Para Empezar Alphabet, Punctuation, Accents

El alfabeto/El abecedario

• 30 letters

• Vowels only make one sound

a – a (ah)b - be (beh) c – ce (seh)

ch – che (cheh)d – de (deh)

e – e (eh)f – efe (ef-ay)g – ge (heh)

h – hache (ach-ay)

i – i (ee)j – jota (ho-tah)

k – ka (cah)

l - ele (el-lay) ll - elle (e-yay)m – eme (em-

may)n - ene (en-nay)ñ – eñe (en-yay)

o - o (oh)p - pe (peh)q – cu (coo)

r – ere (eh-ray)rr – erre (err-

ray)s – ese (es-say)

t - te (teh)u – u (ooh)v - ve / uve

(beh/oo-beh)w - doble u/doble uve

(doh-blay oo/doh-blay oo-beh)

x - equis (ek-keys)y - i griega / ye

(ee-gree-yeh-gah/yeh)z – zeta (seh-tah)

Gramática - PunctuationSimilarly to English, punctuation is important in Spanish. However, in Spanish, you can tell

what type of sentence you are reading sooner. Por ejemplo:

¿Cómo se llama?What is your name?

¡Bienvenidos!Welcome!

With questions and exclamations, the punctuation is placed before the sentence as well as after. The

punctuation mark that is placed before the sentence is always upside down. Declarative sentences and commands only have punctuation at the end of the

sentence.

Gramática – Accent Marks

Accents are especially important to proper pronunciation. Their primary purpose is to show where

the emphasis is in a word.el

corazónheart

el párajobird

Another purpose for accents is to distinguish between words that are spelled the same. For this reason, accents

are very important, and MUST be used.

Sí – yesvs.

Si - if

más – more

vs. mas - but

Another purpose for accent marks is in the use of question words, which will be covered later.