| Letter | Context | IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b or v | word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩ | [b] | bestia; embuste; vaca; envidia | practically the same as the typical English ⟨b⟩, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. about |
| elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than ⟨m⟩ or ⟨n⟩) | [β] | bebé; obtuso; vivir; curva; mi bebé; mi vaca[15] | between baby and bevy (like the typical English ⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth) | |
| c | before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ |
[θ](central and northern Spain) or
[s](most other regions)[16] |
cereal; encima | same as the English voiceless ⟨th⟩ (as in thing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English ⟨s⟩ (as in sass) in all other regions |
| elsewhere | [k] | casa; claro; vaca; escudo | same as certain instances of English ⟨k⟩ or ⟨c⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can) | |
| before voiced consonants | [ɣ] | anécdota | a sound between a light English ⟨g⟩ and the typical English ⟨h⟩ (between gold and ahold) | |
| ch | everywhere[17] | [tʃ]or [ʃ](depending upon the dialect) | ocho; chícharo | same as the typical English ⟨ch⟩; church |
| d | word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨l⟩ or ⟨n⟩ | [d] | dedo; cuando; aldaba | practically the same as the typical English ⟨d⟩, except that it is fully voiced and the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth; e.g. adore |
| elsewhere | [ð] | dádiva; arder; admirar; mi dedo; verdad[15] | same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this | |
| f | everywhere | [f] | fase; café | same as the typical English ⟨f⟩; e.g. face |
| g | before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ | [x]or [h] | general | similar to a "strong" English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven) |
| not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩ | [ɡ] | gato; grande; vengo | practically the same as the typical English ⟨g⟩ sound, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. ago | |
| not before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣ] | trigo; amargo; signo; mi gato[15] | a sound between a light English ⟨g⟩ and the typical English ⟨h⟩ (between gold and ahold) | |
| gu | before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩ | [ɡw] | guante; lengua | a sound like the ⟨gu⟩ in English penguin |
| before ⟨a⟩ or ⟨o⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣw] | agua; averiguar[15] | similar to the typical English ⟨w⟩, but preceded by a soft guttural sound | |
| before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩ | [ɡ] | guerra | practically the same as the typical English ⟨g⟩ sound, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. ago | |
| before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣ] | sigue[15] | a sound between a light English ⟨g⟩ and the typical English ⟨h⟩ (between gold and ahold) | |
| gü | before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after ⟨n⟩ | [ɡw] | güero, pingüino | a sound like the ⟨gu⟩ in English penguin |
| before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣw] | averigüe[15] | similar to the typical English ⟨w⟩, but preceded by a soft guttural sound | |
| h | everywhere | (silent)[18] | hoy; hacer; prohibir; huevo; hielo | silent (like the English ⟨h⟩ in English honor or hour) |
| everywhere; occurs in loanwords and foreign proper names | [x]or [h] | hámster, hawaiano, hachís, yihad, harakiri, Yokohama | similar to a "strong" English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven) | |
| hi | before a vowel | [j]or [ʝ] | hierba; hielo | similar to or the same as the typical English ⟨y⟩; e.g. you (but often more strongly pronounced, sometimes resembling the English ⟨j⟩, as in jam) |
| hu | before a vowel | [w] | hueso; huevo[19] | same as the typical English ⟨w⟩; we (sometimes sounds closer to the English ⟨gw⟩, like in Gwen, or ⟨bw⟩, like in cobweb) |
| j | everywhere | [x]or [h] | jamón; eje; reloj;[20] | similar to a "strong" English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven) |
| k | rare; only occurs in a few loanwords | [k] | kilo, karate | same as certain instances of English ⟨k⟩ or ⟨c⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can) |
| l | everywhere | [l] | lino; alhaja; principal | same as the typical English ⟨l⟩ (especially like the clear ⟨l⟩ of British English, rather than the dark ⟨l⟩ of American English);e.g. lull |
| ll | everywhere | [ʎ], [ʝ]or [dʒ](depending upon the dialect) | llave; pollo | similar to the ⟨lli⟩ in English million (in some dialects simplified to a sound between the typical English ⟨y⟩ and ⟨j⟩, e.g. between yes and Jess) |
| m | everywhere except word-finally | [m] | madre; comer; campo[21] | same as the typical English ⟨m⟩; madam |
| word-final | [n]or [ŋ](depending upon the dialect) | álbum | varying between the typical English ⟨n⟩ and ⟨ng⟩, e.g. the ⟨ng⟩ in English sing | |
| n | sin | |||
| everywhere but before other consonants | [n] | nido; anillo; anhelo | same as the typical English ⟨n⟩; e.g. nun | |
| before other consonants[21] |
[m]
[ɱ] [n] [ɲ] [ŋ] |
invierno confite mundo enyesar cinco |
same as the typical English ⟨m⟩; madam same as the English ⟨m⟩ in symphony same as the typical English ⟨n⟩ (as in nun) same as the English ⟨ny⟩ in canyon same as the typical English ⟨ng⟩ (as in sink or sing) |
|
| ñ | everywhere | [ɲ] | ñandú; cabaña[21] | roughly like canyon |
| p | everywhere | [p] | pozo; topo; esposa | same as certain instances of English ⟨p⟩; e.g. span or typing (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /p/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in pan) |
| qu | only occurs before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ | [k] | quise | same as certain instances of English ⟨k⟩ or ⟨c⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can) |
| r | word-initial, morpheme-initial,[22]
or after ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨s⟩, or syllable-final (especially before ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨s⟩) and word-final positions (before pause or consonant-initial words only) |
[r] | rumbo; honra; Israel; subrayar; invierno; persona; verde; carta; amor puro | trilled or rolled ⟨r⟩ |
| elsewhere (sometimes word-initial (after a pause or consonant-ending words only), morpheme-initial (when preceded by prefixes ending in consonants), or after ⟨l⟩, ⟨n⟩, or ⟨s⟩, or syllable-final positions, and word-final positions before vowel-initial words only) | [ɾ] | caro; cabra; bravo; rumbo; honra; Israel; subrayar; invierno; persona; verde; carta; amor puro; amor eterno | flapped ⟨r⟩; e.g. the same sound as the ⟨dd⟩ of ladder or ⟨tt⟩ of latter in American English | |
| rr | only occurs between vowels | [r] | carro | trilled or rolled ⟨r⟩ |
| s | before a voiced consonant (e.g. ⟨l⟩, ⟨m⟩, ⟨d⟩) | [z] | isla; mismo; desde; deshuesar[23] | same as the typical English ⟨z⟩; e.g. the ⟨s⟩ in is or busy; in central and northern Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [z] of English busy and the palato-alveolar [ʒ] of pleasure |
| everywhere else | [s] | saco; casa; deshora; espita[23] | same as the typical English ⟨s⟩; sass; in central and northern Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she | |
| sh | Not considered to be a Spanish digraph (hence words like sherpa, show, flash are considered extranjerismos crudos), but used in proper names from other languages, some of them being accentuated in the Spanish manner (names from Native American languages or from languages using non-Latin writing systems) | [ʃ]or [tʃ](sometimes [s]) | Áncash; Shanghái; shiitake, shah, Washington | same as the typical English ⟨sh⟩;e.g. sheesh; when this digraph is equated with the phoneme /s/ (typically in northern and central Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes), the sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she |
| t | everywhere | [t] | tamiz; átomo | same as certain instances of English ⟨t⟩; e.g. stand (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English /t/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. in tan). Also, the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth, rather than the alveolar ridge |
| before voiced consonants | [ð] | atmósfera | same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this | |
| tl | rare; mostly in loanwords from Nahuatl | [tl]or [tɬ] | tlapalería; cenzontle; Popocatépetl | similar to the combined ⟨tl⟩ sound in English cat-like |
| tx | rare; from loanwords | [tʃ] | pintxo | same as "ch". |
| tz | rare; from loanwords | [ts] | quetzal; Pátzcuaro | same as the "ts" in English cats |
| w | rare; in loanwords from English | [w] | waterpolo | when (sometimes turn to /gw/ or /bw/)[19] |
| rare; in loanwords from German and in Visigothic names | [b]1 | wolframio; Wamba | same as the typical English ⟨b⟩; e.g. bib | |
| x | between vowels and word-finally | [ks] | exacto; taxi; relax | same as the typical English ⟨x⟩; e.g. taxi |
| word-initially | [s] | xenofobia | same as the typical English ⟨s⟩; sass; in central and northern Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she | |
| before a consonant | [ks] or [s] | extremo[23][24] | same as the typical English ⟨x⟩ or ⟨s⟩; e.g. max or mass | |
| in some words borrowed from Nahuatl, mostly place names, and in some Spanish proper names conserving archaic spelling | [x]or [h] | México; Oaxaca; xiote; Texas; La Axarquía; Ximena; Ximénez; Mexía | similar to a "strong" English ⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the ⟨ch⟩ in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated ⟨h⟩ (as in heaven) | |
| in some words from indigenous American languages, mostly place names | [ʃ]or [tʃ](sometimes [s]) | Xela; xocoyote | same as the typical English ⟨sh⟩; e.g. sheesh; when this is equated with the phoneme /s/ (typically in northern and central Spain, Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes), the sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar [s] of English sea and the palato-alveolar [ʃ] of she | |
| y | as a semivowel (almost always in a diphthong) | [i]or [j] | hay, soy | same as the typical English ⟨y⟩ (but joined in a single syllable with another vowel sound); aye, boy |
| as a consonant | [j], [ʝ], or [dʒ] | ya; yelmo; ayuno[15] | similar to the typical English ⟨y⟩, or ⟨j⟩ but softer; e.g. similar to yes or Jess | |
| z | usually does not occur before ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ |
[θ](central and northern Spain) or [s](most other regions)[16] |
zorro; paz; caza | same as the English voiceless ⟨th⟩ (as in thing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English ⟨s⟩ (as in sass) in all other regions |
| before voiced consonants | [ð](central and northern Spain) or [z](most other regions)[16] | jazmín, juzgado, Aznar | same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this in central and northern Spain, or the typical English ⟨z⟩; e.g. the ⟨s⟩ in is or busy; |
