Other Consonants

Most Spanish consonants not covered in earlier lessons behave very much like their English counterparts, with a few subtle differences in articulation. This page is a quick reference to the "easy" consonants: d, f, k, l, m, p, q, t, w, and x. Pay special attention to d, t, and x, which have small but important quirks.

D — Softer Than English

The letter d has two variants, similar to b. At the start of a phrase or after n or l, it is a plosive [d] (dental, with the tongue touching the back of the upper front teeth). Between vowels and after most other consonants, it softens into a fricative [ð], like the English th in this.

At the end of a word, the d is often very soft, sometimes barely pronounced at all. You will hear Madrid pronounced something like "ma-DREE" in casual speech.

T — Dental and Unaspirated

Spanish t is made with the tongue touching the back of the upper teeth (not the alveolar ridge, as in English). It is also unaspirated, meaning there is no puff of air afterward. The English t in top has a strong puff; Spanish t is cleaner and crisper.

P — Also Unaspirated

Like t, the letter p is unaspirated. It sounds similar to English p, but without the puff of air. Compare the English spin (no puff) with pin (puff). Spanish p is always like the one in spin.

K — Rare and Foreign

The letter k is almost exclusively found in loanwords from other languages. Spanish prefers to use c (before a, o, u) or qu (before e, i) for the [k] sound. When k does appear, it sounds exactly like the hard c — a clean, unaspirated [k].

Q — Always with U

The letter q is never used alone in Spanish. It always appears as qu, followed by either e or i. The u is silent, and the combination is pronounced [k]. (It is the same principle as with gu in guerra.)

F, L, M, N — Like English

The letters f, l, m, and n are pronounced just like their English counterparts, with one minor caveat: Spanish l is always a "light" [l], made at the front of the mouth. It never becomes the dark [ɫ] that English speakers use at the end of words like ball or feel. Keep your Spanish l crisp and front.

W — Purely Foreign

The letter w appears only in loanwords, especially from English and German. It is usually pronounced like [w] as in water, though some speakers treat it as [β] in older borrowings like whisky.

X — Usually [ks], but Sometimes

The letter x generally represents two consonant sounds merged together: [ks], as in examen [ek-SA-men] or taxi [TAK-si]. However, there is one famous exception: words of Nahuatl origin (from the indigenous language of central Mexico) often keep their traditional pronunciation, where x represents the sound — the same as Spanish j.

See Also

• The Spanish Alphabet for letter names.
• B and V for another pair with a soft variant.