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Spanish pronunciation is much simpler that that of English, as it is almost phonetic: with only a few exceptions there is a principal of one letter, one sound.

The Spanish Alphabet

Letter Pronunciation IPA English Approximation
Aa a /a/ like a in the word father
Bb be, be larga, be alta /b/ like b in the word bad.
/β/ between vowels, the lips should not touch when pronouncing the sound (somewhat similar to the v in value).
Cc ce /s/θ/ before the vowels e and i, like c in the word center (Americas) or th in the word thin (Spain).
/k/ everywhere else; like c in the word coffee
Dd de /d/ Does not have an exact English equivalent. Sounds similar to the d in the word day, but instead of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the teeth themselves. Between vowels, the tongue should be lowered so as to not touch the teeth (somewhat similar to the th in the).
Ee e /e/ like e in the word ten.
Ff efe /f/ like f in the word four.
Gg ge /x/ before the vowels e, like a Spanish j (see below).
/g/ everywhere else, like g in the word get, but between vowels (where the second vowel is a, o or u), the tongue should not touch the soft palate (no similar sound in English, but it's somewhat like Arabic ghain).
Hh hache }} silent, unless combined with c (see below). Hu- or hi- followed by another vowel at the start of the word stand for //w// (English w) and //j// (English y). Also used in foreign words like hámster, where it is pronounced like a Spanish j (see below).
Ii i /i/ like e in the word he. Before other vowels, it approaches y in you.
Jj jota /x/h/ Like the ch in loch, although in many dialects it sounds like English h.
Kk ka /k/ Like the k in ask. Only used in words of foreign origin - Spanish prefers c and qu (see above and below, respectively).
Ll ele /l/ Does not have an exact English equivalent. It is similar to the English "l" in line, but shorter, or "clipped." Instead of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the tip of the teeth themselves.
Mm eme /m/ like m in the word more.
Nn ene /n/ like n in the word no. Before p, b, f and v (and in some regions m) sounds as m in the word important. For example un paso sounds umpaso. Before g, j, k sound (c, k , q), w and hu sounds like n in anchor: un gato, un juego, un cubo, un kilo, un queso, un whisky, un hueso. Before y sound (y or ll), it sounds like ñ, see below.
Ññ eñe /ɲ/ /nj/]] (ny) + vowel, as in canyon, where the y is very short. In Argentina it's pronounced as Spanish ni + vowel.
Oo o /o/ like o in the word more, without the following r sound.
Pp pe /p/ like p in the word port.
Qq cu /k/ like q in the word quit. As in English, it is always followed by a u, but before e or i, the u is silent (líquido is pronounced //'li.ki.δo//). The English //kw// sound is normally written cu in Spanish (cuanto), although qu can be used for this sound in front of a or o (quásar, quórum).
Rr ere, erre /r/ This has two pronunciations, neither of which exist in English. The 'soft' pronunciation sounds like American relaxed pronunciation of tt in "butter", and is written r (always written r). The 'hard' pronunciation is a multiply vibrating sound, similar to Scottish rolled r (generally written rr). 'Hard' r is also the sound of r at the start of a word or after l, n or s.
Ss ese /s/ like s in six. In many places it's aspirated in final position, although in Andalusia it is not itself pronounced, but changes the sound of the preceding vowel. (See regional variations).
Tt te /t/ Does not have an exact English equivalent. Like to the t in the word ten, but instead of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the teeth themselves.
Uu u /w/ before another vowel (especially after c), like w in the word twig.
in the combinations gue and gui', it is silent unless it has a diaresis (güe, güi), in which case it is as above: w.
/u/ everywhere else, like oo in the word pool, but shorter.
Vv uve, ve, ve corta, ve baja /b, β/ identical to Spanish b (see above).
Ww uve doble, doble ve, doble u /b, β, w/ Used only in words of foreign origin (Spanish prefers u). Pronunciation varies from word to word: watt' is pronounced like bat, but kiwi is pronounced like quihui.
Xx equis /ks/ like ks (English x) in the word extra.
/ʃ/ in words of Amerindian origin, like sh in she.
(Note that x used to represent the sound of sh, which then evolved into the sound now written with j. A few words have retained the old spelling, but have modern pronounciation. Most notably, México and its derivatives are pronounced like Méjico.
Yy i griega, ye /i/ Technically, it is simply the prefered spelling of i + vowel at the beginning of a word or vowel + i at the end of a word (yeso rather than ieso, hay rather than hai), and should be pronounced exactly as i. However, in some places it is identical to English y. In Argentina is pronounced similar to the English sh in the word she, or English j in the word jump, and in Chile is pronounced //ʒ// (like English si in the word vision).
Zz zeta, ceda /θ, s/ Always the same sound as a soft c i.e. either //θ// (most of Spain) or //s// (elsewhere). See c for details.

Double consonants

Letter Pronounciation IPA English Approximation
Ch ch che // like ch in the word church. In Argentina it sounds almost like j in jump, but it's clearly different from Argentinian y (see above).
Ll ll doble ele, elle /ʎ/j/ properly, like gl in the Italian word gli. Does not have an English equivalent, but it's somewhat similar to li in the word million. Very commonly simply pronounced as //j// (English y).
Rr rr erre See r above.

Official letter status

Until recently, the combination letters chand ll were considered letters in their own right, and were alphabetised after c and l, respectively (i.e. after cz and lz). They are now alphabetised "normally": words beginning with ch come between words beginning with ce and ci, and so on.

One letter, one sound

Pronunciation in Spanish is much simpler than in English. Each vowel has only one sound. Most consonants also have one sound, with some exceptions. Many of them sound very similar to their English counterparts. There is also a (written) consonant that only exists in Spanish: the ñ (pronounced like the "ni" in "onion"). For an "English" way of thinking about it, the ñ may be replaced by "ny". For example, when pronouncing "años", think of it as "anyos", or an-yos. A great practice is trying the onomatopoeia of chewing: "ñam, ñam, ñam"

Notice that although the Spanish language is quasi-phonetic, in reality consonants can be pronounced in slightly different ways. E.g. when occurring single the letter l should be pronounced similar to the l in the English word late. But in reality four ways of pronouncing the Spanish l can be distinguished and a fifth when it is written as ll. Which of the four pronunciations is valid at a certain time depends on the word being pronounced. But don't let this disencourage you, the pronunciations are so close that a misspronunciation will be noticed merely as a slight foreign accent. The University of Iowa has a very visual and detailed explanation of the Spanish pronunciation.

Local pronunciation differences

Just like in English, different Spanish-speaking countries and areas have different accents when they speak. The main difference is that in the Americas two sounds were lost in comparison to Spain: z sounds like s, and ll sounds like y. In Bolivia and Peru, z is lost but ll is kept. In Argentina and Uruguay ch and ll have a characteristic hard sound. In Mexico, vowels are reduced to schwa (like in English about, celestial, gorilla). In Puerto Rico and Cuba they confuse r and l. In many countries j is not hard but it's like an English h (as in hot). A Chilean is heard as saying mujier instead of mujer. Also, in most parts of Spain, speakers pronounce z's and soft c's as th's. For example, cinco (in Americas pronounced like sinko), would be pronounced as "thinko".

In spite of this differences, two Spanish speakers from different places wills always understand each other, provided they speak the cultivated versions of their respective cities. If fast colloquial speech is used, comprehension may be impaired.

The Accent

In Spanish, as in English, there are two tones when pronouncing a syllable: stressed and unstressed. In the English word "thinking", "think" is pronounced at a higher tone than "ing". If both syllables are pronounced with the same stress, it sounds like "thin king". The accent in Spanish (explicit and implicit) marks the stressed syllable. It is very important to pronounce correctly the stress, as there are many words that are written with the same letters, being the only difference between them the presence of the accent. For example: esta, that has an implicit accent in the letter e , means "this (feminine)"; and está, that has an explicit accent in the letter a, means "is"; also inglés means English, but ingles means "groins". A stress in the wrong syllable will also give a hard time to the listener, as it will be difficult for him/her to understand what he/she hears. Recognizing the explicit accent is very easy, as it's written with a ´ over stressed vowel. The implicit one can be mastered when the rules are followed.

Rules for pronouncing the Implicit Accent

There are only two (or one) rules for pronouncing the implicit accent, The syllable with the high tone is in bold letters:

  • If a word has no accent, and ends with a vowel, n or s , pronounce the accent in the last but one syllable.
    Examples:
    • cara (ca-ra> = face
    • mano (ma-no) (hand)
    • amarillo (a-ma-ri-llo) (yellow)
  • If a word has no accent, and ends with a consonant, except n or s, pronounce the accent in the last syllable.
    Examples:
    • farol (fa-rol) (street lamp)
    • azul (a-zul) (blue)
    • español (es-pa-ñol) (Spanish)
    • salvador (sal-va-dor) (savior).

The Diaeresis (¨)

In the clusters gue and gui, u is not pronounced unless it has the diaeresis mark (¨). This mark is somewhat rare, however.

Examples:

  • pingüino = penguin
  • agüéis (2nd person plural, present subjunctive of the verb aguar). Here it's quite clear that the diaeresis helps preserve the u sound in all the verb tenses of aguar.