Today we’re going to offer a guide to the pronunciation of Spanish vowels, diphthongs (two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable), and consonants. Each sound will includes an approximate English equivalent and an example in Spanish. Make sure you check the end of the guide for some important notes on regional differences and others anomalies of Spanish pronunciation.

 

Vowels

Spanish Sound	Approximate English Sound	Spanish Example
a	f­ather	España
e	ace (but cut off sharply)	señor
i	fee	día
o	note	hotel
u	rule	mucho
y	feet	y*

 

Diphthongs

Spanish Sound	Approximate English Sound	Spanish Example
ai/ay	aisle	Bailar, hay
au	now	auto
ei	may	peine
ia	yarn	gracias
ie	yet	siempre
io	yodel	adios
iu	you	Ciudad, oigo
oi/oy	oy	Oigo, estoy
ua	wand	cuando
ue	wet	bueno
ui/uy	sweet	Cuidado, muy

 

Consonants**

Spanish Sound	Approximate English Sound	Spanish Example
b/d/l/m/n/p/s/t	functionally equivalent	N/A
c* (before e/i)	s (certain)	cena
c (before a/o/u)	k (catch)	como
cc	cks (accent)	lección
ch	ch (church)	mucho
g (before a/o/u)	hard g (go)	ganar
g (before a/i)	hard h (he)	gente
h	silent	hasta
j	hard h (he)	jefe
ll	Latin America: y (yet) , Spain: lli (million)	polo
ñ	ny (canyon)	caña
qu	k (kite)	que
r	single trill in middle of word (throw)	pero
r	double trill at middle of word	rosa
rr	double trill	carro
v	v (vote) [softer, almost like b]	viernes
x	cks (rocks)	taxi
z*	s	zona

Notes:

 

*Y is only considered a vowel when it stands alone.

 

**The letters k and w appear in Spanish in foreign words. The k is spelled with the Spanish equivalent qu in some countries. The Spanish w sounds like an English v.

 

*** Z (as well as c before e or i) is pronounced like the English th in some parts of Spain. Examples: zona, cera, and cinco.