Vocabulario
The Alphabet (El abecedario/el alfabeto)
A little help for pronunciation
The Spanish alphabet is very similar to the English alphabet with the exception of ñ. The pronunciation of each letter is precise, and the pronunciation of the words is produced by adding the sounds of each individual letter.
The vowels (Las vocales)
| Aa | Like in banana |
| Ee | Like in olé |
| Ii | Like in Indiana |
| Oo | Like in loco |
| Uu | Like in Uruguay |
Like in every rule, there’s an exception:
| Cc | Celery and cilantro |
| Gg | Hello and history |
| Hh | silent |
| Jj | Hi! |
| LL ll | yes |
| Nñ | canyon |
| qu | king |
| v | burro |
| z | sail |
The alphabet (El abecedario/el alfabeto)
| Letra | Nombre | Ejemplos |
| A | a | Panamá, Caracas |
| B | be | Bogotá, Bolivia |
| C | ce | Cancún, Colombia, Cuba
(before a, o, or u like the English {k}) celery, cilantro (before “e” or “i” like the English {s}) |
| Ch | che | Chile, Machupichu |
| D | de | domingo, diciembre |
| E | e | Ecuador, enero |
| F | efe | febrero |
| G | ge | gato, Gómez, Gustavo
(before a, o, or u like the English {g}) Generoso, Gibraltar (before e or i like the English {h}) – |
| H | hache | Honduras, hermano (silent) |
| I | i | isla, invierno |
| J | jota | {h}junio, jueves |
| K | ka | kayak, kiwi |
| L | ele | lunes, Lima |
| LL | elle | quesadilla, llave |
| M | eme | marzo, mayo |
| N | ene | noviembre, norte |
| N | eñe | España, niño |
| O | o | octubre, otoño |
| P | pe | Perú, primavera |
| Q | cu | (only in combinations of QUE or QUI) qué, quién |
| R | ere | Rosa, república |
| S | ese | sábado, septiembre |
| T | te | tener, tú |
| U | u | universo, universidad |
| V | ve | (like the English {b}) – viernes, verano |
| W | doble v | (only in words of foreign origin) – Washington, William |
| X | equis | (like the English {x}) – México |
| Y | ye | Yo, Yolanda |
| Z | zeta | (like the English {s}) – Azul, Zona |
Let’s practice! (Vamos a practicar!)
Write your first name and look for the name of each letter and write them up:
For example: My name is Ana. A-ene-a.
In small groups practice spelling each of these words. You might me able to recognize some of them since they are cognates.
- Universidad
- Familia
- Teléfono
- Texto
- Radio
- Cámara
- Computadora
- Profesor (a)
- Comunidad
- Restaurante
Let’s do it again! (Vamos a hacerlo de nuevo!)
Listen to your Instructor as he/she/elle will spell out vocabulary words and you will write the word in your notebook. After the exercise, share your answers with your group and later with your class.