Purpose

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to recite the Spanish alphabet, pronounce every letter correctly, and read simple Spanish words aloud with accurate vowel and consonant sounds.

Lesson Explanation

The Spanish alphabet has 27 letters — the same 26 as English, plus one extra letter: ñ (eñe).

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n ñ o p q r s t u v w x y z

The single most important fact about Spanish pronunciation, genuinely different from English: the five vowels each have exactly one sound, always:

a — "ah"   like in casa e — "eh"   like in mesa i — "ee"   like in sí o — "oh"   like in cosa u — "oo"   like in uno

Unlike English, where a vowel like “a” can sound different in “cat,” “father,” and “cake,” Spanish vowels never shift. This single rule makes Spanish pronunciation far more predictable once memorized.

A few consonants behave genuinely differently from English and are worth flagging now:

h  — always silent:                    hola (sounds like "ola")
j  — a harsh "h" sound from the throat:  jugar ll — sounds like an English "y":         llamar ñ  — like the "ny" in "canyon":          niño rr — a strong rolled "r":                perro

The letter ñ is not a variant of “n” — it is treated as its own distinct letter with its own dictionary sorting position, which is why it appears in the alphabet listing above.

Practice Questions