Pronounce Spanish

How to pronounce Spanish

words and letters the correct way. The best way to learn how to pronounce Spanish correctly.

NOTE: If you would like to start with letter A jump on over to my Spanish pronunciation page

Letters C and Z (ceh/zeh-tah)

A lot of people ask how to pronounce Spanish words in different countries, there really aren't too many differences, but the most obvious is the difference between the pronunciation of the letter Z and C (when they appear before e and i).

The official language of Spain is Castilian (castellano), the rest of the Spanish speaking world – Latin America -speaks Spanish, except for Argentina (also known for speaking Castilian Spanish).

NOTE: Kah-stay-YAH-noh. Remember we talked about the ll being pronounced as (ye) and the a(ah)?

Ok moving forward with Spanish pronunciation...

In Castilian, these letters are pronounced like th in think. In the Spanish of the rest of Latin America they are pronounced like s in see, just like the English s. For example (por ejemplo):

Spanish word	Latin American Pronunciation	Castilian Pronunciation
cero (zero)	seh-roh	the-roh
gracias (thank you )	gra-see-ahs	gra-thee-ahs
cabeza (head)	kah-beh-sah	kah-beh-thah
zapato (shoe)	sah-pah-toh	thah-pah-toh

Now when the letter c falls in front of the vowels a, o, and u, it sounds like the English k.

café (kah-feh) coffee
casa (kah-sah) house
coser (koh-ser) to sew/stitch

The pronunciation is the same between countries.

Double letters (CH, LL and RR)

The Spanish alphabet also includes some double letters, unfamiliar to the English alphabet.

Ch (cheh) is pronounce much like the ch in chief.

chiste (CHEES-teh) joke
chico (chee-koh) boy
leche (ley-che) milk

The Spanish letter ll actually has many different pronunciations depending on the country the speaker is from and also often differs from region to region. For all intense purposes we will use the most common pronunciation, which is like the y in yes or the ly sound in million.

brillo (buree-yoh) shine
millón (mil-yon) million
llama (ya-mah) llama

rr (a trilled r), this is where you roll your tongue by curling your tongue up on the roof of your mouth and roll it, as if you were cold and saying brrrrr and your tongue sort of vibrates.

NOTE: the single letter r is also pronounced this way if it is the beginning of a word.

perro (PEH-roh) dog
carro (kah-roh) car
aburrido (aboh-reedo) bored

The letter D (theh)

The letter d is pronounced more like the th in English, such as the or this rather than like the d in dad. The best way to accomplish this, is to put the tip of your tongue between your teeth and say it like an English d. So the way to pronounce Spanish words such as the following can be tricky for some but you will get it eventually.

pedazo (peh-thaso) piece
nada (nah-thah) nothing
adiós (ah-thi-ohs) goodbye

The letter/vowel E (eh)

The letter e is pronounced similar to the a in late. It does not sound like the ay in say or e in hyphen.

leche (leh-che) milk
tener (teh-nehr) to have
hacer (ah-sehr) to do

NOTE: The letter e is one of the Spanish vowels that sometimes has an accent mark on it to show that the word or part of the word is "stressed"

él (ehl) him

The letter F (eh-feh)

The letter f is pronounced like the f in food or father. What makes this letter interesting is that no other letter, or combination of letters, produces this sound. This means that English cognates using ph and ff are transformed into simply f in Spanish. For example, telephone simply becomes teléfono.

febrero (feh-breh-ro) February
fácil (fah-see-al) easy
elefante (ehl-ee-fan-teh) elephant

The letter G (hheh)

The letter g wears three hats much like the letter c with two.

When the letter g appears in front of the vowels, a, o and u, or when combined with a consonant it sounds more like the English word goal. This is referred to as the hard g.

gato (gah-toh) cat
gracias (grah-seeahs) thank you
granito (grah - neeto) granite

When the letter g appears between vowels it is a little difficult to pronounce. It is almost as if you are swallowing the g, you pronounce it about a quarter of the way and then swallow it. This is referred to as the soft g.

agua (ah-goo-ah) water
digo (dee-go) I say
sigo (see-go) I follow

Alternately, when the g appears in front of the vowels e and i, or the letter u is placed in-between the two letters. It is pronounced much like the h in hot, but a little raspier. This is referred to as the h sound.