Spanish Letters

Learn the Spanish letters, las letras españolas (lahs leh-tras ehs-pah-nyoh-lahs) of the alphabet and how some of them are different than the English alphabet, and how to properly pronounce them.

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

The letter/vowel U (oo)

The letter u is another of the Spanish vowels and is pronounced like the "u" or "oo" sound in do, too or zoo, except it is just a little bit shorter, so if you cut the oo sound in half, you have it.

tú (too) you
blusa (bloo-sah) blouse
dulce (dool-seh) sweet

The letter V (veh)

the pronunciation of the letter v is similar to that of the letter b and can be found at the beginning of this sequence on my Spanish pronunciation page.

The letter W (doh-bleh-veh)

the letter w is one of the letters of the Spanish alphabet that is not native to the Spanish language, therefore it only exists in a limited number of words, all of which are foreign.

walkman (wawlk-maan) walkman
Washingtón (wah-shing-tohn) Washington
whisky (whee-skee) whiskey

The letter X (eh-kees)

has 3 different pronunciations depending on its placement in a word.

The most common is the eks sound. This occurs when the x appears between vowels, within exce- or exci- combinations and at the end of a word. It sounds like ks or gs, as in the English word talks or exam.

examen (ehk-sah-mehn) exam
excelente (ehk-seh-lehn-teh) excellent
sexto (sehk-stoh) sixth

In some regions, if the x begins a word it has somewhat of an s sound

xilofóno (see-loh-foh-noh) xylophone

the second is pronounced much like the English letter h, but more emphasized. It is similar to the Spanish pronunciation of the letters ge or j.

México (me-hee-koh) Mexico
texano (teh-hhah-noh) Texan

the third is the sh or s sound. This happens when the x sits between a vowel and a consonant. It mostly occurs in words that originate from indigenous Latin American languages. Therefore, you won't encounter these very often.

Ixtapa (eesh-tah-pah) a town in Mexico
Tuxtla (toosh-tlah) a volcano

The letter Y (ee-gryeh-gah)

The letter y sounds very similar to one double Spanish letters ll. Again, this is pronounced very similar to the that of the letter y in yes or yam

playa (plah-yah) beach
yo (yoh) I
Mayo (my-hoh) May

The letter Z (seh-tah)

In Latin America the letter z sounds like the English letter s like in sun.

taza (tah-sah) cup
zorro (soh-roh) fox
cabeza (kah-beh-sah) head

Whereas in Castilian Spanish it is pronounced with a th sound, like in the.

taza (tah-thah) cup
zorro (thoh-roh) fox
cabeza (kah-beh-thah) head

NOTE: you may also notice that many natives of Latin America have a hard time with the "th" sounds in words like thin or thought, because it doesn't exist in Latin American Spanish.

For more Spanish letters, hop on over to my Spanish pronunciation page where you can find start at the beginning with the letter A.