Spanish has a reputation for being spelled the way it sounds, and it mostly deserves it. Then you look up dedo (finger) on Wiktionary and find two transcriptions, /ˈdedo/ and [ˈdeðo]. You look up cinco (five) and get one line for Spain and another for Latin America.
Those symbols are the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. Below you'll find the complete Spanish IPA chart, the twelve symbols worth learning first, what changes between Spain and Latin America, and why two dictionaries can write the same Spanish word in different ways.
How do you read Spanish IPA?
Read it one symbol at a time, from left to right. In the IPA, one symbol always stands for the same sound, so a silent letter simply gets no symbol: hola (hello) is /ˈola/, with nothing for the h. If you have never read IPA in any language, our French IPA guide explains what the alphabet is and where it comes from.
On top of the sound symbols, Wikipedia's pronunciation key for Spanish uses three marks:
- Stress ˈ sits just before the stressed syllable. Ciudad (city) is [θjuˈðað] in Spain and [sjuˈðað] in Latin America, and in both the stress falls on the last syllable.
- Secondary stress ˌ marks a lighter beat earlier in a long word, as in altamente (highly) [ˌaltaˈmente].
- Syllable break . splits two vowels that belong to different syllables: mío (mine) is [ˈmi.o], two syllables.
You will see the stress mark on almost every Spanish word, but the spelling usually tells you the same thing. Words ending in a vowel, n or s are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable, most other words on the last one, and a written accent marks the exceptions, as the rules of Spanish orthography set out. That is why hablo (I speak) is /ˈablo/ and habló (he or she spoke) is /aˈblo/.
Why do dictionaries write the same Spanish word differently?
They record different levels of detail, pick different symbols for the same sound, and describe different Spanish.
Slashes show the sounds a speaker means to say. Square brackets show how those sounds actually come out. The gap is unusually large in Spanish, because /b/, /d/ and /ɡ/ soften into [β], [ð] and [ɣ] after most sounds. They stay hard only after a pause, after m or n, and, for d, after l (see Spanish phonology). Wiktionary prints both lines, which is why dedo appears as /ˈdedo/ and [ˈdeðo]: the first d is hard and the second is soft.
Symbol choices vary too. Wikipedia and Wiktionary write the single tap in caro as /ɾ/ and the rolled rr in carro as /r/, while the Collins Spanish pronunciation guide writes them [r] and [rr]. Wiktionary also adds fine marks that the Wikipedia key leaves out, such as the small sign under [β̞], the tie bar in /t͡ʃ/ and dots between syllables. Read them as the same sounds.
Then there is the question of whose Spanish it is. Collins describes what it calls "educated" Castilian, and its dictionary skips IPA for most Spanish headwords because the spelling is so regular. Wiktionary labels each line by region instead, so cinco shows /ˈθinko/ for Spain and /ˈsinko/ for Latin America.
Which Spanish IPA symbols should you learn first?
Learn the twelve symbols that look nothing like the letters you would guess: the two r sounds, /x/, /θ/, the soft [β ð ɣ], /ʝ/, /ʎ/ and /ɲ/ for y, ll and ñ, plus /j/ and /tʃ/. Say each example out loud after you read it. The symbols and example words follow Wikipedia's key, where every symbol links to a page with a recording of that sound, and the transcriptions come from Wiktionary.
| Symbol | Example | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|
| /r/ | carro /ˈkaro/ — cart, car | A rolled r, like a Scottish r |
| /ɾ/ | caro /ˈkaɾo/ — expensive | One quick tap, like the t in American atom |
| /x/ | ojo /ˈoxo/ — eye | Like the ch in Scottish loch; an English h in many accents |
| /θ/ | caza /ˈkaθa/ — hunt | Like thing in most of Spain; Latin America says /ˈkasa/ |
| [β] | bebé /beˈbe/ [beˈβe] — baby | A soft b with the lips not quite closed |
| [ð] | dedo /ˈdedo/ [ˈdeðo] — finger | Like the th in other |
| [ɣ] | galgo /ˈɡalɡo/ [ˈɡalɣo] — greyhound | A soft g, with the tongue not quite touching the back of the roof of your mouth |
| /ʝ/ | haya /ˈaʝa/ — beech tree | Like the y in beyond |
| /ʎ/ | lluvia /ˈʎubja/ — rain | Like the gli in Italian figlio; most speakers say /ˈʝubja/ |
| /ɲ/ | caña /ˈkaɲa/ — cane | The ñ sound, like the gn in Italian gnocco |
| /j/ | cielo /ˈθjelo/ (Spain), /ˈsjelo/ (Latin America) — sky | Like yet; the Spanish letter j is /x/ |
| /tʃ/ | chico /ˈtʃiko/ — boy | Like choose |
Once these twelve feel familiar, you can read most Spanish transcriptions on sight, because the rest of the chart sits close to English.
What do the other Spanish IPA symbols sound like?
The rest of the chart is either close to an English sound or the hard partner of a soft sound above. Together with the first table and the three marks, the table below covers every symbol in Wikipedia's Spanish key. The English comparisons are approximations, so open the key and click a symbol whenever one is new to you.
| Symbol | Example | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|
| /a/ | paso | Like father |
| /e/ | peso | Like set |
| /i/ | piso, día, y | Like see |
| /o/ | poso | Like more |
| /u/ | puso, púa | Like cool |
| /w/ | cuadro, hueso, auto | Like wine |
| /b/ | bebé, ambos, viva, envío | Like about; b and v spell the same sound |
| /d/ | dedo, andar, aldea | Like day |
| /ɡ/ | galgo, lengua, guerra | Like again |
| /ɟʝ/ | ya, enyeso, hielo | Like jet |
| /p t k/ | pato, tamiz, caso | Like spin, stand and scan, without a puff of air |
| /f/ | faro, trofeo | Like face |
| /s/ | saco, casa, está | Like sip in Latin America; between sip and ship in Spain |
| /ʃ/ | show, Freixenet | Like shack, in borrowed words |
| /l/ | luna, hala | Like lean |
| /m/ | meta, cama, invierno | Like mother, also for an n before b or v |
| /ɱ/ | inflar | Like the m in comfort |
| /n/ | ni, cana, sin | Like need |
| /ŋ/ | tengo, anca | Like sing |
The five vowels are the easy part. Paso, peso, piso, poso and puso each differ by one vowel, and an unstressed vowel stays almost as clear as a stressed one. Come back to the rest of this table when a transcription shows a symbol you don't recognize.
How does Spanish IPA change between Spain and Latin America?
Most of the chart is shared. Four differences change what you hear or read, and Wiktionary labels the first three by region. If you haven't picked a variety yet, our guide to Latin American vs Spain Spanish helps you choose.
/θ/ or /s/ for c and z
Northern and central Spain say z, and c before e or i, as /θ/, the th of thing, and keep s as /s/. There, caza (hunt) is /ˈkaθa/ and casa (house) is /ˈkasa/. Latin America, the Canary Islands and parts of Andalusia use /s/ for both, which is called seseo, so the two words sound the same. Parts of southern Andalusia do the opposite and use a /θ/-like sound for both, which is called ceceo. Where Spain keeps the two sounds apart, its /s/ also sounds a little closer to sh.
ll and y are one sound for most speakers
Most Spanish speakers no longer tell ll from y. This merger is called yeísmo, and it is why haya and halla sound the same and why Wiktionary gives calle (street) as /ˈkaʝe/ for Spain and most of Latin America. The older /ʎ/ survives in parts of the Andes, Bolivia, Paraguay, northeastern Argentina and rural northern Spain, where calle is /ˈkaʎe/.
Argentina and Uruguay use /ʃ/ and /ʒ/
Rioplatense Spanish, spoken across Argentina and Uruguay, turns that merged ll and y into /ʒ/, like the s in measure, or /ʃ/, like sh. Wiktionary gives calle as /ˈkaʃe/ for Buenos Aires and /ˈkaʒe/ for much of the rest of Argentina and Uruguay, and yo (I) as /ˈʃo/ or /ˈʒo/. The voiceless /ʃ/ started in and around Buenos Aires and has spread across both countries, as the article on Rioplatense Spanish describes.
Sounds that soften to [h]
The /x/ of ojo and jarra (jug) /ˈxara/ is a rough sound at the back of the mouth, and northern Spain pulls it even further back to [χ]. In the Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Andalusia and the Canary Islands it is often a soft [h], as in English hat. In much of Latin America and southern Spain, an s at the end of a syllable also turns into [h] or disappears. Transcriptions still write /x/ and /s/, so let your ears tell you which version a speaker uses.
Spanish traps the IPA makes obvious
B and v are one sound
Viva is /ˈbiba/ [ˈbiβa]: both of its vs are the same /b/ you hear in bebé, hard after a pause or after m or n, and soft between vowels. Spelling keeps two letters, but the IPA shows one sound, so there is no English v to aim for.
The h has no symbol
Hola /ˈola/ sounds exactly like ola (wave). In native Spanish words the h is always silent, so the IPA leaves it out. When you see a word starting with a vowel symbol, start with the vowel.
One r or two
Pero /ˈpeɾo/ (but) and perro /ˈpero/ (dog) differ only in the r. An r at the start of a word or after l, n or s is always the rolled /r/, so río (river) is /ˈrio/ even though it is spelled with one r.
How to use Spanish IPA without memorizing it
- Look up the word you're stuck on. Search it on Wiktionary and read the line labeled with your variety. Cinco shows /ˈθinko/ for Spain and /ˈsinko/ for Latin America.
- Listen before you read. Hear the line at normal speed, then slowly, and rebuild it from what you hear. The IPA tells you which sound to aim for, and your ears tell you when you have hit it.
- Say the whole phrase aloud. Copy the full line, not only the word. The soft [β ð ɣ] depend on the sounds around them, so dedo said alone teaches less than a sentence with it.
- Use it in conversation. Reuse the phrase in a reply of your own, so the sound is there when someone is waiting for your answer.
Copycat Cafe (we make it) follows that order, with two Spanish courses: Spanish (Latin America) and Spanish (Spain). You hear an everyday conversation at normal or slow speed, rebuild its lines by ear, say each one aloud for a 0–100 pronunciation score on every word, then use the same language with Copy, your AI conversation partner. Personal costs $174/year or $29/month in the US, with a 7-day free trial and a 30-day money-back guarantee on the first payment.
Let your ears pick the symbol
Go back to dedo. The slashes write /ˈdedo/, the brackets write [ˈdeðo], and for a word like cinco a label tells you whose Spanish you are reading. Use the chart for that kind of quick check. Then return to listening, because hearing a real line and copying it aloud is how the soft d, the tap and the trill end up in your own Spanish.
Learning German or Italian too? We have the same guide for German IPA and Italian IPA.