English and non-European languages	[w]	waterpolo, taekwondo, kiwi, wau, Wahid, Taiwán	water (sometimes turn to /gw/ or /bw/)[23]
rare; in loanwords from German and in Visigothic names; word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩	[b][29]	wolframio; Wamba; Wittenberg	same as the typical English ⟨b⟩; e.g. bib
rare; in loanwords from German and in Visigothic names; elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩)	[β]	Volkswagen, Ludwig	between baby and bevy (like the typical English ⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth)
x	between vowels and word-finally	[ks] (sometimes [gz])	exacto; taxi; relax, exigente	same as the typical English ⟨x⟩; e.g. taxi or Exactly
word-initially	[s]	xenofobia	same as the typical English ⟨s⟩; sass; in central and northern Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she
before a consonant	[ks] or [s]	extremo[28][30]	same as the typical English ⟨x⟩ or ⟨s⟩; e.g. max or mass
in some words borrowed from Nahuatl, mostly place names, and in some Spanish proper names conserving archaic spelling	[x] or [h]	México; Oaxaca; xiote; Texas; La Axarquía; Ximena; Ximénez; Mexía; Roxas	similar to a «strong» English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven)
in some words from indigenous American languages, mostly place names	[ʃ] or [tʃ] (sometimes [s])	Xela; xocoyote	same as the typical English ⟨sh⟩; e.g. sheesh; when this is equated with the phoneme /s/ (typically in northern and central Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes), the sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she
y	as a semivowel (almost always in a diphthong)	[i] or [j]	hay, soy	same as the typical English ⟨y⟩ (but joined in a single syllable with another vowel sound); aye, boy
as a consonant	[j], [ʝ], or [dʒ]	ya; yelmo; ayuno[17]	similar to the typical English ⟨y⟩, or ⟨j⟩ but softer; e.g. similar to yes or Jess, yeast[31]
z	usually does not occur before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩	[θ] (central and northern Spain) or [s] (most other regions)[18]	zorro; paz; caza	same as the English voiceless ⟨th⟩ (as in thing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English ⟨s⟩ (as in sass) in all other regions
before voiced consonants	[ð] (central and northern Spain) or [z] (most other regions)[18]	jazmín, juzgado, Aznar	same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this in central and northern Spain, or the typical English ⟨z⟩; e.g. the ⟨s⟩ in is or busy;

Vowels[edit]

Vowels

Letter	IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	[a]	azahar	spa
e	[e]	vehemente	between bet and bait
i	[i]	dimitir; mío	ski city
y	y
o	[o]	boscoso	between coat (American more than British) and caught
u	[u]	cucurucho; dúo	blue

Semivowels^[32]

Letter	IPA	Examples	English approximation
i	⟨i⟩ before a vowel	[j]	aliada; cielo; amplio; ciudad	you
hi; y	⟨hi⟩ before a vowel; ⟨y⟩ before a vowel	[ʝ]	hierba; hielo; ya; yelmo; ayuno	Jess
u	⟨u⟩ before a vowel (but silent in ⟨qu⟩, also ⟨gu⟩ before an ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩)	[w]	cuadro; fuego; arduo	wine
hu	⟨hu⟩ before a vowel	[w̝]	hueso; huevo; Huila[23]	Gwen

The phoneme /ʝ/ is realized as an approximant in all contexts except after a pause, a nasal, or a lateral. In these environments, it may be
realized as an affricate ([ɟʝ]).^[33][34] The approximant allophone differs from non-syllabic /i/ in a number of ways; it has a lower F2 amplitude, is longer, can only appear in the syllable onset (including word-initially, where non-syllabic /i/ normally never appears), is a palatal fricative in emphatic pronunciations, and is unspecified for rounding (e.g. viuda [ˈbjuða] ‘widow’ vs ayuda [aˈʝʷuða] ‘help’).^[35] The two also overlap in distribution after /l/ and /n/: enyesar [eɲɟʝeˈsaɾ] (‘to plaster’) aniego [aˈnjeɣo] (‘flood’).^[34] Although there is dialectal and ideolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs like abyecto (‘abject’) vs abierto (‘opened’).^[36][37] There are some alternations between the two, prompting scholars like Alarcos Llorach (1950)^[38] to postulate an archiphoneme /I/, so that ley [lei̯] would be transcribed phonemically as /ˈleI/ and leyes [ˈleʝes] as /ˈleIes/.

In a number of varieties, including some American ones, a process parallel to the one distinguishing non-syllabic /i/ from consonantal /ʝ/ occurs for non-syllabic /u/ and a rare consonantal /w̝/.^[34][39] Near-minimal pairs include deshuesar [dezw̝eˈsaɾ] (‘to debone’) vs. desuello [deˈsweʎo] (‘skinning’), son huevos [ˈsoŋ ˈw̝eβos] (‘they are eggs’) vs son nuevos [ˈsoⁿ ˈnweβos] (‘they are new’),^[40] and huaca [ˈ(ɡ)w̝aka] (‘Indian grave’) vs u oca [ˈwoka] (‘or goose’).^[41]

Doubling of vowels and consonants[edit]

Vowels in Spanish can be doubled to represent a hiatus of two identical vowels: leer, chiita, loor, duunviro. This especially happens in prefixed and compound words: portaaviones, sobreesfuerzo, microorganismo. However, in this case simplification of double vowels is also mostly allowed: portaviones, sobresfuerzo, microrganismo. Simplification is not allowed when it would change the meaning: archiilegal (‘arch-illegal’) but archilegal (‘arch-legal’).

The only consonant letters that can be doubled in the Spanish orthography are ⟨l⟩, ⟨r⟩ (as the digraphs ⟨ll⟩ and ⟨rr⟩, respectively), ⟨c⟩ (only when they represent different sounds: e.g. acción, diccionario), ⟨n⟩ (e.g. innato, perenne, connotar, dígannos), and ⟨b⟩ (in a few words with the prefix sub-: subbase, subbético). Exceptions to this limitation are gamma (and its derivatives gammaglobulina, gammagrafía), digamma, kappa, atto-, as well as unadapted foreign words (including proper names) and their derivations (see below). When a double consonant other than nn or bb would appear on a morpheme border, it is simplified: digámoselo for digamos+se+lo, exilofonista for ex+xilofonista.^[42] However, the combination sal+le is pronounced with a prolonged l and has no correct spelling according to the current orthography.^[43]

Optional omission of a consonant in consonant combination[edit]

In some words, one of consonants in a consonant combination may optionally be omitted. This includes Greek-derived words such as psicología/sicología, mnemónico/nemónico (mostly pronounced without consonant clusters foreign to Spanish but more commonly spelled with them) and other words such as obscuro/oscuro, transcribir/trascribir, septiembre/setiembre.

The letter Y[edit]

The letter ⟨y⟩ is consistently used in the consonantal value. The use of the letter ⟨y⟩ for a vowel or a semivowel is very restricted. The diphthongs ⟨ai, ei, oi⟩ are usually written ⟨ay, ey, oy⟩ at the end of words (e. g. hay, ley, voy), though exceptions may occur in loanwords (e.g. bonsái, agnusdéi). The spelling ⟨uy⟩ is used at the end of some words, where it is pronounced as a falling diphthong, such as cocuy; the word muy may also be pronounced with a raising diphthong. The letter ⟨y⟩ is conserved in rarely used encliticized verbal forms like doyte, haylas (it is more normal to say te doy, las hay). The letter ⟨y⟩ is used for the vowel /i/ in the conjunction y and in some acronyms, like pyme (from pequeña y mediana empresa). Otherwise, ⟨y⟩ for a vowel or semivowel occurs only in some archaically spelled proper names and their derivations: Guaymas, guaymeño, and also fraybentino (from Fray Bentos with regular usage of ⟨y⟩ in a word-final diphthong). Derivatives of foreign proper names also conserve ⟨y⟩: taylorismo, from Taylor.

Special and modified letters[edit]

The vowels can be marked with an acute accent—⟨á, é, í, ó, ú, ý⟩—for two purposes: to mark stress if it does not follow the most common pattern, or to differentiate words that are otherwise spelled identically (called the tilde diacrítica in Spanish). The accented ⟨y⟩ is found only in some proper names: Aýna, Laýna, Ýñiguez.

A silent ⟨u⟩ is used between ⟨g⟩ and ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ to indicate a hard /ɡ/ pronunciation, so that ⟨gue⟩ represents /ɡe/ and ⟨gui⟩ represents /ɡi/. The letter ⟨ü⟩ (⟨u⟩ with diaeresis) is used in this context to indicate that the ⟨u⟩ is not silent, e.g. pingüino [piŋˈɡwino]. The diaeresis may occur also in Spanish poetry, occasionally, over either vowel of a diphthong, to indicate an irregular disyllabic pronunciation required by the meter (vïuda, to be pronounced as three syllables).

Also a silent ⟨u⟩ always follows a ⟨q⟩ when followed by ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, as in queso and química, but there is no case for the combination ⟨qü⟩, with ⟨cu⟩ fulfilling this role (as in cuestión). There are no native words in Spanish with the combination ⟨qua⟩ nor ⟨quo⟩; again, ⟨cu⟩ is used instead (cuando). When they appear, usually from Latin idioms such as statu quo, the ⟨u⟩ is not silent, so ⟨ü⟩ is never needed after ⟨q⟩. Prior to the introduction of the 2010 Common Orthography words such as cuórum (‘quorum’), cuásar (‘quasar’) or Catar (‘Qatar’) were spelled with ⟨q⟩; this is no longer so.

Keyboard requirements[edit]

To write Spanish on a typewriter or to set type, the special characters required are ⟨á⟩, ⟨é⟩, ⟨í⟩, ⟨ó⟩, ⟨ú⟩, ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨Ñ⟩, ⟨ü⟩, ⟨Ü⟩, ⟨¿⟩, and ⟨¡⟩. The uppercase ⟨Á⟩, ⟨É⟩, ⟨Í⟩, ⟨Ó⟩, and ⟨Ú⟩ are also prescribed by the RAE, although occasionally dispensed with in practice.

As implemented on the mechanical typewriter, the keyboard contained a single dead key, with the acute accent ( ´ ) in the lowercase position, and the diaeresis ( ¨ ) in the uppercase position. With these, one could write ⟨á⟩, ⟨é⟩, ⟨í⟩, ⟨ó⟩, ⟨ú⟩, and ⟨ü⟩. A separate key provided ⟨ñ/Ñ⟩. (A dead key «~» is used on the Spanish and Portuguese keyboards, but on the Latin American keyboard the «~» is not a dead key). The inverted marks ⟨¿⟩ and ⟨¡⟩ completed the required minimum. When an additional key was added to electro-mechanical typewriters, this was used for ⟨ª⟩ and ⟨º⟩, though these are not required. (These symbols are used for ordinal numbers: ⟨1.º⟩ for primero, ⟨2.ª⟩ for segunda, etc.)

As implemented in the MS-DOS operating system and its successor Microsoft Windows, a ⟨ç⟩/⟨Ç⟩ pair—not required in Spanish but needed for Catalan, Portuguese, and French—is typically added, and the use of the acute accent and diaeresis with capital letters (⟨Á⟩, ⟨É⟩, ⟨Í⟩, ⟨Ó⟩, ⟨Ú⟩, ⟨Ü⟩) is supported. Although not needed for Spanish, another dead key with ⟨`⟩ (the grave accent) in lowercase position and ⟨^⟩ (the circumflex accent) in uppercase position was included. Also available is ⟨·⟩ (the «flying point», required in Catalan). To make room for these characters not on the standard English keyboard, characters used primarily in programming, science, and mathematics—⟨[⟩ and ⟨]⟩, ⟨{⟩ and ⟨}⟩, ⟨/⟩ and ⟨|⟩, and ⟨<⟩ and ⟨>⟩—are removed, requiring special keystroke sequences to access.

On a USA or UK physical keyboard, all of the Spanish characters are present using the US-International layout.

Stress and accentuation[edit]

Stress in Spanish is marked unequivocally through a series of orthographic rules. The default stress is on the penultimate (next-to-last) syllable on words that end in a vowel, ⟨n⟩ or ⟨s⟩ (not preceded by another consonant) and on the final syllable when the word ends in any consonant other than ⟨n⟩ or ⟨s⟩ or in a consonant group. Words that do not follow the default stress have an acute accent over the stressed vowel. The written accent may thus appear only in certain forms of a word and not others, for example andén, plural andenes. In many cases, the accent is essential to understanding what a word means, for example hablo (‘I speak’) as opposed to habló (‘he/she/you spoke’).

For purposes of counting syllables and assigning stress in Spanish, where an unmarked high vowel is followed by another vowel the sequence is treated as a rising diphthong, counted as a single syllable—unlike Portuguese and Catalan, which tend to treat such a sequence as two syllables.^[44] A syllable is of the form XAXX, where X represents a consonant, permissible consonant cluster, or no sound at all, and A represents a vowel, diphthong, or triphthong. A diphthong is any sequence of an unstressed high vowel (⟨i⟩ or ⟨u⟩) with another vowel (as in gracias or náutico), and a triphthong is any combination of three vowels beginning and ending with unstressed high vowels (as in cambiáis or buey). Hence Spanish writes familia (no accent), while Portuguese and Catalan both put an accent mark on família (all three languages stress the first ⟨i⟩). The letter ⟨h⟩ is not considered an interruption between vowels (so that ahumar is considered to have two syllables: ahu-mar; this may vary in some regions, where ⟨h⟩ is used as a hiatus or diphthong-broking mark for unstressed vowels, so the pronunciation would be then a-hu-mar, though that trait is gradually disappearing).

An accent over the high vowel (⟨i⟩ or ⟨u⟩) of a vowel sequence prevents it from being a diphthong (i.e., it signals a hiatus): for example, tía and país have two syllables each.

If the diphthongs ⟨ai, ei, oi, ui⟩ are written ⟨ay, ey, oy, uy⟩ at the end of words, the letter ⟨y⟩ is considered a consonant letter for the purpose of accentuation: estoy, yóquey.

A word with final stress is called oxytone (or aguda in traditional Spanish grammar texts); a word with penultimate stress is called paroxytone (llana or grave); a word with antepenultimate stress (stress on the third-to-last syllable) is called proparoxytone (esdrújula). A word with preantepenultimate stress (on the fourth last syllable) or earlier does not have a common linguistic term in English, but in Spanish receives the name sobresdrújula. (Spanish words can be stressed only on one of the last three syllables, except in the case of a verb form with enclitic pronouns, such as poniéndoselo.) All proparoxytones and sobresdrújulas have a written accent mark.

Adjectives spelled with a written accent (such as fácil, geográfico, cortés) keep the written accent when they are made into adverbs with the -mente ending (thus fácilmente, geográficamente, cortésmente), and do not gain any if they do not have one (thus libremente from libre). In the pronunciation of these adverbs—as with all adverbs in -mente—primary stress is on the ending, on the penultimate syllable. The original stress of the adjective—whether marked, as in fácilmente, or not marked, as in libremente—may be manifested as a secondary stress in the adverb.

Some words which according to the general rules should be monosyllabic, such as guion, may also be pronounced as disyllabic. Pre-1999 orthographic rules treated such words as disyllabic, thus guión. The orthographic rules of 1999 admitted the two accentuations guion and guión, corresponding to two different pronunciations. The orthographic rules of 2010 declared that for orthographic purposes such words should be considered monosyllabic, so the correct spelling is now guion.

Accentuation of capital letters[edit]

The Real Academia Española indicates that accents are required on capitals (but not when the capitals are used in acronyms).^[45]

Differential accents[edit]

In eight cases, the written accent is used to distinguish stressed monosyllabic words from clitics:

Monosyllabic words distinguished by differential accent

Clitic	Stressed word
de (‘of’)	dé (‘give’, present subjunctive of ‘dar’)
el (masculine definite article)	él (‘he, it’ for masculine nouns)
mas (‘but’)	más (‘more’)
mi (‘my’)	mí (‘me’ after prepositions)
se (third person reflexive)	sé (‘I know’ or imperative ‘be’)
si (‘if’)	sí (‘yes’ or ‘himself’ after prepositions)
te (informal object case of ‘you’)	té (‘tea’)
tu (informal ‘your’)	tú (informal subject case of ‘you’)

The written accent in the word té is conserved in its plural: tés.

However, names of letters and musical notes are written without the accent, even if they have homonymous clitics: a, de, e, o, te, u; mi, la, si.

The written accent is also used in the interrogative pronouns to distinguish them from relative pronouns (which are pronounced the same but unstressed):

¿A dónde vas? ‘Where are you going?’

A donde no puedas encontrarme. ‘Where you cannot find me.’

Relative and interrogative words distinguished by differential accent

Relative	Interrogative
como	cómo
cual/es	cuál/es
cuan	cuán
cuando	cuándo
cuanto/os/a/as	cuánto/os/a/as
cuyo/os/a/as	cúyo/os/a/as
(a)donde	(a)dónde
que	qué
quien/es	quién/es

The use of ⟨ó⟩ in the word o (meaning ‘or’) is a hypercorrection. Up until 2010, ⟨ó⟩ was used when applied to numbers: 7 ó 9 (‘7 or 9’), to avoid possible confusion with the digit 0. The tenth congress of the Association of Spanish Language Academies deemed the use of an accent unnecessary, as typewriting eliminates possible confusion due to the different shapes of ⟨0⟩ (zero) and ⟨o⟩ (the letter).^[1]

The differential accent is sometimes used in demonstrative pronouns (e. g. éste ‘this one’) to distinguish them from demonstrative determiners (e. g. este ‘this’) and in the adverb sólo ‘only’ to distinguish it from the adjective solo. However, the current position of the RAE is not to use accent in these words regardless of their meaning (as they are always stressed), except in cases of possible ambiguity (and even then it is recommended to rephrase, avoiding the accented spellings of these words entirely).

These diacritics are often called acentos diacríticos or tildes diacríticas in traditional Spanish grammar.

Foreign words[edit]

Loanwords in Spanish are usually written according to Spanish spelling conventions (extranjerismos adaptados): e.g. pádel, fútbol, chófer, máster, cederrón (‘CD-ROM’). However, some foreign words (extranjerismos crudos) are used in Spanish texts in their original forms, not conforming to Spanish orthographic conventions: e.g. ballet, blues, jazz, jeep, lady, pizza, sheriff, software. The RAE prescribes extranjerismos crudos to be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available:

Quiero escuchar jazz y comer pizza.

Quiero escuchar jazz y comer pizza.

Quiero escuchar «jazz» y comer «pizza».

Spanish-speakers use both English-style and angled quotation marks, so the above example could also be written as follows:

Quiero escuchar «jazz» y comer «pizza».

This typographical emphasis is prescribed by the RAE since 1999.^[46] In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

This typographical emphasis is not used for foreign proper names and their derivations with the suffixes -iano, -ismo, -ista; nor is it used for some Spanish derivations of extranjerismos crudos, such as pizzería.

According to the current Ortografía, Latin expressions (e. g. curriculum vitae, grosso modo) are treated as unadapted foreign words, so they are also typographically emphasized. From 1870 to 2010, Latin expressions in Spanish texts were accentuated according to the Spanish orthographical rules (e. g. currículum vítae) and not typographically emphasized. Some Latin expressions have become single words in Spanish: etcétera, suigéneris. These words are not typographically emphasized.

For foreign names from non-Latin-script languages, using Spanish orthographic transcription is recommended: Al-Yazira, Menájem Beguín.

Capitalization[edit]

Capitalization in Spanish is sparse compared to English.

In general, only personal and place names, some abbreviations (e.g. Sr. López, but señor López); the first word (only) in the title of a book, movie, song, etc. (except when the title contains only two words, then the second word is also sometimes capitalized); and the first word in a sentence are capitalized, as are names of companies, government bodies, celebrations, periodicals, etc. Some geographical names have a capitalized article: El Salvador, but los Estados Unidos. Capitalized article is also used in names of periodicals, such as El País, El Nuevo Diario. Some nouns have capital letters when used in a special administrative sense: Estado ‘state’ (sovereign polity), but estado ‘state’ (political division; condition). Nomenclature terms in geographical names are written in lowercase: el mar Mediterráneo ‘the Mediterranean Sea’. According to the current Ortografía, geographical names of the type «nomenclature term + adjective from another name of the same geographical object» are not capitalized at all: la península ibérica ‘the Iberian Peninsula’, because ibérica comes from Iberia, another name of the same peninsula (although mainly used in a historical context).^[47]

Adjectives from geographical names, names of nationalities or languages are not capitalized, nor (in standard style) are days of the week and months of the year.^[48][49]

Writing words together and separately[edit]

The following words are written together:

• prefixed words, such as anteayer;
• adverbs ending in -mente, such as fácilmente;
• compound words from verbs and nouns, such as cumpleaños;
• the conjunction porque (‘because’) and the noun porqué (‘reason’);
• indefinite pronouns such as quienquiera;
• combinations of verbs with enclitic pronouns, such as entregándomelo ‘delivering it to me’ from entregando ‘delivering’ + me ‘me’ + lo ‘it’.

The following word combinations are written separately:

• compound adverbs such as a menudo;
• the interrogative por qué (‘why’);
• combinations of prefixes and word combinations: vice primer ministro (but vicepresidente, vicerrector^[27]).

Coordinated compound adjectives are written with a hyphen: político-económico.

Syllabification[edit]

Spanish words are divided into syllables using the following rules:

1. A vowel between two consonants always ends the first syllable and the second consonant begins another: pá-ja-ro. Put differently, if a vowel follows a consonant, the consonant, not the vowel, must begin the new syllable.

2. If a vowel is followed by two consonants, the syllables divide between the consonants: can-tar, ver-ter, án-da-le. However, ch, ll, rr and combinations of b, c, d, f, g, k, p, t plus r or l do not divide: pe-rro, lu-char, ca-lle, pro-gra-ma, ha-blar. Exceptionally, r and l after a consonant can begin a new syllable in prefixed or compound words: sub-ra-yar, sub-lu-nar, ciu-dad-re-a-le-ño.

3. Two vowels may form a hiatus or a diphthong (see the section «Stress and accentuation» above): pa-e-lla, puen-te, ra-íz. Three vowels may sometimes form a triphthong: es-tu-diáis.

4. The silent h is not taken into account when syllabifying words. Two vowels separated by an h may form a hiatus or a diphthong: ahu-mar, de-sahu-cio, bú-ho.

The combination tl in the middle of words may be divided into syllables in two ways: at-le-ta or a-tle-ta, corresponding to the pronunciations [að̞ˈle.t̪a] (more common in Spain) and [aˈt̪le.t̪a] (more common in Latin America).

These rules are used for hyphenating words at the end of line, with the following additional rules:

1. One letter is not hyphenated. So, the word abuelo is syllabified a-bue-lo, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line is abue-lo.

2. Hiatuses are not divided at the end of line. So, the word paella is syllabified as pa-e-lla, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line is pae-lla. This rule includes hiatuses with an intervening silent h: alcohol is syllabified as al-co-hol, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line is al-cohol. On the other hand, the name Mohamed contains a pronounced h, so the hyphenation Mo-hamed is accepted. See also rule 3 containing an exception to this rule.

3. Prefixed and compound words may be divided phonetically (corresponding to the above rules) or morphologically (the border between morphemes is considered a border between syllables): bie-nestar or bien-estar, inte-racción or inter-acción, reins-talar or re-instalar. This rule is not valid for compounds in which one part is not used as an independent word or for words with unproductive prefixes: pun-tiagudo (not *punti-agudo), arzo-bispo (not *arz-obispo).

4. Unusual combinations containing the letter h are not permitted at the beginning of a line: sulfhí-drico (not *sul-fhídrico), brah-mán (not *bra-hmán).

The letter x between vowels phonetically represents two consonants separated by a syllable border, but hyphenation at the end of line is permitted before the x: ta-xi, bo-xeo.

Words written with hyphen are hyphenated by repeating the hyphen on the following line: teórico-/-práctico. Repeating the hyphen is not necessary if the hyphenated word is a proper name where a hyphen is followed by a capital letter.

Abbreviations, symbols, acronyms[edit]

Abbreviations are written with the period: art. for artículo. Contractions are written in the same way: admón. for administración, or sometimes using superscript letters: D.ª for doña. Hyphenating abbreviations (including contractions) at the end of line is not allowed and putting them in separate lines with terms they accompany is not allowed. Abbreviations are not capitalized if the original word is written in lowercase, but there are some traditional exceptions: Ud. or Vd. for usted, Sr. for señor. Rarely, abbreviations are written using the slash: c/ for calle, b/n for blanco y negro.

One-letter abbreviations are pluralized by doubling the letter: pp. for páginas. More-than-one-letter abbreviations are pluralized by adding s: vols. for volúmenes. The ending -es is used for contractions if it appears in the corresponding complete word: admones. for administraciones. Traditional exceptions: the plural of pta. (peseta) is pts., that of cent. (centavo) and cént. (céntimo) is cts., and that of Ud. or Vd. (usted) is Uds. or Vds.

Letter symbols such as those of chemical elements or measurement units are written following international conventions and do not require the abbreviation period: H (hidrógeno), kg (kilogramo). For some notions, Spanish-specific symbols are used: O (oeste ‘west’), sen (seno ‘sine’).

Acronyms are written in all capitals and read by letters (ONG for organización no gubernamental ‘non-governmental organization’) or as words (ONU for Organización de las Naciones Unidas). Some acronyms read as words are written as normal words, including proper names of more than four letters such as Unesco, Unicef or common nouns such as ovni. Some acronyms read by letters may also be spelled according to their pronunciation: oenegé. Acronyms written in all capitals are not pluralized in writing, but they are pluralized in speech: las ONG [las o.e.neˈxes] ‘the non-governmental organizations’.

Numerals[edit]

Numbers may be written in words (uno, dos, tres…) or in figures (1, 2, 3, …).

For the decimal separator, the comma and the point are both accepted (3,1416 or 3.1416); the decimal comma is preferred in Spain, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, but the decimal point is preferred in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Both marks are used in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, and El Salvador.

For the thousands separator, the currently standard mark is the thin space (123 456 789). Formerly, the point was sometimes used, but now it is not recommended.

When written in words, numbers up to 30 are nowadays written as a single word, e.g. dieciséis, veintinueve. The corresponding ordinal numbers may be written as a single word or separately, e.g. decimosexto (decimosexta, decimosextos, decimosextas) or décimo sexto (décima sexta, décimos sextos, décimas sextas). Numbers more than 30 (cardinal and ordinal) are usually written separately, e.g. treinta y cinco, trigésimo quinto, but one-word spellings such as treintaicinco, trigesimoquinto are also accepted by the current Ortografía.

Whole hundreds are also written as single words, e.g. cuatrocientos.

Fractionary numbers such as cincuentaiseisavo are written as a single word.

Daytime is written in the 24-hour format, using the colon (18:45) or the point (18.45). Dates are expressed in the day-month-year format, with the following options possible: 8 de mayo de 2015; 8-5-2015; 8-5-15; 8/5/2015; 8.5.2015; 8-V-2015. Leading zeros in the day and the month (08.05.2015) are not used, except in computerized or bank documents.

Roman numerals (I, II, III, …) are used for centuries (e. g. siglo xxi) and for regnal numbers (e. g. Luis XIV). Roman or Arabic numerals may be used for historical dynasties (e. g. la xviii dinastía or la 18.ª dinastía); volumes, chapters, or other parts of books (e. g. tomo iii, tomo 3.º, 3.^er tomo, or tomo 3); celebrations (e. g. XXIII Feria del Libro de Buenos Aires, or 23.ª Feria…).^[50] Roman numerals are typeset in small capitals if they would not be capitalized when written in words.

History[edit]

The Real Academia Española has reformed the orthographic rules of Spanish several times.

In Old Spanish, ⟨x⟩ was used to represent the voiceless palatal sound /ʃ/ (as in dixo ‘he/she said’), while ⟨j⟩ represented the voiced palatal /ʒ/ (as in fijo ‘son’). With the changes of sibilants in the 16th century, the two sounds merged as /ʃ/ (later to become velar /x/), and the letter ⟨j⟩ was chosen for the single resulting phoneme in 1815. This results in some words that originally contained ⟨x⟩ now containing ⟨j⟩, most easily seen in the case of those with English cognates, such as ejercicio, «exercise». When Cervantes wrote Don Quixote he spelled the name in the old way (and English preserves the ⟨x⟩), but modern editions in Spanish spell it with ⟨j⟩. For the use of ⟨x⟩ in Mexico—and in the name México itself—see below.

The letter ⟨ç⟩ (c-cedilla)—which was first used in Old Spanish—is now obsolete in Spanish, having merged with ⟨z⟩ in a process similar to that of ⟨x⟩ and ⟨j⟩. Old Spanish coraçon, cabeça, fuerça became modern corazón, cabeza, fuerza.

Words formerly spelled with ⟨ze⟩ or ⟨zi⟩ (such as catorze, dezir, and vezino) are now written with ⟨ce⟩ and ⟨ci⟩ (catorce, decir, vecino, respectively). The sequences ⟨ze⟩ and ⟨zi⟩ do not occur in modern Spanish except some loanwords: zeugma, zigurat, zipizape; some borrowed words have double spellings: zinc/cinc.^[51] A notable case is the word enzima used in biochemistry, meaning «enzyme», as different from encima meaning «on», «over» or «on top of» something.

The old spellings with ⟨ç⟩, ⟨ze⟩, and ⟨zi⟩ remained in use until the eighteenth century. They were replaced by ⟨z⟩, ⟨ce⟩, and ⟨ci⟩, respectively in 1726.^[52] ⟨Ze⟩ and ⟨zi⟩ continued to be used in some words due to their etymology (e.g. zelo, zizaña), but this usage was largely reduced during the 1860—1880s, so these words became celo and cizaña. The letter ⟨x⟩ was replaced by ⟨j⟩ in 1815,^[53] although word-final ⟨x⟩ remained until 1832 (e.g. relox, now reloj).^[54] The combinations ⟨je⟩ and ⟨ji⟩ were originally used only in a few etymological cases (e.g. Jesús, Jeremías) and also in diminutives (pajita); in the Ortografía of 1815, ⟨xe⟩ and ⟨xi⟩ were replaced by ⟨ge⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ in some words (e.g. egemplo) but by ⟨je⟩ and ⟨ji⟩ in other words (e. g. dije); the Diccionario of 1817 used mostly ⟨je⟩ and ⟨ji⟩ (e.g. ejemplo) but ⟨ge⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ word-initially (e.g. gefe); in the Diccionario of 1832, ⟨ge⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ in words that did not have g in Latin were changed to ⟨je⟩, ⟨ji⟩ (e.g. muger, from Latin mulier, became mujer), but word-initial unetymological ⟨ge⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ remained; the Diccionario of 1837 stated explicitly that from then on, ⟨ge⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ were to be written only in words where they are justified by etymology.^[55]

Old Spanish used to distinguish /s/ and /z/ between vowels, and it distinguished them by using ⟨ss⟩ for the former and ⟨s⟩ for the latter, e.g. osso (‘bear’) and oso (‘I dare to’). In orthography, the distinction was suppressed in 1763.^[56]

Words spelled in modern Spanish with ⟨cua⟩, ⟨cuo⟩ (e.g. cuando, cuatro, cuota) were written with ⟨qua⟩, ⟨quo⟩ up until 1815.^[53] In some words, ⟨co⟩ was written ⟨quo⟩ (e.g. quociente → cociente), and ⟨cue⟩ was written ⟨qüe⟩ (e.g. freqüente → frecuente). To distinguish ⟨quo⟩ pronounced ⟨co⟩ and ⟨cuo⟩, sometimes ⟨qüo⟩ was used for the latter, e. g. iniqüo, propinqüo (these forms appeared in the Ortografía, but the Diccionario did not put the diaeresis in these words).

In 1726, most double consonants were simplified (e.g. grammatica → gramática, addicion → adición)^[52]—but the ⟨m⟩ of a prefix before the ⟨m⟩ of a root was differentiated to ⟨n⟩ in 1763 (e.g. «commover → conmover«).^[56] And the Graeco-Latin digraphs ⟨ch⟩, ⟨ph⟩, ⟨(r)rh⟩ and ⟨th⟩ were reduced to ⟨c⟩, ⟨f⟩, ⟨(r)r⟩ and ⟨t⟩, respectively (e.g. christiano → cristiano, triumpho → triunfo, myrrha → mirra, theatro → teatro). This was mostly done in 1754,^[57] but some exceptions persisted until 1803.^[58]

An earlier usage had ⟨Y⟩ as a word initial ⟨I⟩. It is only maintained in the archaic spelling of proper names like Yglesias or Ybarra. Although the RAE has always used the word-initial I as needed, the use of Y is occasionally found in handwriting and inscriptions up to the middle of the 19th century. The usage of ⟨y⟩ for the vowel in words of Greek origin was abolished in 1754 (e.g. lyra → lira). The usage of ⟨y⟩ in non-word-final diphthongs was abolished in 1815 (e.g. ayre → aire).

In early printing, the long s ⟨ſ⟩ was a different version of ⟨s⟩ used at the beginning or in the middle of a word. In Spain, the change to use the familiar round s everywhere, as in the current usage, was mainly accomplished between the years 1760 and 1766; for example, the multi-volume España Sagrada made the switch with volume 16 (1762).

From 1741^[59] to 1815, the circumflex was used over vowels to indicate that preceding ⟨ch⟩ and ⟨x⟩ should be pronounced /k/ and /ks/ respectively and not /tʃ/ and /x/, e.g. patriarchâ, exâctitud.

The use of accent marks in printing varies by period, due to reforms successively promulgated by the Spanish Royal Academy. In early RAE publications (RAE statutes of 1715, Diccionario de autoridades of 1726), the acute accent was used extensively (e. g. Real Académia Españóla), although it was not used in paroxytones with two or more consonants after the stressed vowel, in most two-syllable paroxytones, and in some other words. (However, the Diccionario de autoridades, unlike the RAE statutes and later RAE publications, does not put accents on the capital letters.) In the Orthographía of 1741, the default stress is defined as paroxytone in words ending in ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨o⟩, or ⟨s⟩, and in verbal forms ending in ⟨n⟩, and as oxytone in words ending in ⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩, or other consonants. Since the Ortografía of 1754, the default stress is defined as paroxytone in words ending in vowels and oxytone in words ending in consonants, with some grammar-based exceptions, such as differential accents, plurals ending in ⟨s⟩, and verbal forms ending in ⟨n⟩ or ⟨s⟩; but other words ending in ⟨n⟩ or ⟨s⟩ were accented according to the general rule: capitan, jóven, demas, mártes. In 1880,^[60] the rules were simplified: grammatical considerations were no longer taken into account, except for differential accents. As a result, many words spelled previously without the accent gained it. These include words with final stress ending in -n (e.g. capitán, también, jardín, acción, común—but future-tense verb forms like serán, tendrán had already been spelled with the accent); words ending in ⟨s⟩ which are not plurals (e. g. francés, compás, demás); verbs in the imperfect tense (e.g. tenía, vivían); the possessives mío and mía and the word día. On the other hand, some words lost their accent mark, e. g. jóven → joven, mártes → martes. Meanwhile, one-letter words other than the conjunction y—namely the preposition a and the conjunctions e (the form of y before an [i] sound), o, and u (form of o before [o])—were written with the grave accent (à, è, ò, ù) in early RAE publications and with the acute accent (á, é, ó, ú) from 1741 to 1911.^[61] The accent-marked infinitives such as oír, reír, sonreír began to outnumber the unaccented form around 1920,^[62] dropped the accent mark again in 1952,^[63] and regained it in 1959.^[64] Monosyllabic preterite verb forms such as dio and fue were written with accent marks before 1952.^[63]

The Ortografía 1754^[57] and later editions also stated that surnames ending in -ez are not accented, though pronounced as paroxytones, e. g. Perez, Enriquez. The Prontuario 1853^[65] and later editions did not mention surnames ending in -ez explicitly (but Perez occurs in capitalization rules), but stated that oxytone surnames are accented (e. g. Ardanáz, Muñíz) except when homonymous to nouns, adjectives, geographical names, or verb infinitives (e. g. Calderon, Leal, Teruel, Escalar). The Gramática 1870^[66] stated that surnames ending in consonant and traditionally written without the accent are sometimes pronounced as paroxytones (e. g. Gutierrez, Aristizabal) and sometimes as oxytones (e. g. Ortiz) and recommends following the general rule for accentuation of surnames. The Gramática 1880^[60] follows the general rule for accentuation of surnames: Enríquez, Fernández.

Since 1952, the letter ⟨h⟩ is no longer considered an interruption between syllables, so the spellings such as buho, vahido, tahur became búho, vahído, tahúr.^[63] The spelling desahucio was not changed, as pronouncing this word with a diphthong (/de.ˈsau.θjo/ instead of the former pronunciation /de.sa.ˈu.θjo/) came to be considered the norm.

History of differential accents:^[67]

• Ortografía 1754: dé, sé, sí.
• Ortografía 1763: dé, sé, sí, él, mí.
• The word tú is accented in the Diccionario since 1783.^[68]
• Accented interrogatives appear in the Diccionario from 1817.^[69]
• The word té is accented in the Diccionario from 1832; the accent disappeared after 1880 and reappeared in 1925.
• The word más is accented in the Prontuario since 1853.^[65]
• The Prontuario 1853 also added luégo (as an adverb) and the verb forms éntre, pára, sóbre; the Gramática 1870 also added nós (as majestic ‘we’), and the musical notes mí, lá, sí. These accents were abolished by the Gramática 1880.
• The Gramática 1870 also mentions the obsolete pronoun ál (‘another thing’), which is also mentioned in the Diccionario since 1869.
• The demonstrative pronouns éste, ése, aquél appear accented since the Prontuario 1853. However, the norms of 1952 stated that they may be not accented except in the case of ambiguity and also extended the possibility of accentuating to other similar words such as otro, algunos, pocos, muchos;^[63] this extension was abolished by the revision of 1959.^[64]
• The adverb sólo is mentioned by the Prontuario 1853, but not by the Gramática 1870. The Gramática 1880 states that the word is accented «by the common usage» (por costumbre). The norms of 1952 made the accent on sólo mandatory,^[63] but their revision of 1959 stated the accent in sólo is not normally needed, but can be used in the cases of ambiguity.^[64] The Ortografía 1999 states that the accent in sólo may be used, but it is necessary only in the cases of ambiguity. The Ortografía 2010 recommends not to accent the demonstratives and solo, but the DLE 2014 states that they may be accented in cases of ambiguity.^[70][71]
• Additionally, the words aun (normally pronounced with a diphthong) and aún (normally pronounced with a hiatus) were originally not distinguished, but they appear in the Prontuario 1853 as áun and aún. Since the Gramática 1880, they are spelled aun and aún.

The names of numbers in the upper teens and the twenties were originally written as three words (e.g. diez y seis, veinte y nueve), but nowadays they are spelled as a single word (e.g. dieciséis, veintinueve). For the numbers from 21 to 29, the «fused» forms are accepted since 1803^[58] and became common over the second half of the 19th century.^[72] For those from 16 to 19, the one-word forms became accepted in 1925^[73] and took the lead in the 1940s.^[74] The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (2005) labeled the separate spelling as obsolete. Fusing of number-names above 30 (e.g. treintaicinco, cuarentaiocho) is rare, but accepted by the DPD 2005^[75] and the Ortografía 2010^[76] besides the usual separate spelling: treinta y cinco, cuarenta y ocho.

In the 18th century, the letter ⟨k⟩ was used in a few loanwords and also in the word kalendario (following the Latin spelling Kalendae); however, the first edition of the Diccionario de la lengua castellana (1780) already spelled calendario. The fourth edition of the Diccionario de la lengua castellana (1803) stated that ⟨k⟩ may be in any case replaced by ⟨c⟩ or ⟨qu⟩ and did not give any words beginning with ⟨k⟩, while still including the letter in the alphabet. In the eighth edition of the Ortografía de la lengua castellana (1815), the letter ⟨k⟩ was deleted from the Spanish alphabet. However, the letter was reinstated in the fourth edition of the Prontuario de ortografía de la lengua castellana (1853), and its use in loanwords was reallowed.

The letter ⟨w⟩ was formerly considered unneeded for writing Spanish. Previous RAE orthographies did not include ⟨w⟩ in the alphabet and restricted its use to foreign proper names and Visigothic names from Spanish history (the use of ⟨w⟩ in Visigothic names stems from the Middle Ages, although at that time ⟨w⟩ was not considered a letter but a ligature of two ⟨v⟩s or ⟨u⟩s). However, in the Ortografía of 1969, RAE included ⟨w⟩ into the Spanish alphabet, allowing its use in loanwords.

In 1999, the written accent was added to a few words ending on the stressed diphthong au or eu: marramau became marramáu. Before 1999, the combinations of accented verb forms with enclitic pronouns conserved the written accent, but now they do not if the general rules of accentuation do not require it: salióse → saliose (salió + se), déme → deme (dé + me).^[46][77]

Reform proposals[edit]

In spite of the relatively regular orthography of Spanish, there have been several initiatives to simplify it further. Andrés Bello succeeded in making his proposal official in several South American countries, but they later returned to the standard set by the Real Academia Española.^[78]
Another proposal, Ortografía R̃asional Ispanoamerikana, remained a curiosity.^[79][80]
Juan Ramón Jiménez proposed changing ⟨ge⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ to ⟨je⟩ and ⟨ji⟩, but this is only applied in editions of his works or those of his wife, Zenobia Camprubí.
Gabriel García Márquez raised the issue of reform during a congress at Zacatecas in 1997, most notoriously advocating for the suppression of ⟨h⟩, which is mute in Spanish, but, despite his prestige, no serious changes were adopted.^[81]
The Academies, however, from time to time have made minor changes in the orthography (see above).

A Mexican Spanish convention is to spell certain indigenous words with ⟨x⟩ rather than the ⟨j⟩ that would be the standard spelling in Spanish. This is generally due to the origin of the word (or the present pronunciation) containing the voiceless postalveolar fricative /ʃ/ sound or another sibilant that is not used in modern standard Spanish. The most noticeable word with this feature is México (see Toponymy of Mexico). The Real Academia Española recommends this spelling.^[82] The American Spanish colloquial term chicano is shortened from mechicano, which uses /tʃ/ in place of the /ʃ/ of rural Mexican Spanish /meʃiˈkano/.^[83]

Punctuation[edit]

Punctuation in Spanish is generally similar to punctuation in English and other European languages, but has some differences.

Spanish has the unusual feature of indicating the beginning of an interrogative or exclamatory sentence or phrase with inverted variants of the question mark and exclamation mark ([¿] and [¡]), respectively. Most languages that use the Latin alphabet (including Spanish) use question and exclamation marks at the end of sentences and clauses. These inverted forms appear additionally at the beginning of these sentences or clauses. For example, the English phrase «How old are you?» has just the final question mark, while the Spanish equivalent, ¿Cuántos años tienes? begins with an inverted question mark.

The inverted question and exclamation marks were gradually adopted following the Real Academia’s recommendations in the second edition of the Ortografía de la lengua castellana in 1754. Originally, the usage of inverted marks at the beginning was recommended only for large sentences, but the Gramática of 1870 made them mandatory for all interrogative or exclamatory sentences.

The inverted question and exclamation marks may be used at the beginning of a clause in the middle of a sentence, for example: Si no puedes ir con ellos, ¿quieres ir con nosotros? (‘If you cannot go with them, would you like to go with us?’).

Sentences that are interrogative and exclamative at the same time may be written with two signs on each side: ¿¡…!? or ¡¿…?! or with one sign on each side: ¡…? or ¿…!

However, parenthesized signs to show doubt or surprise are written as single signs: (?) (!). Doubtful dates may be written with single or double signs: 1576? or ¿1576?

The period indicates the end of the sentence.

The comma is used for separating appositions, subordinate clauses, interjections, tags in tag questions, vocatives, and discursives. It is also used in enumerations, but the serial comma is not used in Spanish: España, Francia y Portugal (‘Spain, France(,) and Portugal’). There are some cases in which the comma after a coordinating conjunction, such as complex sentences. Circumstantial complements are usually not separated by a comma.

The semicolon is used for a more significant pause then the comma. It may mean an intermediate division between the comma and the period or separate parts of a sentence which already contain commas.

The colon is used for generalizing words before enumerations, for exemplifications, before the direct speech. Sometimes it can be used for juxtaposing clauses (similar to the semicolon), after discursives, and in titles of the type «general: special». The colon is the standard mark in Spanish for addressing people in letters (Estimado profesor:, Querido amigo:); using the comma in this case is considered nonstandard.

The parentheses are used to include parenthetical information. When an entire sentence is parenthesized, the period is placed after the parentheses: (Esta es una frase parentética).

The square brackets are used for writing editor’s words inside citations and instead of parentheses inside parentheses.

The dash may be used to write direct speech in dialogues, as a quotation dash. Two dashes can sometimes introduce parenthetical constructions. The dash can also be used as a marker in enumerations. The combination «period+dash» may be used to separate the name of the topic and other information, or to separate characters’ names and their lines in theatrical works.

The quotation marks (for citations, direct speech, words in unusual form or meaning) are used in three styles: angled quotation marks (« ») for the outer level, double quotation marks (“ ”) for the inner level, single quotation marks (‘ ’) for the third level. This is the system preferred in Spain, whereas Latin American publications often do not use the angled quotation marks. When a closing quotation mark occurs together with another punctuation mark, it is placed after the quotation mark.

The ellipsis is used for marking a sudden pause or suspension in thought and for incomplete citations. The combination «ellipsis+period» is simplified to the ellipsis, but the abbreviation point remains before the ellipsis. When an ellipsis occurs together with another punctuation mark, then the comma, the semicolon, and the colon are placed after the ellipsis, but other punctuation marks may be placed before or after the ellipsis depending on the structure of the sentence.

Arabic alphabet[edit]

In the 15th and 16th centuries, dialectal Spanish (as well as Portuguese and Ladino) was sometimes written in the Arabic alphabet by Moriscos. This form of writing is called aljamiado.

See also[edit]

• Inverted question and exclamation marks
• Spanish manual alphabet
• Chilean manual alphabet

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Penny, Ralph (2002). A History of the Spanish Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-01184-1.

• Butt, John; Benjamin, Carmen (2011). A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish (5th ed.). Oxford: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-444-13769-9.

• Martínez Celdrán, Eugenio; Fernández Planas, Ana Ma.; Carrera Sabaté, Josefina (2003), «Castilian Spanish», Journal of the International Phonetic Association, 33 (2): 255–259, doi:10.1017/S0025100303001373

• Ortografía de la lengua española published by the Real Academia Española (RAE).

External links[edit]

• A la nación española: Sobre reformas ortográficas, Mariano Cubí i Soler, Imprenta de Miguel i Jaime Gaspar, Barcelona, 1852 (Biblioteca Digital Hispánica).
• Collation in Spanish
• Spanish Alphabet Pronunciation – simplified for beginners to Spanish letter pronunciation.

Good news! Spanish pronunciation is easy. 

Linguists consider Spanish a phonetic language—meaning it’s usually pronounced the way it’s written. 

The same letters and combinations of letters are always pronounced the same way. You won’t get surprises like “pear” and “spear.”

All you need to do is to get to know some rules and how to pronounce Spanish letters and letter combinations. Believe me, it won’t take you long and you’ll be able to read Spanish right after you finish this article.

Let’s get started!

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Table of Contents:

• The Spanish Alphabet
• Pronunciation of Spanish Vowels
• Pronunciation of Spanish Consonants
• Pronouncing Common Spanish Words
• How to Practice Spanish Pronunciation
• Practice Spanish Pronunciation in a Conversation

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The Spanish Alphabet

The first step is to get to know the Spanish alphabet.

The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters, one more than the English one. Can you spot the extra letter?

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Ññ Oo Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Yes, you’re right! It’s Ññ. You’ll get to know this letter better later on.

Now let’s take a look at the names of the Spanish letters.

Spanish Letters – Names

Listen to the audio of the Spanish alphabet letter names:

Letter

Aa

Bb

Cc

Dd

Ee

Ff

Gg

Hh

Ii

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Ññ

Oo

Pp

Qq

Rr

Ss

Tt

Uu

Vv

Ww

Xx

Yy

Zz

Spanish Letters – Sounds

Although there are 27 letters, there are more sounds, as some letters in combinations can produce different sounds. 

Here, I’ll just put the basic chart, with IPA pronunciation (International Phonetic Alphabet), and then I will explain letter by letter.

Letter	Letter Sound
Aa	/a/
Bb	/b/, [β]
Cc	/k/, /s/, /ʧ/
Dd	/d/, /d/
Ee	/e/
Ff	/f/
Gg	/g/, [γo], /x/
Hh	silent
Ii	/i/
Jj	/x/
Kk	/k/
Ll	/l/, /ʝ/
Mm	/m/
Nn	/n/
Ññ	/ɲ/
Oo	/o/
Pp	/p/
Qq	/k/
Rr	tap /ɾ/, trill /r/
Ss	/s/
Tt	/t/
Uu	/u/
Vv	/b/, /β/
Ww	/w/, /b/
Xx	/x/, /s/, /ks/
Yy	/i/, /ʝ/
Zz	/s/

As you can see most of the letters only have one pronunciation. Some of them have two or three, but always in the same letter combinations.

Let’s see all the letters and their pronunciation in detail now. I’ll present them in two groups: vowels and consonants.

Pronunciation of Spanish Vowels

You make the Spanish vowel sounds by letting your breath out of your mouth without closing your throat or touching top lip to bottom.

Say “aaaaa” and “ooo.” 

Do you see? 

Now, say “l.” 

Did you notice that you constrict your throat with your tongue?

Try saying “p.”

In this case, your top lip compresses against your bottom lip.

Spanish vowels are completely free of compression or constriction. 

5 Vowel Sounds

There are only five vowels and—as you can see in the sound chart above—they correspond to five sounds: 

1.  / a /
2. / e /
3. / i /
4. / o /
5. / u /

The pronunciation is simple, just remember:

• The A sounds like the first “a” in “always”
• The E sounds like the long “a” in “angel”
• The  I sounds like the long “e” in “be” 
• The O sounds like the long “o” in “open” 
• The U sounds like the long “u” in “flute” 

In comparison, do you know how many basic vowel sounds English has? 

Twelve! 

All the Spanish vowels you’ll learn also exist in the English sound system, so they won’t give you much trouble.

In Spanish, you don’t have to worry about the position of the vowel to achieve correct pronunciation, as it’s always the same no matter its location.  

Remember that Spanish vowels are always short. In English, you have long and short, but all the Spanish vowels are short even if they have an accent mark over them. You should just pronounce them stronger but not longer.

Recommended reading: How to Write and Pronounce Spanish Accent Marks.

Vowel Pairs – Diphthongs’ Pronunciation

Vowel pairs, or diphthongs, exist when two vowel sounds combine to create one unique sound.

Learn the following common vowel combinations to improve your pronunciation!

Listen to the audio to hear the words listed in the column on the right.

Spanish Diphthongs	Pronounce This Spanish Word
ai or ay sounds like “eye”	el aire (air)
ei and ey rhymes with “hay”	el rey (king)
oi or oy rhymes with “toy”	voy (I go / I’m coming)
ui or uy rhymes with “gooey”	muy (very) / Luis (common name)
ia sounds like “yah”	estudiar (to study)
ie sounds like “yeh”	la tierra (earth)
io sounds like “yo”	delicioso (delicious)
iu sounds like “ew”	la viuda (widow)
au sounds like “ouch”	la aula (classroom)
eu has no equivalent in English.	Try saying the first part of the word “Beowulf” fast, you’ll get an idea. In Spanish, say la deuda (debt).
ua sounds like “wah”	el agua (water)
ue sounds like “weh”	la fuente (fountain)
uo sounds like “woah”	la cuota (fee)

2 Common Vowel Pronunciation Mistakes

The most common pronunciation mistakes with Spanish vowels are:

1. not exaggerating the vowels 
2. pronouncing letters e and o as diphthongs.

Listen to the following audio clip to hear these errors in use in the phrase no le digas que la quiero (“don’t tell her I love her”):

What’s happening here? Why does it sound this way?

The vowels aren’t exaggerated

Native English speakers have the tendency to replace weaker Spanish vowels with a “schwa” sound. What’s that exactly? Say “balloon”—that first vowel sound you made is a “schwa,” written /ə/. 

A prime example of this is the word amigo. Many native English speakers automatically pronounce this as “uh-mee-go,” whereas in native Spanish, it’s pronounced “ah-mee-go.”

“Uh” is the schwa sound, while “ah” is an open, exaggerated vowel sound.

Any Spanish vowel that’s in a “weak position” in a word can fall prey to this pronunciation mistake. Another example is the word pelota, which may be pronounced as “puh-loh-tah” by an English speaker. Instead, it should be pronounced with a long e sound: “peh-loh-tah.”

PRO TIP: Immediately improve your Spanish pronunciation by opening your mouth and exaggerating all the vowels!

The letters e and o are pronounced as diphthongs

Many English speakers also tend to pronounce the letter o as ow (rhyming with “row”) or e as ei (rhyming with “pay”), especially at the end of the word or in stressed syllables.

These errors appear like this:

• no becomes “no-w” (again, rhyming with “row”)
• quiero turns into “qyer-ow” 
• todos sounds like “tow-dos”
• le becomes “lay” (again, rhyming with “pay”)

The solution is lots of listening practice to native Spanish speakers and plenty of opportunities to speak. 

PRO TIP: Each Spanish vowel has one sound, not two! 

See also: Most Common Mistakes in Spanish Pronunciation

Pronunciation of Spanish Consonants

Consonants include all the letters in the Spanish alphabet that are not vowels.

Bb Cc Dd Ff Gg Hh Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Ññ Pp Qq Rr Ss Tt Vv Ww Xx Yy Zz

Some of them form digraphs—or, combinations of two letters—that have one single sound:

• ch 
• rr 
• ll 
• gu 
• qu

Hear them here:

Let’s take a closer look at the Spanish consonants that may cause some pronunciation troubles.

Single Spanish Consonants

These consonants appear as a single letter and have a unique pronunciation compared to the same letters you’re used to using in English. 

Pay close attention!

Bb and Vv

These two letters have the same pronunciation, but that pronunciation does change depending on where they’re located in a word. 

(See examples and audio below.) 

If these letters are in isolation or pronounced after a pause or after a nasal consonant /m, n/, you pronounce them as /b/. In this case, the “b” sound is softer than in English, and it doesn’t “explode,” or expel air from your mouth. 

Meanwhile, if b or v exists between two vowels, they always have the sound /β/. In this second case, a bit of air does escape through your mouth. 

Listen to the audio to hear the difference:

• bandera  [‘ban.de.ra] – flag
• ambos  [‘am.bos] – both
• envía [‘em.bía] – sends
• sabe [‘sa.βe] – knows
• lava [l’a.βa] – lava

Check out: How to Master B/V Pronunciation in Spanish

Dd

A similar thing happens to the letter “d.” Depending on the position, it’s pronounced in a different way.

It is pronounced as a stop [d] at the beginning of the word or after n or l, as in dama (ˈda.ma) (lady) or andar (ãn̪.ˈdaɾ).

But when it appears between two vowels, like in the word hada (ˈa.ða), it’s pronounced as [ð]—similar to the voiced “th” sound in English words “they” and “gather.” 

If you don’t make this distinction, you will be understood, but native listeners will know that you’re not a native speaker.

Cc, Ss, and Zz

In Latin America, the Canary Islands, and some parts of Andalusia, there is no phonemic contrast between the letters s, z, and the letter c in combinations of ce and ci—you pronounce all of them with the /s/ sound.

• casa /’ka.sa/ – home
• caza /’ka.sa/ – hunting
• centro /ˈsɛ̃n̪.tɾo/ – center
• circo /’sir.ko/ – circus
• zapato /’sa.pa.to/ – shoe

However, if the letter c is followed by a consonant or vowel different from e or i, it will be pronounced with the /k/ sound. 

• casa  /’ka.sa/ – home

Gg

This Spanish letter can also have two pronunciations. You can pronounce it as [g] or [γ] also depending on its position in a word. 

At the beginning of a word spoken in isolation, pronounced after a pause, or after a nasal consonant, you’ll hear and pronounce a  [g]. Like in the English word “great.” 

You’ll pronounce it the same way if it appears in combination with a letter u, which is silent in this case.

Between two vowels, it is always a [γ]. Move your tongue away from the palate, as if you wanted to remove something from there.

• gato /‘ga.to/ – cat
• guerra /ɡera/ – war
• tengo  [‘ten.go] – I have
• lago [l’a.γo] – lake

Hand-picked for you: Pronunciation of vowels and letters C and G

Jj

This Spanish letter is pronounced similar to the English “h” but it’s raspier. In phonetic transcription is written down as /x/.

• jamón /xaˈmõn/ – ham
• jirafa /xiˈɾafa/ – giraffe
• cojín /koˈxĩn/ – pillow

Hh

That’s an easy one. The letter h is silent in Spanish. Don’t pronounce it!

• hotel /o.tɛl/ – hotel

Ññ

This sound doesn’t exist in English. If you know French or Italian, it’s similar to the “gn” combination. In phonetic transcription, you’ll find it as /ɲ/

• año /’a.ɲo/ – year
• piñata /’pi.ɲa.ta/ 

Qq

The letter q in Spanish is usually followed by the combination of vowels ui or ue, but the letter u is never pronounced.  It is pronounced as the letter “k” or “ck”in English, like in “sock” or “make.”

• queso /’ke.so/ – cheese
• aquí /’a.ki/ – here

Rr

The letter r in Spanish is a tough one. You can pronounce it in two ways. If it appears in the middle of a word it’s pronounced as the letter “r” in “water” in American English, but if it’s at the beginning of a word, the r is trilled. 

Keep your mouth relaxed and vibrate your tongue. Believe me, it’s just a question of practice. If you don’t have a palatal cleft, you’ll be able to pronounce it.

• coro /’ko.ro/ – choir
• rosa /’ro.sa/ – rose

Ww

The consonant w also has two pronunciations. You can say it with a sound /w/ like in the English word “whisky” or “Hawaii” or with a sound /b/ in some words.

Wagner /’ba.gner/ – Wagner

kiwi /’ki.wi/ – kiwi

Consonant Combinations – Digraphs

Learning these consonant letter combinations will dramatically improve your pronunciation and listening skills.

Ch/ch

It sounds similar to the same English combination, like in the word “chair.”

Try saying:

• ocho /’oʧ.o/ – eight
• chica / /’ʧika/ – girl

Rr/rr

This is also the trilled “r” sound as the single letter at the beginning of a word. If you want to learn how to pronounce it, read: How To Pronounce R and RR in Spanish

• carro /’ka.ro/ – car
• corro /’ko.ro/ – run 

Ll/ll and Yy

The ll combination of letters in Latin American Spanish is pronounced with the sound /ʝ/ the same as the consonant y. Pronounce it like in the English word “yes.”

• callar /’ka.ʝar/ – make quiet
• llama /ˈʝa.ma/ -flame

Let me just show you all the sounds that exist in Spanish compared to the English sounds. This way, you can see which sounds don’t exist in English and know that these will take you some time to master.

See also: Confusing consonants in Spanish.

Pronouncing Common Spanish Words

Now, the fun part—let’s try some exercises!

I will show you five words that are easy to pronounce along with some common Spanish words that can be challenging for English speakers. 

Note that challenging doesn’t mean impossible, it’s just a question of practice!

5 Easy-to-Pronounce Spanish Words

• hola – hello (Remember, the h is silent!)
• casa – house
• amigo – friend (watch out for the final “o”!) 
• adiós – bye
• de nada – you’re welcome

5 Difficult to Pronounce Spanish Words

• Americano – American
• rápida – fast
• tarde – afternoon
• llover – to rain
• ciudad – city

How did it go? Was it difficult or are you naturally talented? People who are good singers learn foreign pronunciation faster, but if you have a good ear, it’s still doable. It will simply take more time. Spanish tongue twisters can help you reach your goal faster!

If you want to pronounce more difficult Spanish words, check How To Pronounce 10 Difficult Spanish Words [Includes Audio!].

Read more about Spanish pronunciation: 

• Sinalefa: Why Spanish Isn’t Actually Pronounced as It’s Written
• An Expert Guide to Spanish Allophones and Phonemes

If your written Spanish is strong, check out Ortografía de la Lengua Española (spelling in the Spanish language) by the Royal Spanish Academy or this guide by Spanish philologist Tomás Navarro Tomás.

How to Practice Spanish Pronunciation

Remember, in terms of learning pronunciation, it’s all about regular practice. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word, check the Forvo dictionary, where you can hear the words said by real people—and even choose the accent. 

Download the Forvo app for Android or iOS

Additionally, if you’d like to get the IPA phonetic transcription, use this Spanish Pronunciation Tool.

Practice Spanish Pronunciation in a Conversation

Working on your Spanish pronunciation is crucial for your future. It’s true that to travel and make yourself understood, you don’t need to sound like Gael García Bernal or Salma Hayek. But to get yourself a cool job as an interpreter or bilingual teacher, learning Spanish is worth the effort. Interpreters and translators are among the top five fastest-growing occupations according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, with opportunities expected to increase.

If you need a conversational partner who can correct your mistakes and challenge you more, let Homeschool Spanish Academy help you achieve your language goals. Sign up for a free trial class and start practicing Spanish pronunciation in a 1-to-1 conversation! Check out our affordable pricing and flexible programs!

Join one of the 40,000 classes that we teach each month and you can experience results like these

Ready to learn more Spanish grammar? Check these out!

A lot of Spanish words have accent marks – the small diagonal lines, which appear over certain letters when written down – are one of the most instantly notable features of the Spanish language. However, understanding when and where to use them can seem like a daunting task, especially if you are a novice.

Fortunately, there are a few key rules which govern the use of accent marks and stresses within Spanish. That means that, once you understand and learn them, this seemingly confusing aspect of the language suddenly makes a whole lot more sense, and you will have a far greater understanding of how pronunciation works.

Spanish accent marks explained 

What is a written accent?

Accents, sometimes known as ’tildes’, appear at the top of certain letters in Spanish, and are written as a short diagonal line, from the top right to the bottom left. They can only ever appear over the five vowel letters (á, é, í, ó, ú), meaning you will never see a Spanish word with an accent mark over a consonant.

Written accents have three main functions within the language. The first is to separate words which would otherwise be spelled identically, the second is to signify questions, while the third (and perhaps most important) function is to help indicate which syllable of the word should be stressed, or emphasised, when spoken aloud.

The basics of word stress in Spanish

A stressed syllable can be broadly defined as a syllable that is given greater emphasis, relative to the other syllables around it. This may be signalled through pronunciation in several different ways, including increased vowel length, increased loudness, or a change in pitch. All Spanish words have at least one stress.

Within the Spanish language, stress is functional, meaning that the location of stressed syllables can alter the meaning of the words being spoken. For instance, the words célebre and celebré have different meaning – ‘famous’ and ‘I celebrated’, respectively – and pronunciation is separated only by the location of the stressed syllable.

Key rules of Spanish stresses

With regards to stressed syllables in Spanish, there are two key rules to remember:

1: If a word ends with a vowel, or the letters ‘s’ or ‘n’, the penultimate syllable is stressed.

2: If a word ends with a consonant other than ‘s’ or ‘n’, the final syllable is stressed.

Words where the penultimate syllable is stressed are said to be paroxytone and a total of 79.5 percent of all Spanish words fall into this category. On the other hand, words where the final syllable is stressed are said to be oxytone. Meanwhile, words which break these two rules, by having the stress on the third-to-last syllable are proparoxytone.

The word camino (path) ends in a vowel, so the penultimate syllable is stressed and it is paroxytone. The word animal (animal) ends in a consonant other than ‘n’ or ‘s’, so the final syllable is stressed and it is oxytone. Both of these words are in-keeping with the two key roles referred to above.

However, the word propósito (purpose) ends in a vowel, but breaks the rule, as the stress is on the third-to-last syllable [pro-PÓ-si-to]. It is, therefore, proparoxytone. This is where we start to see the use of written accents within the Spanish language, in order to mark the location of stresses.

When do you use accents in Spanish?

Once you get to grips with those two basic rules surrounding stresses in the Spanish language, the use of accent marks starts to make much more sense. Essentially, accents are used to indicate the position of the stress in words which break one of the two key rules mentioned above.

For example:

The word exámenes (exams) ends in an ‘s’, so according to rule #1, the stress should be on the penultimate syllable. Instead, the stress is on the second syllable, so an accent mark appears above the ‘a’.

The word compró (buy) ends in a vowel, so according to rule #1, the stress should be on the penultimate syllable. Instead, the stress is on the last syllable, so an accent mark appears above the ‘o’.

The word débil (weak) ends in a consonant other than ‘n’ or ‘s’, so according to rule #2, the stress should be on the last syllable. Instead, the stress is on the first syllable, so an accent appears above the ‘e’.

Now that you understand why they appear, you can start to view accent marks as a helpful pronunciation guide, rather than an alien concept. The important things to remember are that these accents can only appear above vowels, and they indicate the syllable which should be stressed in words which break the two basic stress rules.

Accent marks and homonyms

As stated earlier, a second main use of accent marks within the Spanish language is to help people to distinguish between words which have different meanings, but which would otherwise be spelled and pronounced identically. These words are known as ‘homonyms’ and these relationships are said to be ‘homonymous’.

Take a look at some of the most common homonymous words and look at how accents are used to separate them:

• mi (my) and mí (me)
• mas (but) and más (more)
• si (if) and sí (yes)
• solo (alone) and sólo (only)
• el (the) and él (he)

There are few rules to govern which types of words are given accents in Spanish in order to separate them from their homonyms, so you must simply learn them as different vocabulary. It is also worth noting that not all homonyms within the Spanish language are distinguished from one another through the use of accents.

Question words and accent marks in Spanish

Finally, accent marks are also used to denote question words within the Spanish language. To provide an example of this, the word ‘which’, when used as a connective word, is cual in Spanish. Yet, when the word ‘which’ is used as a question word (i.e. to mean ‘which?’), it is written as ¿cuál? instead.

The exact same pattern can be observed in other question words, as the following examples show:

• cuando (when) and ¿cuándo? (when?)
• donde (where) and ¿dónde? (where?)
• quien (who) and ¿quién? (who?)

So, to summarise, accent marks can help you to pinpoint the location of stresses within words, to understand which version of a homonym is being used, or to identify the presence of a question. They can, therefore, be viewed as a helpful guide for both pronunciation and comprehension purposes.