Learn Spanish Consonants

Learn Spanish Consonants

Spanish spelling is pretty consistent: most letters represent a single sound regardless of their position in a word. Note the following peculiarities:

H - la hache is never pronounced. Thus, words like Honduras, ahora and alcohol have no aspiration before the /o/ sound.

CH - la che is always pronounced as in "cheers": coche, ocho. La hache is not combined with any other consonants: there is no th, sh, ph, gh, etc.
(English "ph" may translate to "f": filosofía, Filadelfia, fantasma).

C - la ce is pronounced /k/ (as in "case") in most positions: caso, cosa, cuota, frecuente, crisis.
- Before -e, -i, it is pronounced /s/ (as in "sin") in America or /th/ (as in "thin") in Spain: cielo, acento.
- The /k/ sound (as in "kiss"), is spelled "qu" (mute "u") before -e,-i: queso, quince.

G - la ge is pronounced /g/ (as in "go") in most positions: gala, gota, guante, globo.
- Before -e, -i, it is pronounced almost like /h/ (as in "hen"): general, gitano.
- The /g/ sound (as in "get"), is spelled "gu" (mute "u") before -e,-i: guerra, guitarra. If the letter "u" is to be pronounced in a "gue/gui" combination, it is marked with a diaeresis
(la diéresis): pingüino, bilingüe, nicaragüense.

Q - la ku is used only in the que/qui combinations, and the "u" is always mute in this position. Therefore, the word
quinteto has no /u/ sound, and English "quota" and "frequent" translate to cuota and frecuente.

Z - la zeta is pronounced /s/ in America and /th/ in Spain. Spanish avoids the ze/zi combination and prefers ce, ci:
lápiz --> lápices ; cebra, cenit.

Only four consonants can be duplicated to represent specific sounds:
• cc is used before "e" or "i" only and sounds /ks/ (/kth/ in Spain): acción and acceso but acento, ocurrir.
• ll sounds /y/: calle, llama but ilegal, aludir, inteligente .
• rr represents the famous "rolling r" between vowels only: perro, carro, vs. pero, caro.
• nn is used only when a prefix ending in "n" is added to a word beginning with "n": innecesario, connotación,
but anual, anotación, conexión.
No other consonants are duplicated in Spanish: efectivo, común, oportunidad, imposible, adición.

Summary / Resumen
Never pronounce the letter H (hache): alcohol, ahora, humano, Honduras, holocausto.
Hard C sound: /k/ as in kiss ca que qui co cu busccar, busqué
S/Z sound:/s/ or /th/ as in sink/think za ce ci zo zu realizar, realicé
Hard G sound: /g/ as in get ga gue gui go gu pagar, pagué
Soft G sound: /h/ as in hen ja je ji jo ju ge gi hija, gitano
As you see, vowels e and i are exceptional in their combination with g and c.
The words que, quien, guerra and guitarra may help you remember these spelling changes.
No double consonants except rr, ll, cc and nn ph --> f : filosofía