El Alfabeto / El Abecedario

1. El Alfabeto/El Abecedario The Spanish Alphabet 

2. “A” • Vowel or “Vocal” in Spanish. • Pronounced “Ah” as in “Awwww”. • América • Anaranjado – the color orange

3. “B” • Pronounced “Beh”. • Baloncesto • Béisbol • Buñol

4. “C” • The Letter is pronounced “say”. • CA, CO, CU – make a K sound. Hard C • Like “caramelo”, “colorado” and “cucu”. • CE, & CI – make a S sound. “celina” and “cintura”. Soft C

5. La Letra “CH”. • CH makes a “ch” sound. • Sometimes used as part of the Spanish alphabet. • CHANGO – Monkey

6. La Letra “D” • You need to say this as “Deh”. • Delgado • Duro • Despierto

7. La Letra “E” (Vocal) • It is a vowel (vocal). • Pronounced “eh” • Elefante • Egoísta • Excelente

8. La Letra “F” • Pronounced “eh-feh” • Faro (lighthouse) • Fingir (to pretend) • Fernando ( a name)

9. La Letra “G” - Hard • Letter is pronounced “heh”. • Hard G – like the “g”in “Go” (GA, GO, GU) • Galicia – province in Spain. • Gozar – To enjoy • Guzano - worm

10. La Letra “G”- Soft • Letter is pronounced “heh”. • Soft G is pronounced with an “H” sound when paired with the following vowels • Energetico - Energetic • Gimnasio – gym

11. La Letra “H” • Pronounced “atch-eh”. • When pronounced in Spanish words, the “H” is silent. • “Hola” is pronounced “ola” • Honor is “onor”

12. La Letra “I” - Vocal • Pronounced “ee”. • Sometimes referred to as “i Latina” for being from “Latin”. • Iglú – Igloo • Iñigo – Spanish name • Ignacio – Boys name

13. La Letra “J” • Pronounced “hota” • Jalapeño – spicy green pepper • Jeréz – town in México and in Spain • Josefina – girls name

14. La Letra “K” • Makes a “kaw” sound. • Not very many words in Spanish use “K” as it’s a German letter • Kinder – for Kindergarten

15. La Letra “L” • Pronounced “ele” • Lechuga – Lettuce • Libertad - Liberty

16. La Letra “LL” • All double “LL” sounds in Spanish make a “Y” sound. • Llamar – yamar – “To Call” • Llanta – tire/wheel • Avellaneda – Spanish surname

17. La Letra “M” • Pronounced “eme” • Manzana – Apple • Mañana – morning/ tomorrow

18. La Letra “N” • Pronounced “ene” • Nada – nothing • Ningúno – nobody • Nicolas – boy’s name

19. La Letra “Ñ” • Pronounced “en-yeh” • Compañía – company • Ñandutí – Paraguayan lace

20. La Letra “O” - Vocal • Pronounced “Oh” • Vowel (vocal) • Oscar – boy’s name • Olga – girl’s name • Oeste – “west”in Spanish

21. La Letra “P” • Pronounced “peh” • Palo – stick • Palacio – palace • Plata – Money/Silver Plated

22. La Letra “Q” • Pronounced “koo” • Qué – ke? – what? • Quincho – Argentine BBQ “room”. • QU- pronounced K sound

23. La Letra “R” • Pronounced “ere” • Renata – your teacher’s name • República – Republic

24. La Letra “RR” • Double RR means you (try to) roll your R’s. • Pronounced “erre”. • Dorrego • Carro - car

25. La Letra “S” • Pronounced “ese” • Salamanca – city in Spain • Salvador – name/savior

26. La Letra “T” • Pronounced “teh” • Tacones – heels • Taco – taco • Tigre – tiger • Té - tea

27. La Letra “U” - Vocal • Pronounced “oo” • Vowel (Vocal) • Usina – Minorcan last name • Urraca - Magpie

28. La Letra “V” • Pronounced either “Veh” or “oo-veh” • Sometimes referred to as “B Corto”, but depends on where you’re from. • Valencia – town and province in Spain/Oranges

29. La Letra “W” • Pronounced “dobleVeh” or “dobleoo”. • Not very many words in Spanish begin with W. • Walter – Spanish name

30. La Letra “X” • Pronounced “eh-kees” • Sometimes pronounced with an H sound depending on the word or an S sound. • Ximenez-Fatio – would be pronounced “Himenez” (house in St. Augustine) • Xilófono - xylophone

31. La Letra “Y” • Pronounced either “eegree-ay-guh” or “yeh” depending on where you’re from. • Means “Greek i” • Y – ee – means “and” • Yo – yoh - Me

32. La Letra “Z” • Pronounced “zeta” • Zaldivar - Spanish surname • Zoologico – the zoo