How many letters are there in ferrocarril?

Question

A simple question asked when learning to count in spanish.

Surely you jest. - Gekkosan, Oct 5, 2011

No jesting. The question is valid and seeks to prove a point. - kmaakheru, Oct 5, 2011

Answer 1

In all seriousness...

There are once (11) letters in ferrocarril, since the Spanish alphabet no longer includes the letter, rr; simply, r.

That was my take on the question, too. - 0074b507, Oct 5, 2011

Are you saying that the Spanish alphabet has one less letter or two individual Rs? - kmaakheru, Oct 6, 2011

As I said, its a simple matter of counting in Spanish. - kmaakheru, Oct 6, 2011

The Spanish alphabet used to have four more letters than the English alphabet: ch, ll, ñ and rr. Ch, ll and rr have been dropped, however, so the Spanish alphabet has only one letter variance from the English alphabet. - HeRansomedMe, Oct 6, 2011

Answer 2

There are eleven letters but then if I think about sounds there are only 9.

If RR is considered a single letter,how can there be eleven? - kmaakheru, Oct 5, 2011

rr is not considered a single letter. It is a diagraph like ch, and ll. - 0074b507, Oct 5, 2011

There are 30 letters in the alphabet. Irrespective of what you call them each is a singular letter - kmaakheru, Oct 6, 2011

Nope, according to the RAE, there are not 30 letters in the Spanish alphabet. - MrSillyInc, Oct 6, 2011

Answer 3

Perhaps they should change the letter "rr" to a r with a tilde on top.

Hey, that'd be a good idea. That's how the ñ came about, so it sounds like a viable idea to me. You should write a petition letter to the RAE. - MrSillyInc, Oct 6, 2011

Answer 4

This is a good question for me. One reference says ñ and rr are letters in the spanish alphabet and one of the answers above says rr is not a letter but only r.

"The traditional Spanish alphabet consisted of 30 letters, the English alphabet with the addition of four letters; ch, ll,ñ, and rr. The NEW Spanish Alphabet consists of only 28 letters: the English alphabet with the addition of two letters: ñ, and rr."

So what is the right answer? If r and not rr - 11 If rr - 9 If this is a trick and you just want letters - 9

I still thought there were 30 letters in the alphabet? When did it change?

It changed earlier this year. June, I think. - MrSillyInc, Oct 6, 2011

Answer 5

There are eight letters, the r is repeated three times, only if this is a riddle of course, otherwise there are eleven.

Careful, Dakie. Don't get "they're" (they are) confused with "there are" :) - SonrisaDelSol, Oct 5, 2011

jeje, thank you very much Sonrisa - Dakie, Oct 5, 2011

Answer 6

Are you asking for your own information because you don't know how many letters there are, or is it some kind of 'trick' question? Ok, I'll byte.... there are nine letters.

Yes, I meant 'byte'. I'll explain later.... maybe. - Jack-OBrien, Oct 5, 2011

:) - Yeser007, Oct 5, 2011

Answer 7

Is that a joke?

do you know? - kmaakheru, Oct 5, 2011

all the members of the mutual admiration society assume it's a joke, but none seem to offer a response? - kmaakheru, Oct 5, 2011