⇒ The English equivalents given are a rough guide to pronunciation and they will enable you to understand spoken Spanish and to be understood, but you should be aware that in some cases they are not exactly the same sounds as used in English
| Letter | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| a | [a] as in English 'bag' |
| b | [b] as in 'big' when at the beginning of a word/phrase or after an 'n' or 'm' Otherwise use a soft b with lips slightly apart. |
| c | [k] as in 'cat' when before a, o, u or a consonant Pronounced as as the 'th' in 'think' before e or i |
| ch | [ch] as in 'church' |
| d | [d] as in 'dog' at the beginning of a phrase or after 'n' or 'l' Otherwise as in 'this' |
| e | [e] as in 'bed' |
| f | [f] as in 'feather' |
| g | [g] as in 'game' when its before 'a', 'o' or 'u' But before 'e' or 'i', its pronounced [x] as in Scottish ‘loch’ |
| h | Always silent |
| i | [i] as in ‘meet’ |
| j | [x] as in Scottish ‘loch’ |
| k | [k] as in 'car' |
| l | [l] as in 'flat' |
| ll | [j] as in ‘yet’ |
| m | [m] as in 'mother' |
| n | [n] as in 'number' |
| o | [o] as in 'opera' |
| p | [p] as in 'pear' |
| q | This is always followed by 'u' and 'qu' is pronounced [k] as in 'corner' |
| r | Similar to [dd] in 'added' |
| rr | This requires you to roll your tongue, like making the noise of a car revving |
| s | [s] as in 'single |
| t | [t] as in 'take' |
| u | [u] as in 'soon' |
| v | This is pronounced the same as 'b' |
| w | Pronunciation varies, as it is only used in words borrowed from other languages |
| x | [ks] as in 'extra' or [s] as in 'single' |
| y | [j] as in 'yellow' when on its own But when it is used in combination with a vowel it is weakened to [i] |
| z | [th] as in 'think' |