1
Pronunciation and spelling
Pronunciation is described here using the symbols of the International Phonetic
Alphabet.
1.1 The Spanish alphabet
Letter Name Pronunciation Examples
aa[a] ama [ama]
bbe[b] after a pause or after n or m;
otherwise the fricative sound [β] (like [b]
but with the lips not quite together).
bueno
imbécil
la bota
hablaba
[bweno]
[imbéθil]
[laβota]
[aβlaβa]
cce[k] before a, o or u or a consonant, caro [karo]
ocre [okre]
[θ] (like th in English ‘thin’ – standard
Peninsular pronunciation) or [s] (Latin
America and much of Andalusia) before
e or i.
encía [enθía] /
[ensía]
cu before a vowel is pronounced
[kw]
cuando [kwando]
(ch)^1 (che)[tʃ] (like ch in English ‘church’) hecho [etʃo]
dde[d] after a pause or after n or l; duro
molde
[duro]
[molde]
otherwise the fricative sound [ð] (like th
in English ‘rather’).
la dama
lado
[laðama]
[laðo]
verde [berðe]
[ð] is prone to be weakened to the point
of disappearing altogether in a number
of styles of speech, so pronunciations
like [aβlao] for hablado are very
common.
ee[e] merece [mereθe] /
[merese]
f efe [f] fama [fama]
ggeBefore a, o or u:
[] after a pause or n; gama [ama]
angosto [anosto]
