Spanish and English are similar enough in their punctuation that a beginner might look at something in Spanish and not notice anything unusual except for a few upside-down question marks or exclamation points. However, there are a few differences, some of them subtle, in the way the two languages are punctuated. As already mentioned, the most common difference is the use of inverted question marks and exclamation points, a feature that is almost unique to Spanish. (Galician, a minority language of Spain and Portugal, also uses them.) The inverted punctuation is used at the beginning of questions and exclamations. They should be used within a sentence if only part of the sentence contains the question or exclamation.

• ¡Qué sorpresa! (What a surprise!)
• ¿Quieres ir? (Do you want to go?)
• Vas al supermercado, ¿no? (You're going to the supermarket, aren't you?)
• No va ¡maldito sea! (He's not going, darn it!)

Another difference you're likely to see often is the use of a dash — such as the ones separating this clause from the rest of the sentence — to indicate the beginning of dialogue. The dash is also used to end dialogue within a paragraph or to indicate a change in speaker, although none is needed at the end of dialogue if the end comes at the end of a paragraph. It isn't necessary to start a new paragraph with a change in speaker as is customary in English. These dashes are used by most writers instead of quotation marks, although the use of quotation marks isn't uncommon. Less common still is the use of angular quotation marks, which find more use in Spain than Latin America.

• —¿Vas al supermercado?— la preguntó. —No sé. ("Are you going to the store?" he asked her. ¶"I don't know.")

A third difference you'll see in writing from Spanish-speaking countries is that comma and period usage in numbers is reversed from what it is in English; in other words, Spanish uses a decimal comma. For example, 12,345.67 in English becomes 12.345,67 in Spanish, and $89.10 becomes $89,10. Publications in Mexico and Puerto Rico, however, generally use the same number style as is used in the United States.

Other less common or less significant differences in punctuation between Spanish and English are detailed in a more advanced lesson on punctuation.

Spanish uses significantly fewer capital letters than does English. Whenever Spanish capitalizes a word, the corresponding word in English is capitalized, but the opposite is far from true. There are numerous instances where English capitalizes that Spanish does not.

What Spanish does capitalize are proper names for people, places, newspapers and magazines; abbreviations of personal titles such as Dr., the equivalent of the English "Dr.," and Sr., the equivalent of "Mr."; and the first word in the titles of books, plays, movies and similar works.
Here are the most common cases where English capitalizes that Spanish does not:

 Calendar: Names of the days of the week and months of the year use lower-case letters. Hoy es martes. (Today is Tuesday.) México celebra su independencia el 16 de septiembre. (Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16.)

Composition titles: In formal written Spanish, titles of movies, books, plays and similar works capitalize only the first word and proper nouns. La guerra de las galaxias ("Star Wars"), Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone") Note: In informal written Spanish, and on book covers and movie posters, it is not unusual to see such composition titles capitalized as in English.

Personal titles: Introductory titles are not capitalized, although common abbreviations of them (such as Sr. for señor, Dr. for doctor, D. for don and Srta. for señorita) are. ¿Conoces a la señora Wilson? (Do you know Mrs. Wilson?) ¿Conoces a la Sra. Wilson? (Do you know Mrs. Wilson?) La reina Victoria fue mi abuela. (Queen Victoria was my grandmother.)

Religions: Names of religions and their adherents aren't capitalized. Mi madre es católica. (My mother is Catholic.) Estudio el cristianismo. (I'm studying Christianity.)
Ordinal numbers: When an ordinal number is used after a name, it isn't capitalized. Luis catorce (Luis the Fourteenth), Carlos octavo (Charles the Eighth)

Place names: Although the given name of rivers, lakes, mountains and other geographic features are capitalized, the place identifier is not. No vimos el río Amazonas. (We didn't see the Amazon River.) Vivimos cerca de la montaña Rainier. (We live near Mount Rainier.)

Nationality: Although names of countries and cities are capitalized, words derived from them are not. Soy inglés. (I'm English.) Prefiero los cocos puertorriqueños. (I prefer the Puerto Rican coconuts.)


Languages: Names of languages aren't capitalized. Hablo inglés. (I speak English.) Quiero estudiar alemán. (I want to study German.)

One reason many people pick Spanish as their choice for a foreign language is because they've heard that it's easy to learn its pronunciation. Indeed that's the case — even though some of the sounds can be difficult for foreigners to master. Its relative ease in pronunciation stems from the phonetic nature of Spanish: By knowing the spelling of a word, you can almost always know how it's pronounced. The biggest exception is recent words of foreign origin, and it that case you have a head start if you know English, because most of the words in this category - words such as camping, tweet and sport (yes, those are Spanish words) — come from English.
The key, then, to learning Spanish spelling is to learn how each letter is pronounced. You can find guides to each of the letters on the following pages:

• Pronouncing the vowels: A, E, I, O, U, Y
• Pronouncing the easy consonants (ones pronounced roughly like they are in English): CH, F, K, M, P, Q, S, T, W, Y
• Pronouncing the difficult consonants (ones pronounced differently than in English): B, C, D, G, H, J, L, LL, N, Ñ, R, RR, V, X, Z

Here are some general principles of Spanish pronunciation that you may find helpful:

• The vowel sounds of Spanish are usually purer than those of English. Although the vowel sounds of English can be indistinct - the "a" of "about" sounds much like the "e" of "broken," for example - that isn't the case in Spanish.
• It is very common for words of sounds to blend together, especially when a word ends in the same latter that begins the next word. For example, helado (ice cream) and el lado are pronounced identically. This process is known as elision.
• Sounds of consonants tend to be softer or less explosive than they are in English. One notable example is the sound of the h, which has become so softened over the centuries that it is become silent in modern speech.
• The rules of which syllable is stressed is clear and ambiguous in Spanish. If a word has a nonstandard stress, an orthographic accent can be placed over a vowel to indicate the correct stress.

Unfortunately, although you can tell how a word is pronounced by its spelling, the reverse isn't always so. In fact, native Spanish speakers are often poor spellers. That's because Spanish has a fair number of homophones, words that are spelled differently but pronounced alike.

The list below shows most of the everyday Spanish abbreviations. Most of those listed here are common in both formal and informal Spanish.

Unlike in English, where most abbreviations are capitalized, many Spanish abbreviations are not. Generally, abbreviations that are capitalized are personal titles (such as Sr. and Dr.) and those derived from proper nouns. But there are exceptions.

This list is far from complete; Spanish has hundreds of abbreviations. Among those not listed here are those that are common in only one country, including acronyms for government agencies such as JUJEM for Junta de Jefes del Estado Mayor, the Spanish Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Note also that, as in English, some abbreviations are used with or without periods varying with the style of writer or publication. The points of the compass usually aren't abbreviated in running text.
This list shows the Spanish abbreviation in boldface, the Spanish meaning and the corresponding English abbreviation or translation.

• a.C., a. de J.C., a.J.C., a. de J.C. — antes de Cristo, antes de Jesucristo — B.C. (before Christ), BCE (before Common Era)
• a.m. — antes del mediodía — a.m. (before noon)
• apdo. — apartado postal — P.O. Box
• aprox. — aproximadamente — approximately
• Av., Avda. — avenida — Ave. (avenue, in addresses)
• Bs. As. — Buenos Aires — Buenos Aires
• c.c. — centímetros cúbicos — c.c. (cubic centimeters)
• Cía — compañia — Co. (company)
• cm — centímetros — cm. (centimeters)
• c/u — cada uno — apiece
• D. — don — Sir
• Da. — doña — Madam
• d.C., d. de C., d.J.C., d. de J.C. — después de Cristo, después de Jesucristo — A.D. (anno domini), CE (Common Era)
• dna. — docena — dozen
• Dr., Dra. — doctor, doctora — Dr.
• E — este (punto cardinal) — E (east)
• EE. UU. — Estados Unidos — U.S.
• esq. — esquina — street corner
• etc. — etcétera — etc.
• FF. AA. — fuerzas armadas — armed forces
• f.c., F.C. — ferrocarril — R.R. (railroad)
• Gob. — gobierno — Gov.
• Gral. — general — Gen. (military title)
• h. — hora — hour
• Ing. — ingeniero — engineer
• kg — kilogramos — kg (kilograms)
• km/h — kilómetros por hora — kilometers per hour
• l — litros — liters
• Lic. — licenciado — attorney
• m — metros — meters
• mm — milímetros — millimeters
• m.n. — moneda nacional — sometimes used to distinguish the national currency from others
• N — norte — N (north)
• no., núm. — número — No. (number)
• O — oeste — west
• OEA — Organización de Estados Americanos — OAS (Organization of American States)
• ONU — Organización de Naciones Unidas — UN (United Nations)
• OTAN — Organización del Tratado del Norte — NATO (North American Treaty Organization)
• pág. — página — page
• P.D. — postdata — P.S.
• p.ej. — por ejemplo — e.g. (for example)
• p.m. — post meridien — p.m. (after noon)
• Prof, Profa. — profesor, profesora — Professor
• q.e.p.d. — que en paz descanse — R.I.P. (rest in peace)
• S — sur — S (south)
• S.A. — Sociedad Anónima — Inc.
• S.L. — Sociedad Limitada — Ltd.
• Sr. — señor — Mr.
• Sra. — señora — Mrs., Ms.
• Srta. — señorita — Miss, Ms.
• s.s.s. — su seguro servidor — your faithful servant (used as salutation in letters)
• tel. — teléfono — telephone
• Ud., Vd., Uds., Vds. — usted, ustedes — you
• v. — véase — go see
• vol. — volumen — vol. (volume)
• W.C. — water closet — bathroom, toilet

If you know the alphabet in English, you can easily learn it in Spanish.That is because the Spanish alphabet is very similar to the alphabets of most other western European languages, including English. According to the Real Academia Española, which is considered the arbiter of what's official Spanish, the following letters make up the Spanish alphabet:

a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

The following chart shows the capital letters along with name of each letter.

A: a B: be C: ce CH: che D: de E: e F: efe G: ge H: hache I: i J: jota K: ka L: ele LL: elle M: eme N: ene Ñ: eñe O: o P: pe Q: cu R: ere S: ese T: te U: u V: ve W: uve doble X: equis Y: i griega Z: zeta

It may interest you to know that not all authorities (or at least not all textbooks) agree on which letters make up the alphabet. Some lists don't include W (sometimes referred to as doble ve) and K, which exist almost exclusively in words of foreign origin, such as kilowatt. And some lists count RR (erre), which isn't pronounced the same as R.

It used to be that dictionaries would place ch after c, so, for example, the word achatar would be listed after acordar. But that is no longer the case. In most modern dictionaries, the words are alphabetized as they would be in English (except that the Ñ comes after the N).

Note also that the letters B and V have exactly the same pronunciation, and their names are pronounced exactly alike. Some colorful expressions are used to indicate which letter is being used, such as B de burro and V de vaca (roughly, "B as in burro" and "V as in vaca"). Sometimes B is referred to as be grande ("big B") and the V as uve or ve chica ("little V").

You will find as you learn Spanish that vowels are often written with accents, as in tablón, and the U is sometimes topped with a dieresis or umlaut, as in vergüenza. However, vowels with such diacritical marks are not considered separate letters as they can be in some other languages.
Note also that the letters of the alphabet are feminine: la a, "the 'a'"; la b, "the 'b.'"

Employment opportunities: If you work in one of the helping professions including medicine and education, you'll find your opportunities expand by knowing Spanish. And wherever you live, if you're in any occupation that involves international trade, communications or tourism, you'll similarly find opportunities to use your new language skills.

It's fun: Whether you enjoy talking, reading, or mastering challenges, you'll find all of them in learning Spanish. For many people, there's something inherently enjoyable about successfully speaking in another tongue. Perhaps that's one reason children sometimes speak in Pig Latin or device secret codes of their own. Although learning a language can be work, the efforts pay off quickly when you finally get to use your skills.

For many people, Spanish offers the most rewards with the least effort of any foreign language. It's never too late to begin learning.

If you've never studied Spanish before — or if you're just brushing up on what you've learned before — you're about to learn a skill and pick up some knowledge that will enrich your life.

This series of lessons is designed to help beginning Spanish students or any one else learning the language with the fundamentals needed for further learning and study. This series of lessons requires no supplementary material other than perhaps a dictionary for reinforcing vocabulary. But any other resources you can provide, especially some tapes or CDs to help you with pronunciation and intonation, as well as other lessons in books or in audio, will help you learn faster and better.

The format of this series is simple: Each lesson is brief, outlining the concept and providing examples. You probably will be able to read each lesson in 5 to 10 minutes. Each of the lessons is designed to stand alone.

Finally, make sure you take advantage of whatever opportunities you have to use what you're learning. If you travel to a Spanish-speaking area or have friends or acquaintances who speak Spanish, practice your conversational skills. Nearly always, you will find that Spanish speakers appreciate your efforts to learn their language.