I can read aloud an unfamiliar Spanish word with c, z, g, j, h, ll, ñ, qu, or gu without reading these letters the English way.
Six letters that make a word sound unexpected
When a letter changes its sound
c before a, o, u is /k/: la casa. Before e and i it is /θ/, the th of “think”: el cine. z is always /θ/: el zapato. The sound is easy; the trap is English spelling, where c before e or i is s and z is z. (In Latin America and parts of southern Spain it is s — seseo; we teach Castilian Spanish.)
Before e and i, /k/ is written qu, and the u is silent: el queso — “KEH-soh”.
g before a, o, u is the g of “go”: el gato. Before e and i it is /x/, a rough h from the back of the mouth, like ch in “loch”: la gente — “KHEHN-teh”. To keep /ɡ/ before e and i, write gu; the u is silent again: la guitarra.
j is always /x/: el jamón, el jardín.
h is always silent: hola — “OH-lah”, el hotel — “oh-TEHL”.
ll and y sound the same, like y in “yes”: la llave, la playa. (This is called yeísmo and is normal almost everywhere.) ñ is the ny of “canyon”: el año.
A single r is one quick tap, like the tt in American “water”: la cerveza. rr and r at the start of a word are rolled: el perro.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “zah-PAH-toh” — z is never the English z: el zapato.
• NOT “jah-MOHN” — j is never the j of “jam”: el jamón.
• NOT “HOH-lah” — h is silent: hola.
• NOT “GHEHN-teh” and NOT “JEHN-teh” — g before e is /x/: la gente.
• NOT “KWEH-soh” — the u after q is silent: el queso.
c and g: one letter, two sounds
j and z always have just one sound: j — /x/, z — /θ/.
| Before a, o, u | Before e, i | How to get the first sound back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| c | /k/ — la casa | /θ/ — el cine | write qu — el queso |
| g | /ɡ/ — el gato | /x/ — la gente | write gu — la guitarra |
Lesson notes
When a letter changes its sound
c before a, o, u is /k/: la casa. Before e and i it is /θ/, the th of “think”: el cine. z is always /θ/: el zapato. The sound is easy; the trap is English spelling, where c before e or i is s and z is z. (In Latin America and parts of southern Spain it is s — seseo; we teach Castilian Spanish.)
Before e and i, /k/ is written qu, and the u is silent: el queso — “KEH-soh”.
g before a, o, u is the g of “go”: el gato. Before e and i it is /x/, a rough h from the back of the mouth, like ch in “loch”: la gente — “KHEHN-teh”. To keep /ɡ/ before e and i, write gu; the u is silent again: la guitarra.
j is always /x/: el jamón, el jardín.
h is always silent: hola — “OH-lah”, el hotel — “oh-TEHL”.
ll and y sound the same, like y in “yes”: la llave, la playa. (This is called yeísmo and is normal almost everywhere.) ñ is the ny of “canyon”: el año.
A single r is one quick tap, like the tt in American “water”: la cerveza. rr and r at the start of a word are rolled: el perro.
Common mistakes:
• NOT “zah-PAH-toh” — z is never the English z: el zapato.
• NOT “jah-MOHN” — j is never the j of “jam”: el jamón.
• NOT “HOH-lah” — h is silent: hola.
• NOT “GHEHN-teh” and NOT “JEHN-teh” — g before e is /x/: la gente.
• NOT “KWEH-soh” — the u after q is silent: el queso.