Speaking

The sounds of Spanish: alphabet and pronunciation

Lesson 01 of 20 · 11 min of reading · 15 questions

Video in Spanish. Turn on subtitles in your language with the CC button on the player.

Spanish has one huge advantage over English or French: it's written the way it's read. One letter, one sound. If you learn the rules in this lesson, you'll be able to read any Spanish word aloud, even if you have no idea what it means.

The five vowels

Here's the key to everything. Spanish has five vowels, and only five, and they always sound the same, wherever they are, with or without a written accent.

Letter	Sounds like	Example
a	open, as in “father”	casa, mañana
e	closed, as in “bet”	tres, verde
i	like the English “ee”, but short	vino, mira
o	round and short	ocho, todo
u	like the English “oo”, short	luna, mucho

Watch out for thisThe number-one mistake for German, English and Dutch speakers: reducing unstressed vowels. In the English word “banana”, the three “a”s sound different. In Spanish, the three “a”s in «mañana» sound exactly the same. No Spanish vowel ever turns into a neutral schwa.

Question 1 · Choose

In the word fotografía, how do the vowels sound?

Consonants that will give you trouble

Letter	Rule	Examples
h	Always silent. Never pronounced.	hola, hotel, ahora
j	Strong throaty sound	jamón, trabajo, hijo
g + e, i	Same as j	gente, gimnasio
g + a, o, u	Soft, like the English g in “go”	gato, agosto
gue, gui	The u is silent	guitarra, guerra
c + a, o, u	Sounds like k	casa, cosa, cuna
c + e, i · z	Like the English “th” in Spain; like s in Latin America	cine, zapato
ll · y	A single sound, close to the “y” in “yes”	calle, playa
ñ	Like the French “gn” or German “nj”	año, España
initial r · rr	A multiple trill, the tongue bounces	perro, rojo
b · v	Sound exactly the same	vaca, boca

Question 2 · Fill in

Write the letter that is never pronounced in Spanish:

Question 3 · Choose

Which pair of words is pronounced the same?

Where the stress falls

Every Spanish word has one strong syllable. There are only two rules and one marked exception:

→If the word ends in a vowel, -n or -s, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable: ca-sa, ha-blan, li-bros.
→If it ends in any other consonant, the stress falls on the last syllable: ciu-dad, ha-blar, es-pa-ñol.
→The written accent appears only when the word breaks these two rules: ja-món, lá-piz, fá-cil, es-tá.

Question 4 · Choose

The word estudiante ends in a vowel. Where does the stress fall?

Question 5 · Speaking

Record yourself saying this sentence aloud, making sure the five vowels come out clean and the h stays silent:

Teacher's modelHola, me llamo Miguel y hablo un poco de español.

▸How it's pronounced

/ˈola ˈme ˈʝamo miˈɣel ˈi ˈaβlo ˈun ˈpoko ˈde espaˈɲol/

Before you recordWatch out for «hablo» (no h sound), and make sure the «a» in «llamo» and the «a» in «hablo» sound exactly the same.

Listen to the teacher

Review: test what you've learned

Question 6 · Choose

How many vowels does Spanish have?

Question 7 · Choose

In Spanish, an unstressed vowel...

Question 8 · Fill in

The letter h in «hotel» is pronounced...

Question 9 · Choose

How does the j in «jamón» sound?

Question 10 · Choose

What's the difference between «vaca» and «baca» when spoken?

Question 11 · Fill in

Complete: «pero» has one r, «___» has a double r and means an animal.

Question 12 · Choose

How is the combination gue, gui (as in «guitarra») pronounced?

Question 13 · Choose

How does c sound before e, i (as in «cena»)?

Question 14 · Fill in

Write the correct word: «___tarra» (musical instrument), with gu.

Question 15 · Choose

If you read a Spanish word you've never seen, can you pronounce it correctly?

Lesson summary

Letter / combo	Rule	Example
a, e, i, o, u	Always sound the same, stressed or not	mañana, banana
h	Always silent	hola, ahora
j · g+e,i	Strong sound from the throat	jamón, gente
g+a,o,u · gue, gui	Soft sound; in gue/gui the u is silent	gato, guitarra
b, v	Sound exactly the same	vaca, boca
c+e,i · z	Like English «th» (Spain) or «s» (Latin America)	cena, zapato
r / rr	Single tap / multiple trill	pero / perro

0/15 questions correct

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