ORTHOGRAPHY: The Spanish alphabet

El alfabeto or El abecedario

There are twenty-seven letters in the Spanish alphabet. The additional letter is ñ, which comes after n in alphabetized lists in Spanish.

A- a adiós
B- be, be larga bota
C- ce caballo
CH- che chico
D- de dedo
E- e estudiante
F- efe flor
G- ge gracias
H- hache hola
I- i Isabel
J- jota jalapeño 
* K appears only in words borrowed from other languages
K- ka, ca Kilometro
L- ele lápiz
LL- elle llama
M- eme maestro
N- ene nada
Ñ- eñe niño
O- o once
P- pe pescado
Q- cu queso
R- ere rosa
S- ese sol
T- te taco
U- u usted
v- ve vaca 
* W appears only in words borrowed from other languages
W- uve doble, doble ve, doble u walkman
X- equis México
Y- i griega, ye yo
Z- zete, ceta zoológico 
  • CH and LL, are digraphs, or two letters that together produce a sound. However, they do not have their own entries when placing words in alphabetical order, as in a glossary.
  • R- RR
    • R has a weak sound similar to the English.
    • RR produces a strong trilled sound that doesn't have an English equivalent. Often produced when imitating the sound of a motor.
      • It only appears between vowels.

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El Español por el Mundo Copyright © by Gemma Morawski and Ani Alcocer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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