The Spanish Alphabet
The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters: the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet plus the distinctive letter ñ. Spanish spelling is remarkably consistent compared with English, so once you learn how the letters correspond to sounds, you can pronounce most new words correctly the first time you see them.
Older textbooks sometimes list 29 letters, because ch and ll were once treated as independent letters. Since 2010, the Real Academia Española has classified them as digraphs rather than separate letters.
The 27 Letters
| Letter | Name |
|---|---|
| a | a |
| b | be |
| c | ce |
| d | de |
| e | e |
| f | efe |
| g | ge |
| h | hache |
| i | i |
| j | jota |
| k | ka |
| l | ele |
| m | eme |
| n | ene |
| ñ | eñe |
| o | o |
| p | pe |
| q | cu |
| r | erre |
| s | ese |
| t | te |
| u | u |
| v | uve |
| w | uve doble |
| x | equis |
| y | ye |
| z | zeta |
The letter ñ is unique to Spanish and represents a sound close to the "ny" in "canyon", as in año (year) and niño (child).
Letters That Cause the Most Problems
Spanish pronunciation is generally straightforward, but a few spelling patterns regularly confuse learners.
B and V. In most Spanish-speaking regions, b and v are pronounced almost identically, so native speakers rely on spelling knowledge rather than sound to write words correctly.
C, QU and K. The /k/ sound can be written in several ways, as in casa, queso and kilómetro. The spelling depends on the vowels that follow.
J and G. The characteristic Spanish sound heard in jamón and gente can be written with either j or g.
The silent H. The letter h is nearly always silent. Words such as hola, hora and hotel all begin with a written h, but the sound is never pronounced.
Find out more
The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters: the 26 Latin letters plus ñ. Earlier counts of 29 included ch and ll, but since 2010 the Real Academia Española treats those as digraphs, not separate letters.
Yes, ñ is a distinct letter of the Spanish alphabet, placed after n. It represents a "ny" sound, as in español, and is not simply an n with a mark.
They were once counted as individual letters, but since 2010 the Real Academia Española classifies ch and ll as digraphs, two letters representing one sound, rather than separate entries in the alphabet.