The Sound Map
Spanish Grammar 1
Chapter 1 · The Sound & Spelling Map
🔊 The Sound & Spelling Map — El mapa de los sonidos
Spanish is one of the most regular written languages in Europe. Each vowel has one sound, most consonants have one or two, and the written accent tells you exactly where the stress falls. Once you know the map below you can read almost any Spanish word aloud, and spell most of what you hear. This course turns ready-made phrases into rules you can apply to words you have never seen. Because every later chapter leans on sounds (the endings that tell you a noun's gender, the accent that separates él from el), this chapter comes first. It is the only chapter in the course with a pronunciation respelling, and it describes the pronunciation of Spain (Castilian), with notes on Latin America.
The five vowels
Spanish vowels are short and pure: your mouth stays in one position. English vowels often glide (no becomes noh-oo); Spanish ones do not.
| Letter | Sound | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | ah | casa, agua (house, water) | KAH-sah, AH-gwah |
| e | eh | mesa, verde (table, green) | MEH-sah, VEHR-deh |
| i | ee | mini, vida (mini, life) | MEE-nee, VEE-dah |
| o | oh | hola, todo (hello, all) | OH-lah, TOH-doh |
| u | oo | uno, tú (one, you) | OO-noh, too |
Diphthongs. Two vowels can share one syllable when at least one is the weak vowel i or u: bien (BYEHN), cuando (KWAHN-doh), aire (AH-ee-reh, said in one beat), auto (OW-toh, as in ow), seis (SEH-ees, one beat), muy (MOO-ee, one beat). When i or u carries the stress next to another vowel, they split into two syllables and the accent shows it: día (DEE-ah), país (pah-EES), maíz (mah-EETH).
The alphabet
The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters: the 26 English letters plus ñ. (ch and ll used to count as separate letters; since 2010 they are treated as two letters each.) You need the letter names to spell your name on the phone (¿Cómo se escribe?).
| Letter | Name | Letter | Name | Letter | Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a (ah) | J | jota (KHOH-tah) | S | ese (EH-seh) |
| B | be (beh) | K | ka (kah) | T | te (teh) |
| C | ce (theh) | L | ele (EH-leh) | U | u (oo) |
| D | de (deh) | M | eme (EH-meh) | V | uve (OO-veh) |
| E | e (eh) | N | ene (EH-neh) | W | uve doble (OO-veh DOH-bleh) |
| F | efe (EH-feh) | Ñ | eñe (EH-nyeh) | X | equis (EH-kees) |
| G | ge (kheh) | O | o (oh) | Y | ye or i griega (yeh, ee GRYEH-gah) |
| H | hache (AH-cheh) | P | pe (peh) | Z | zeta (THEH-tah) |
| I | i (ee) | Q | cu (koo) | ||
| R | erre (EH-rreh) | ||||
The consonants
| Spelling | Sound | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| b, v | one sound, a soft b | bien, vino | BYEHN, VEE-noh |
| c before a, o, u or a consonant | k | casa, cosa, cuna | KAH-sah, KOH-sah, KOO-nah |
| c before e, i | Spain: th (think) · Latin America: s | cena, cine | THEH-nah, THEE-neh (Spain) · SEH-nah, SEE-neh |
| z | Spain: th · Latin America: s | zapato, plaza | thah-PAH-toh, PLAH-thah (Spain) · sah-PAH-toh, PLAH-sah |
| qu | k (only before e, i; the u is silent) | queso, quiero | KEH-soh, KYEH-roh |
| g before a, o, u or a consonant | hard g | gato, gracias | GAH-toh, GRAH-thyahs |
| gu before e, i | hard g; the u is silent | guerra, guitarra | GEH-rrah, gee-TAH-rrah |
| gü before e, i | gw: the diaeresis says pronounce the u | pingüino, vergüenza | peen-GWEE-noh, behr-GWEHN-thah |
| g before e, i; j | kh, a throaty sound (softer in Latin America) | gente, jamón | KHEHN-teh, khah-MOHN |
| h | silent | hola, hombre | OH-lah, OHM-breh |
| ch | ch as in church | chico, noche | CHEE-koh, NOH-cheh |
| ll | y as in yes (most speakers) | llave, calle | YAH-veh, KAH-yeh |
| y | y as in yes; alone, the word and = ee | yo, mayo; tú y yo | yoh, MAH-yoh; too ee yoh |
| ñ | ny as in canyon | niño, España | NEE-nyoh, ehs-PAH-nyah |
| s | always s, never z | casa, mismo | KAH-sah, MEES-moh |
| d between vowels | soft, like th in this | nada, todo | NAH-dah, TOH-doh |
| x | ks (often gs between vowels) | taxi, examen | TAHK-see, ehk-SAH-mehn |
| k, w | only in foreign words | kilo, whisky | KEE-loh, WEES-kee |
The two r sounds
Spanish has a tap and a trill, and the difference changes meaning. The single r between vowels is a quick tap of the tongue, like the tt in a quick "butter" (and like the Scottish r in "very"). rr, and r at the beginning of a word or after l, n, s, is a rolled sound.
| Spelling | Sound | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| r between vowels or after a consonant | tap | pero (but), tres (three) | PEH-roh, trehs |
| rr | trill | perro (dog), carro (car) | PEH-rroh, KAH-rroh |
| r at the start of a word, or after l, n, s | trill | rojo (red), Enrique | RROH-khoh, ehn-RREE-keh |
Stress and the written accent
Every Spanish word has one stressed syllable. You do not need an accent mark for most words, because two rules predict the stress:
| The word ends in… | Stress falls on… | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| a vowel, -n or -s | the second-to-last syllable | casa, hablan, lunes | KAH-sah, AH-blahn, LOO-nehs |
| any other consonant | the last syllable | hablar, ciudad, Madrid | ah-BLAHR, thyoo-DAHD, mah-DREED |
A word that breaks the rule carries a written accent (a mark over the vowel of the stressed syllable). So the accent is not decoration: it tells you where to stress.
| Case | Why there is an accent | Example | Say it |
|---|---|---|---|
| ends in a vowel, -n, -s, but stressed on the last syllable | breaks rule 1 | café, canción, además | kah-FEH, kahn-THYOHN, ah-deh-MAHS |
| ends in another consonant, but stressed on the second-to-last | breaks rule 2 | árbol, lápiz, fácil | AHR-bohl, LAH-peeth, FAH-theel |
| stressed on the third-to-last syllable | always written | teléfono, rápido, música | teh-LEH-foh-noh, RAH-pee-doh, MOO-see-kah |
| i or u stressed next to another vowel | splits the diphthong | día, país, río | DEE-ah, pah-EES, RREE-oh |
Accents that separate two words
A few short words sound the same and are told apart only by an accent. This is the one place where the accent is purely written.
| With accent | Without accent |
|---|---|
| él he · tú you · mí me (after a preposition) | el the · tu your · mi my |
| sí yes · té tea · sé I know | si if · te you (as an object) · se (as in se llama) |
| más more | mas but (literary) · de of, from |
| question words: qué, cómo, dónde, cuándo, quién | other uses: que, como, donde, cuando, quien |
Spain against Latin America: the th sound
The biggest sound difference inside the Spanish-speaking world is what happens to c (before e, i) and z.
| Variety | How c (e, i) and z sound | Example cinco / zapato | Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain (north and centre) | th as in think, different from s | THEEN-koh / thah-PAH-toh | distinción |
| Latin America, the Canary Islands and parts of southern Spain | s: the same as the letter s | SEEN-koh / sah-PAH-toh | seseo |
Both are completely correct, and speakers understand each other without trouble. This course follows Spain: gracias is GRAH-thyahs in Madrid and GRAH-syahs in Mexico City. If you spend time with Latin American speakers, simply use the s sound everywhere. Two other differences you will hear: j and g (before e, i) are a strong throaty kh in Spain but softer, closer to English h, in much of Latin America; and ll and y sound like English y for most speakers, with a sh or zh sound in Argentina and Uruguay.
🗣️ In Use — En situación
Read the exchanges aloud, using the respellings above.
① Spelling a name
② Pero or perro?
③ Which sound?
📋 Quick Reference — Resumen
| Topic | Summary |
|---|---|
| vowels | a = ah · e = eh · i = ee · o = oh · u = oo; short and pure; i, u pair with another vowel in diphthongs |
| alphabet | 27 letters (plus ñ); ch, ll no longer separate letters |
| silent letters | h always; u in que, qui, gue, gui |
| b / v | the same sound |
| c, z (e, i) | Spain: th · Latin America: s |
| g, j | kh before e, i (and for j); hard g elsewhere; gu = hard g; gü = gw |
| ll, y, ñ | y · y · ny |
| r, rr | r between vowels = tap; rr and initial r = trill |
| stress rule 1 | ends in vowel, -n, -s → second-to-last syllable |
| stress rule 2 | ends in another consonant → last syllable |
| written accent | marks every exception; always on third-to-last stress; splits diphthongs; separates él / el, tú / tu, sí / si, qué / que |
| punctuation | ¿ … ? and ¡ … ! |
✏️ Try It Yourself — Ejercicios
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. Read aloud: casa, mesa, vino, todo, uno.
Show answer
KAH-sah, MEH-sah, VEE-noh, TOH-doh, OO-noh. (Each vowel has one pure sound.)
2. Which letter is always silent? Read aloud: hola, hombre, hijo.
Show answer
h. OH-lah, OHM-breh, EE-khoh.
3. Say cena and cosa. Why do the two c's sound different?
Show answer
THEH-nah (or SEH-nah) and KOH-sah. c before e, i is soft (th in Spain, s in Latin America); before a, o, u it is a hard k.
4. How do you write the hard g sound before e, and the w sound in pingüino?
Show answer
Hard g before e, i is spelled gu (guerra, GEH-rrah). To say the u, put a diaeresis on it: gü (pingüino, peen-GWEE-noh).
5. Say the difference: pero and perro.
Show answer
PEH-roh (one tap, "but") and PEH-rroh (a trill, "dog").
6. Where is the stress? hablan, lunes, hablar, ciudad.
Show answer
AH-blahn and LOO-nehs (end in -n and -s: second-to-last) · ah-BLAHR and thyoo-DAHD (end in other consonants: last).
7. Why do café, canción and árbol need accents, but casa and hablar do not?
Show answer
The accent marks words that break the stress rules. café ends in a vowel but is stressed last; canción ends in n but is stressed last; árbol ends in l but is stressed second-to-last. casa and hablar follow the rules.
8. What is the difference in meaning between el and él, and si and sí?
Show answer
el = the; él = he. si = if; sí = yes. The accent is the only difference, so check it when you write.
9. Spell your first name aloud with Spanish letter names, for example ANA.
Show answer
A-N-A: a, ene, a (ah, EH-neh, ah).
10. Say gracias the way a person from Madrid would, and the way a person from Mexico City would.
Show answer
Madrid: GRAH-thyahs (th, distinción). Mexico City: GRAH-syahs (s, seseo). Both are correct.