![]() It can make a “ks” sound, like the x in box, or become a “sh”, “h”, or “s” sound – especially in words and names native to Mexico. Last but not least, you have equis, which takes on a variety of sounds, depending on context. Here are a few examples you can use to practise: RolledĪnd who could resist a word that uses both sounds? Carretera (highway). ![]() Worth noting, as well, that a single r at the beginning of a word gets the same rolled treatment. This is worth getting the hang of, since the trilled r can change the meaning of a word. Next up, there’s everyone’s favourite original digraph, doble erre, which is ‘trilled’ – meaning rolled – for a distinctively Spanish sound. Ye>/i> (LatAm) or i griega (Europen: ee-griega) Uve doble (oo-veh dob-leh), doble uve, doble ve, or doble u Uve (oo-veh for European), ve corta, ve chica, or ve baja And ü does indicate pronunciation (it tells you that the u makes a “w” sound), but simply isn’t considered its own letter. The ´ that appears over vowels (á, é, í, ó, ú) is considered one accent that can be applied as needed to indicate which syllable in a word is stressed. However, the other diacritics (that’s the symbols added to letters) don’t make the vowels they’re added to into new letters. There are a few Spanish accents that we don’t use in English. It became used to indicate that specific “nyuh” pronunciation, becoming part of the unique fabric of the language. Over time, the tilde symbol fell out of use over other letters, but it remained on the n, taking on new meaning. So, for example, the original Latin for year, annus, eventually became the Spanish año. They used the tilde (that’s this symbol: ~) as short form for two of the same letter appearing in a row when they were copying Latin text. Ñ, which did not exist in Latin and is therefore not seen in other Romance languages, was originally created around the twelfth century by Spanish scribes. It’s pronounced, approximately, like the “ny” in lanyard or the “ni” in onion. Meet ñ ("en-yeh") – as in piña colada and España.ĭespite looking distinctly like an n, ñ is its own unique letter. See, there have been, historically, a few extra letters in Spanish – one of which still exists, and you’ve probably seen it before. That’s the alphabet used in English, amongst many other languages – from the Germanic and Romance language families, and beyond. The great news about the Spanish alphabet is that, from a reading perspective, it’s essentially the Latin alphabet we know and love. The only difference between the English and Spanish written alphabets is that Spanish has 27 letters, while English has only 26. How many letters are there in the Spanish alphabet? Knowing the Spanish alphabet will help with your Spanish pronunciation and give you the foundation you need to learn Spanish spelling and words without relying on English. Besides, it’s easy enough to learn, especially if you can already read Roman letters – you know, a, b, c. After all, letters are the building blocks of a language. If you’re learning Spanish, you’ll want to take time to learn the Spanish alphabet.
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