Letters of the Alphabet

Question

In Spanish is there 30 letters of the alphabet? I know that there was 30, but didn't some get taken away? Please answer if you know.

Answer 1

The following chart shows the 27 letters along with name of each letter:

A: a B: be C: ce D: de E: e F: efe G: ge H: hache I: i J: jota K: ka L: ele M: eme N ene Ñ: eñe O: o P: pe Q: cu R: ere (or erre) S: ese T: te U: u V: uve W: uve doble X: equis

vowels are often written with accents, as in tablón, and the u is sometimes topped with a dieresis or umlaut, as in vergüenza. However, vowels with such diacritical marks are not considered separate letters as they can be in some other languages, such as Hungarian (my mother language). exception is n /ñ.

Answer 2

When I was in high school, they used to teach there were 30 letters in the Spanish alphabet. These included "ch", "ll", and "rr". These double letters caused much confusion among those who were not Spanish speakers, and also led to problems with dictionary arrangement of words. I believe it was in 1994 that this was officially changed to the present arrangement of 27 letters. It is important to note that nothing was changed as far as spelling or pronunciation because of this change.

I'm pretty sure Castellano Scrabble has retained those letters. I've definitely seen LL tiles as well as Ñs. - Enderby, Jul 18, 2012

Answer 3

Hi Nicksmouse,

As per RAE there are 27 letters in the Spanish Alphabet:

a, A b, B c, C d, D e, E f, F g, G h, H i, I a be ce de e efe ge hache i

j, J k, K l, L m, M n, N ñ, Ñ o, O p, P q, Q jota ka ele eme ene eñe o pe cu

r, R s, S t, T u, U v, V w, W x, X y, Y z, Z erre ese te u uve uve doble equis ye zeta

I learned mi alfabeto as U(u) V(ve) W(doble ve) X(equis) Y(i griega) Z(zeta). I'm planning on learning Latin American Spanish, so is there un alfabeto diferente que debo aprender? - 5454CkMac, Apr 7, 2012

Answer 4

I learnt the 29 letter version, including ch and ll, but not rr. I live in Spain, and need to be able to spell things to people. This got difficult when I confused g and k, and l and ll, and couldn't get my mouth around 'y griega', so I set the alphabet to the English alphabet tune, or Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star so I could practise. This has proved really useful, because it's socially acceptable to walk down the street humming to yourself, whereas people look askance when you pass them muttering to yourself, especially when you stop, swear and ding yourself on the forehead when you get G wrong again.

In case it helps other orally challenged learners:

Twinkle, twinkle, little star A - B - C - Ch - D - E - F (A - Be - Ce - Che - De - eFe) *** How I wonder what you are G - H - I - J - K -L - LL ***(Ge - hacHe - i - Jota - Ka - Ele - Elye) Up above the stars you fly M - N - Ñ - O (Eme - Ene - Eñe - O) Like a diamond in the sky P - Q . R - S - T Pe - Koo - Ere - Ese - Te Twinkle, twinkle, little star U - V - W Oo - Oove - Oove-doble How I wonder what you are (graaaaan ralentando.....) X - Y - Z (Eikis - Ee- Gri-e-ga- - Cetaaaaaaa) (big finish, unless you're in the supermarket)

Answer 5

Very helpful!

Answer 6

Nicksmouse,

In the beginning of my Spanish class the first thing we learned was the Spansh alphabet and how many letters were in it. So in the Spanish alphabet there are 27 letters. comment if you think this is good advice.