If you want to continue improving your writing in Spanish and avoid spelling errors, it’s your lucky day! Today we are going to go over the most important spelling rules in Spanish that will help you improve your reading and writing skills. Don't let the title intimidate you! Spanish spelling is really easy, because usually a sound corresponds to a letter: mi casa transcribed mi kasameaning my house. And when several sounds correspond to a letter, there are rules to help you understand these irregularities.
Are you ready to learn about it? Let’s dive in!
The Spanish alphabet
The Spanish alphabet is very similar to the English one. This is because it contains the basic Latin alphabet that other European languages use, but it adds the letter “eñe.” Check out the Spanish alphabet to find out the name of each one of the 27 letters.
Although the alphabets are similar and many sounds are exactly the same (for example: f, l, m, n), there are some tricky ones. Did you ever hear someone say a word like “vivir meaning to live" and you were confused whether you would need to write it with a “b” or a “v”? You are not alone! This is actually very common, and it will happen less as you get used to the Spanish sounds. Believe me, it can be confusing, even to native speakers!
Next, we will go deep into these irregularities that happen between the sounds and letters of Spanish and show you the spelling rules that will help you read and pronounce words correctly!
Letters ‘b’ and ‘v’
B and v have the same sound in Spanish:
Pronounce them like the “b” in “berry” but without fully closing your lips: cabeza meaning head.
After m, n, or at the beginning of a word, both are pronounced like the “b” in “bit”:
- enviar meaning to send
- bebé meaning baby
There aren’t specific rules to tell you when to write b or v in Spanish. However, there are some useful patterns to help you along the way:
before l and r, use b and not v, as in: blanco meaning white, brazo meaning arm
after m, use b: cambio meaning change; and after an n use v: enviar meaning to send
after the prefix ad- or sub-, use v: adversario meaning adversary, subvalorar meaning undervalue
Letter ‘s,’ ‘c,’ and ‘z’
S is always pronounced like the “s” in “set”: casa meaning house. And, in Latin American Spanish, c and z also have an s sound in the following cases:
c - before e or i: césped meaning grass, cielo meaning sky
z - before a, o, or u: zorro meaning fox, and it occurs before e or i only in a few cases such as: zinc meaning zinc, zeta meaning letter z, etc.
Letters ‘c,’ ‘q,’ and ‘k’
Letters c, q+u, and k are pronounced like the “c” in “cat” in the following cases:
C is used before a, o, or u, or a consonant :
- caro meaning expensive
- clavo meaning nail
- cruz meaning cross
“Qu” is used before e or i:
- quiero meaning I want
- queso meaning cheese
K always: kiosco meaning kiosk
G sounds like a “strong h” like the “h” in “him”before e or i:
gerente meaning manager
gigante meaning giantThis particular sound can range between a “strong h” and the “ch” is the Scottish English word “loch.” This depends on the individual speaker or the region where they are from. The same is true for letter j; let’s see it below!
Letter ‘j’
The pronunciation of j ranges from a “strong h,” to the “ch” in “loch”: jarrón meaning vase, jinete meaning horseman/horsewoman. It is always found before a vowel.
Keep in mind that g before e or i has the same sound as j: genio meaning genius, ejercicio meaning exercise. Because of this, j is mostly found before a, o, or u. However, there are many words with “je” and “ji,” and knowing which words use g or j will come as you gain experience.
Letter ‘h’
The letter h is silent: hola meaning hello. There two things to consider with this letter:
“hu” at the beginning of a syllable and before a vowel is pronounced like the “w” in “wear”: cacahuate meaning peanut , chihuahua meaning chihuahua
If you see an h after the letter c, then it’s the sound “ch,” as in “chocolate.”
Letter ‘ñ’
The letter ñ is pronounced like the “ny” in “canyon”: cabaña meaning cabin, and it’s always found before a vowel.
Letter ‘r’
Letter r can be single or double. Single r can be pronounced as a flap (like the “tt” in “bottle”) or as the famous Spanish roll; whereas the double “rr” is always rolled! Here are the specific rules:
A single r is pronounced as a roll:
at the beginning of a word: reina meaning queen
or after an s, l, or n:
disrupción meaning disruption
alrededor meaning around
sonreír meaning to smileor after prefix “sub-”: subrayar meaning underline
Everywhere else a single r is pronounced like the “tt” in “better” — it is not rolled:
cara meaning face
enfermero meaning nurse
brazo meaning arm
terminar meaning finishThe double “rr” only appears in between vowels and it’s rolled: error meaning error.
Letter ‘x’
X can be pronounced as “ks” the same way you would say “taxi.” Furthermore, in some cases it sounds like an s, a “strong h,” or a “sh” sound.
Pronounced s at the beginning of words: xilófono meaning xylophone.
Pronounced “ks” between vowels and at the end of the word, like the “x” in “max”: examen meaning exam, tórax meaning thorax(thorax).
In words that come from Nahuatl (an Indigenous language from Mexico and Central America), the x can have three sounds:
An s: Xochitl (proper name, means “flower”)
A “strong h”: Oaxaca (a Mexican state), México
A “sh” sound as in “sheep”: xoconostle (a type of cactus fruit).
Letters ‘y’ and digraph ‘ll’
Y and ll are pronounced like the “y” in “yes”: calle meaning street , vaya
meaning to go - present subjunctive. In some cases y can be pronounced like the Spanish vowel i. Let’s see when!
Both ll and y can be found at the beginning of a word or between vowels.
yegua meaning mare
llano meaning flat
Only between vowels can the use of either letter change the meaning of the word:
cayo meaning cayo vs. callo meaning calllusOnly y can be found at the end of words, and in this case it will be pronounced like a Spanish i:
rey meaning king
hoy meaning today
TIP: The conjunction y meaning and is also pronounced like a Spanish i.Only y can be found after a consonant:
inyectar meaning to inject
adyacente meaning adjacent(adjacent)
Additional tips
Vowels e and i
Vowels in Spanish are pretty straightforward. However, remember that Spanish i sounds like English “ee,” as in “free,” and the Spanish e sounds more like a short English “e,” as in “bet.”
Letters p, t, c
Remember how we told you not to use the puff of air after the c in Spanish? Well, the same applies to p and t. In English, these sounds are aspirated before vowels — in Spanish, they are not! Practice without the aspiration: parque transcribed p-ark, tanque transcribed t-ank.
Letter b, d, g
Remember how we told you that b and g sound softer between vowels? The same applies to d! Notice the difference between the highlighted sounds “day” and “there.” In Spanish, a d between vowels sounds more like the “th" in "there."
These are the main differences between the sounds of Spanish and English and the main spellings rules to help you read and write better! There are also some differences when it comes to capital letters in Spanish; to learn more check out this printable we made for you! And to learn about numbers in Spanish and how to write them, click the link!
Summary
Even though the spelling of Spanish is fairly regular, there are inconsistencies when it comes to the relation between its sounds and letters. I hope you enjoyed reading the most important spelling rules in Spanish and that they help your future writing skills!
If this post caught your attention and you would like to know more about Spanish orthography, we have written a post on when to write accent marks in Spanish that will help you achieve your Spanish writing goals!
If you are ready to practice, don't hesitate! We have the perfect activity for you to practice (with answer key).
Want to learn more about how speech sounds work and about the alphabet language experts use to describe sounds? Check out our article on “The Building Blocks of Speech!”
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