Cómo empezar a aprender español
Como puedes imaginar, el primer paso para aprender un idioma es conocer su alfabeto. Repasemos el alfabeto español, letra por letra.
Las letras con un asterisco (*) no pertenecen al alfabeto en sí, sino que representan diferentes sonidos que deben ser resaltados y tratados por separado.
Los símbolos de pronunciación son lo más precisos posible, pero recomiendo que escuches los audios para familiarizarte con los diferentes sonidos.
Como puedes ver, existen muchas pronunciaciones diferentes en español dependiendo de la zona de habla hispana. Lo he grabado yo mismo en una pronunciación de Español (de España) lo más estándar posible, con algunas variaciones de pronunciación en algunos casos.
Espero que te sea útil 😊
| Letter | Name | Pronunciation | Examples | Phonetics | Traduction |
| a | a | [a] as in British cat. | ala | [‘ala] | wing |
| á* | a with accent | [a] as in British cat. | caimán | [kaɪ’man] | alligator |
| b | be | [b] after a pause or after n or m; otherwise the fricative sound [β] (like [b] but with the lips not quite together). | bueno ambos la bota hablaba | [‘bweno] [‘ambos] [la’βota] [a’βlaβa] | good both the boot spoke |
| c | ce | [k] before a, o or u or a consonant, caro [karo] ocre [okre] [θ] (like th in English ‘thin’ – standard Peninsular pronunciation) or [s] (Latin America and much of Andalusia) before e or i. | caro creo cielo cuando | [‘karo] [‘kreo] [‘θielo] [‘kwando] | expensive I think sky when |
| ch* | che | [tʃ] (like ch in English ‘church’). | hecho | [‘etʃo] | done |
| d | de | [d] after a pause or after n or l; otherwise the fricative sound [ð] (like th in English ‘rather’). [ð] is prone to be weakened to the point of disappearing altogether in a number of styles of speech, so pronunciations like [aβlao] for hablado are very common. | duro maldad la derecha lado verde | [‘duro] [mal’dad] [laðe’retʃa] [‘laðo] [‘berðe] | hard evil the right side green |
| e | ae | [e] like in red. | pez | [peθ] | fish |
| é* | ae with accent | [e] like in red. | comeré | [kome’re] | I will eat |
| f | efe | [f] like in feel. | fama | [‘fama] | fame |
| g | ge | Before a, o or u: [g] after a pause or n; otherwise the fricative sound [γ] (like [g] but with the contact between tongue and soft palate not quite made). Before e or i: [kh] (like ch in Scots ‘loch’ or German acht). gu before a or o is pronounced [gw] after a pause or n; otherwise [γ]. gü before e or i is pronounced [gw] after a pause or n; and otherwise [γw]. | gol paga genio guardia agua guerra juegue pingüino desagüe | [gol] [‘paγa] [‘khenjo] [‘gwardja] [‘aγwa] [‘gerra] [‘khweγe] [pin’gwino] [des’aγwe] | goal pay genius guard water war play penguin drainage |
| h | hache | Always silent in standard pronunciation. | hola | [‘hola] | hello |
| i | ee | [ee] like in peep. Also used before or after a vowel to make different diphthongs. | mitad | [mi’tad] | half |
| í* | ee with accent | [ee] like in peep. Also used before or after a vowel to make different diphthongs. | príncipe | [‘principe] | prince |
| j | jota | [kh] like ch in Scots ‘loch’ or German acht. | ojo | [‘okho] | eye |
| k | ka | [k] In Spanish this sound is not ‘aspirated’ (accompanied by a short puff of air) before a vowel as in English. | kilo | [‘kilo] | kilogram |
| l | ele | [l] In standard pronunciation [l] is always the alveolar, or ‘clear’ l of English ‘flee’, never the velar, or ‘dark’ l of English ‘cool’. | leche | [‘letʃe] | milk |
| ll* | elle | The standard pronunciation is [ʎ] (like lli in English ‘million’), but this is very commonly weakened to [j] (like y in English ‘yet’). ll is also pronounced [ʒ] or [dʒ] (like s in English ‘pleasure’ or j in English ‘judge’) in some regions, notably the Río de la Plata in Argentina. | calle llegar | [‘kaʎe] / [‘kaje] / [‘kaʒe] [ʎe’γar] / [je’γar] / [dʒe’γar] | arrive |
| m | eme | [m] as in moon. | mamá | [ma’ma] | mum |
| n | ene | [n] as in nose. | mano | [‘mano] | hand |
| ñ | eñe | [ɲ] (like ng in ‘cognac’). | niño | [‘niɲo] | child |
| o | o | [o] as in mow. | hotel | [ho’tel] | hotel |
| ó* | o with accent | [o] as in mow. | cómodo | [‘komodo] | comfortable |
| p | pe | [p] In Spanish this sound is not ‘aspirated’ (accompanied by a short puff of air) before a vowel as in English. | plato | [‘plato] | plate |
| q | cu | always appears with u: ‘qu’ has the value [k]. | quiero | [‘kjero] | I want I love |
| r, rr | ere, erre | r between vowels or after p, b, t, d, c, g, is pronounced as a ‘flap’ [r] (with a single flick of the tongue); after other consonants it is pronounced [rr]. rr is pronounced as a ‘trill’ or ‘roll’ [rr] (with vibration of the tongue). r at the beginning of a word is pronounced [rr]; at the end of a word it is pronounced [r] and often loses its voiced quality in this position. | pero abre! alrededor perro rojo dar | [‘pero] [‘abre] [alrreðe’ðor] [‘perro] [‘rroxo] [dar] | but open! arround dog red give |
| s | ese | [s] The [s] of standard Spanish is pronounced as an apico-alveolar sound, that is, with the tongue slightly curled back. The [s] of Latin American Spanish is more like the [s] of English. Before a voiced consonant, it is often pronounced [z]. In many regional pronunciations, s before a consonant or at the end of a word is aspirated (pronounced [h]) or tends to disappear altogether. | paso mismo huevos | [‘paso] [‘mismo] / [‘mizmo] / [‘mihmo] [‘weβos] / [‘weβoh] / [‘weβo] | step same eggs |
| t | te | [t] In Spanish this sound is not ‘aspirated’ (accompanied by a short puff of air) before a vowel as in English. | tengo | [‘tengo] | I have got |
| u | oo | [u] Also used before or after a vowel to make different diphthongs. See also c, g and q. | una | [‘una] | a / an (feminine) |
| ú* | oo with accent | [u] as ‘ew’ in crew. | iglú | [i’gloo] | igloo |
| v | uve | Pronounced as b as in ‘ball’. | ver | [ber] | see |
| w | uve doble | Relatively rare in Spanish, and exists only in borrowed words. Its pronunciation varies between [b], [β] and [w]. | water whisky software | [‘bater] [‘(g)wiski] [‘sofwer] | toilets whisky software |
| x | equis | Either [ks] or [gz] between vowels; before a consonant, pronounced as [ks] in careful speech, but more often as [s], especially in Peninsular Spanish. In Mexican Spanish, x is pronounced [x] (like ch in Scots ‘loch’ or German ‘acht’) in a number of words of Amerindian origin, including the name of the country México (the spelling used in this course). | examen extra México | ek’samen] / [eg’zamen] [‘ekstra] / [‘estra] [‘mexiko] | test extra Mexico |
| y | i griega | Between vowels, after a consonant and at the beginning of a word, y is pronounced [j] (like y in English ‘yet’), often strengthened to [ʒ] in some regions. It is also used before or after a vowel to make different diphthongs. In the conjunction y, it is pronounced [i]. | trayendo yate | [tra’jendo] / [tra’ʒendo] [‘jate] / [‘ʒate] | bringing yate |
| z | zeta | [θ] (like ‘th’ in English ‘thin’ – standard Spanish pronunciation) or [s] (in Latin America and much of Andalusia). | zona | [‘θona] / [‘sona] | zone |
