Basic Spanish for Beginners
A new addition to the site, this section presents the rudiments of the Spanish language. Please bear with us as we set up, correct and develop these pages. We welcome any constructive criticism or comments - please use the Feedback page.
We start with the following topics:
- Verbs (los verbos) - The Basics
Further pages will follow...
The Spanish Alphabet - el alfabeto español
Spanish is a phonetic language in that, with few exceptions, the letters of the alphabet are pronounced the same, wherever they appear. There are, however, two letters and one letter combination that do not appear in English:
Letter | English sound | Spanish Examples |
ch | as in church | la lechuga (lettuce), mucho (much) |
ll | lli as in million | Sevilla (Seville), llamar (to call) |
ñ | ni as in onion | mañana (tomorrow) |
A-Z of the rest:
a (ah) | g (hay) | m (emay) | r (erray) | x (aykees |
b (bay) | h (atch-ay) | n (enay) | s (essay) | y (ee gree ay ga) |
c (thay) | i (ee) | ñ (enyay) | t (tay) | z (thay ta) |
d (day) | j (hotta) | o (oh) | u (oo) | |
e (ay) | k (ka) | p (pay) | v (oovay) | |
f (effay) | l (elay) | q (coo) | w (oovay doblay) |