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:
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.'"
- 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
- 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 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.'"
