Note that this is a Europe focused lesson. Your active focus is Latin America.
Learn about the letters of the alphabet in Spanish
In Spanish, the letters of the alphabet are feminine.
Read and listen to these examples:
Note that when you are spelling a word you do not need to use articles (la or una). For example, to spell "Antonio" you would say:
There are 27 letters in the Spanish alphabet. Here you can see how they are written out in full and listen to the audio to hear how they are pronounced:
Note: Depending on when you learned Spanish, you may have learned about two letters that are no longer considered as proper letters. However, you may still hear people use them when they are spelling a word so it is useful to know about them. These letters are:
- the letter "ch"
- the letter "ll"
In addition, some letters are known by more than one name. Here are the most notable cases:
- the letter "v"
Some people call this letter "la ve" and when they do they might also call it "la ve baja" or "la ve pequeña". This is because "la ve" (for the letter V) and "la be" (for the letter B) are pronounced identically for the majority of Spanish speakers. For this reason the form "la uve" is the preferred nomenclature.
- the letter "y"
Some people call this letter "la ye" to completely distinguish the letter Y from the letter "la i" (the letter "i", see below).
- the letter "i"
Some people call this letter "la i latina" to differentiate it from the letter Y when it is known as "la i griega" (see above).
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