Sounds and spelling: how Spanish sounds

Spanish is spelt the way it sounds. Learn the key sounds and the stress rules, and you can say almost any word you read, and spell almost any word you hear.

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Vowels and silent h

The five vowels always sound the same, short and clear: a (casa), e (mesa), i (sí), o (todo), u (uno).
Every vowel is said, even at the end of a word: noche is NO-che.
h is always silent: hola, hermano, hay.

Tricky letters

b and v sound the same in Spanish: vino and bien start with the same sound.
LetterSoundExamples
j, and g before e or ithroaty, like ch in Scottish "loch"jamón, jugar, gente, girar
g before a, o, uhard g, as in "go"gato, tengo, gusta
ñny, as in "canyon"España, mañana, niño
lllike English y in most placesme llamo, calle
quk (the u is silent)queso, ¿qué?
z, and c before e or ith in most of Spain; s in Latin Americazapato, cinco, gracias
rr, and r at the start of a wordrolledperro, Roma

Stress and accents

Words ending in a vowel, -n or -s stress the second-to-last syllable: CA-sa, HA-blan, LI-bros.
Words ending in any other consonant stress the last syllable: ha-BLAR, es-pa-ÑOL, ciu-DAD.
A written accent shows a word that breaks these rules: ca-FÉ, LÁ-piz, MÚ-si-ca, in-GLÉS.
Accents also tell apart words that sound the same: sí (yes) and si (if), tú (you) and tu (your), él (he) and el (the). Question words always have one: ¿qué?, ¿dónde?, ¿cuándo?
Worked example

Where is the stress in joven, ciudad and árbol?

  1. joven ends in -n, so stress the second-to-last syllable: JO-ven.
  2. ciudad ends in -d (another consonant), so stress the last syllable: ciu-DAD.
  3. árbol ends in -l, so it would be ar-BOL, but the accent moves the stress: ÁR-bol.

Answer: JO-ven, ciu-DAD, ÁR-bol.

Key idea

Vowels are always short and clear; h is silent; j (and g before e, i) is throaty; ñ = ny; qu = k. Vowel, -n, -s endings: stress the second-to-last syllable; other consonants: stress the last. A written accent marks the exceptions.

Common mistakes
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Extra practice

2 more questions

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  1. In "hermano", which letter is never pronounced?

    1. r
    2. m
    3. h
    4. o
    Show the answer

    Answer: h

    H is always silent.

  2. In which word does the g sound like the j in jamón: gimnasio, gato, grande or gorra?

    1. gato
    2. gimnasio
    3. grande
    4. gorra
    Show the answer

    Answer: gimnasio

    G before e or i sounds like j.

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Last updated 2 October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix it.

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