El alfabeto The Spanish alphabet is very much like your own.

Las Vocales ah Like the a in father Ana sala casa blanca

Las Vocales eh Like the e in met leche elefante ella Elsa

Las Vocales eee Like the i in machine Isabel Ines lista Elisa

Las Vocales ohh Like the o in obey poco loco pronto Paco

Las Vocales oooo Like the u in rule or oo in boot luna mucha muchacha lunes

Culture… El burro sabe mas que tu.

The rest of the alphabet…. not quite as explosive as in the English alphabet. bebe; bebé ce a be 1.soft c like c in cent or s in sent. (before the vowels e or i) principal, precio, cesta 2.hard c like in can’t or the letter k. (before all other letters) poco, cinco abuela,Ana

Like the ch in church chico,coche, cucaracha che 1.Like d in dog – after n or / at the beginning of a word dedo,dado, dar 2.Like a th – within a word & at the end of a word. nada, ensalada, Usted; Madrid de e elefante,leche, Eva

Like the f in fork familia,feo, feliz efe 1.soft g like h in hint or house (before the vowels e & i) gente, geometría, general 2.hard g like g in go or gum (before all other letters) goma, tengo, garage ge hache The letter h is never pronounced. hola, hora, Bohórquez

Familia, feliz i Like h in house but stronger junio, julio, jamón jota ka kilo,kilometro (in foreign words)

Lola, limón, Lima ele Like yes or year tortilla, ella, ellos elle eme Mario, mi, manzana, melón

no, nombre, ninguno ene Similar to ny in canyon niño, año, otoño ene o ojo, oranguntán ~

Pepe, para, papa pe Like the c in come queso, que, Quito, quién (Always followed by ue or ui) “Quique which is the nickname Enrique has the 2 sounds) *cu

1.Like dd of Teddy or tt of Betty. pero, ahora, caro 2.Like rr at the beginning of a word or after letters l, n, or s. rojo, ratón, alrededor ere Very strong perro, ahorra, carro erre ese son, somos, solo

té, toma, Tijuana te uva, huevo, unicornio u ve Pronounced like the b favor, vaso, vino

doble v equis This letter is only found in foreign words. Washington Like the x in exam excelente, examen, próximo, explicar, extraño

i griega zeta 1.Like the letter i when by itself and at the end of a word. hoy,muy, y 2.Like the y in yes otherwise ya, yeso, yodo Like the s (in Spain like a th) zapatos, zorro

Notes ch and ll were separate letters of the alphabet until April of 1994 when La Real Academia Espanola (sort of like a grammar police) voted to eliminate them as separate letters. Older dictionaries will have them in their own section – ch after c and ll after l.

Practica Spell the following words using the Spanish alphabet. 1.Your first name 2.Your last name Example: Pazmiño Pe – a – zeta – eme- i – eñe - o