| Spanish alphabet Alfabeto español | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Script type | |
Period | c. 16th century – present |
| Official script | |
| Languages | Spanish |
| Related scripts | |
Parent systems | |
| This article containsphonetic transcriptions in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. For the distinction between[ ],/ / and ⟨ ⟩, seeIPA § Brackets and transcription delimiters. | |
Spanish orthography is theorthography used in theSpanish language. Thealphabet uses theLatin script. Thespelling is fairlyphonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies likeEnglish, having a relatively consistent mapping ofgraphemes tophonemes; in other words, the pronunciation of a given Spanish-language word can largely be predicted from its spelling and to a slightly lesser extent vice versa. Spanishpunctuation uniquely includes the use ofinverted question and exclamation marks:⟨¿⟩⟨¡⟩.
Spanish uses capital letters much less often than English; they are not used on adjectives derived from proper nouns (e.g.francés,español,portugués fromFrancia,España, andPortugal, respectively) and book titles capitalize only the first word (e.g.La rebelión de las masas).
Spanish uses only the acute accent over any vowel:⟨á é í ó ú⟩. This accent is used to mark the tonic (stressed) syllable, though it may also be used occasionally to distinguishhomophones such assi'if' andsí'yes'. The only otherdiacritics used are the tilde on the letter⟨ñ⟩, which is considered a separate letter from⟨n⟩, and thediaeresis used in the sequences⟨güe⟩ and⟨güi⟩—as inbilingüe'bilingual'—to indicate that the⟨u⟩ is pronounced[w], rather than having the usual silent role that it plays in unmarked⟨gue⟩[ge] and⟨gui⟩[gi].
In contrast with English, Spanish has an official body that governs linguistic rules, orthography among them: theRoyal Spanish Academy (Real Academia Española; RAE), which makes periodic changes to the orthography. Its currently valid work on orthography is theOrtografía de la lengua española, published in 2010.
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The Spanish language is written using the Spanish alphabet, which is theISO Latin script with one additional letter,eñe⟨ñ⟩, for a total of 27 letters.[1] Although the letters⟨k⟩ and⟨w⟩ are part of the alphabet, they appear only inloanwords (such askarate,kilo,waterpolo andwolframio) and insensational spellings (such asokupa andbakalao). Each letter has a single official name according to the RAE's new 2010 Common Orthography,[2] but in some regions alternative names are used.
There are fivedigraphs:⟨ch⟩ ("che" or "ce hache"),⟨ll⟩ ("elle" or "doble ele"),⟨rr⟩ ("doble erre"),⟨gu⟩ ("ge u") and⟨qu⟩ ("cu u").[3][4][5] Whileche andelle were each formerly treated as a single letter,[1] in 1994 the tenth congress of theAssociation of Academies of the Spanish Language agreed toalphabetize⟨ch⟩ and⟨ll⟩ as ordinary sequences of letters.Spain requested the change at the behest ofUNESCO and theEuropean Union, in an effort to facilitate translation and computing.[6][7] Thus, for example, in dictionaries,chico is alphabetized aftercentro and beforeciudad, instead of being alphabetized after all words beginning withcu- as was formerly done.[8] Despite their former status as unitary letters of the alphabet,⟨ch⟩ and⟨ll⟩ have always been treated as sequences with regard to the rules of capitalization. Thus the wordchillón in a text written in all caps isCHILLÓN, not*ChILlÓN, and if it is the first word of a sentence, it is writtenChillón, not*CHillón. Sometimes, one findslifts with buttons markedLLamar, but this double capitalization has always been incorrect according toRAE rules.
Whenacute accent anddiaeresis marks are used on vowels (⟨á⟩,⟨é⟩,⟨í⟩,⟨ó⟩,⟨ú⟩ and⟨ü⟩), they are considered variants of the plain vowel letters. The consonant⟨ñ⟩ is considered a separate letter from⟨n⟩. This makes a difference when sorting alphabetically:⟨ñ⟩ appears in dictionaries after⟨n⟩.
From most to least frequent, letters used in Spanish texts are:⟨E A O S R N I D L C T U M P B G V Y Q H F Z J Ñ X W K⟩;[9][a] vowels make up around 45% of the text.
| Uppercase | Lowercase | Name[10] | Phoneme(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | a | /a/ |
| B | b | be,be larga,be alta | /b/ |
| C | c | ce | /k/,/θ/[i] |
| Ch[ii] | ch | che | /tʃ/ |
| D | d | de | /d/ |
| E | e | e | /e/ |
| F | f | efe | /f/ |
| G | g | ge | /ɡ/,/x/ |
| H | h | hache | silent[iii] |
| I | i | i | /i/ |
| J | j | jota | /x/ |
| K | k | ka | /k/ |
| L | l | ele | /l/[iv] |
| Ll | ll | elle | /ʎ/ |
| M | m | eme | /m/[v] |
| N | n | ene | /n/,/m/[v] |
| Ñ | ñ | eñe | /ɲ/ |
| O | o | o | /o/ |
| P | p | pe | /p/ |
| Q | q | cu | /k/[vi] |
| R[vii] | r | erre | /ɾ/,/r/ |
| S | s | ese | /s/ |
| T | t | te | /t/ |
| U | u | u | /u/ |
| V | v | uve,ve,ve corta,ve baja,ve chica | /b/ |
| W | w | uve doble,ve doble,doble ve,doble u | /w/,/b/ |
| X | x | equis | /ks/,/s/[viii] |
| Y | y | ye,i griega | /ʝ/,/i/ |
| Z | z | zeta | /θ/[i] |
Besides the letters, other characters are specially associated with Spanish-language texts:
Spanish orthographic rules are similar, but not identical, to those of otherRomance languages of theIberian Peninsula, such asPortuguese,Catalan andGalician. In general, the orthography of Spanish is such that the pronunciation of most words is unambiguous given their written form. The main exception is the letter⟨x⟩, which usually represents/ks/ or/s/, but can also represent/x/ or/ʃ/, especially in proper nouns from times ofOld Spanish (e.g.México orPedro Ximénez – in both cases the⟨x⟩ is pronounced/x/).
The converse does not always hold—for a given pronunciation there may be multiple possible spellings, as a result of decisions by the RAE. The main issues are:
For some speakers, additional problems may come from:
The use of⟨b⟩ and⟨v⟩,⟨j⟩ and⟨g⟩, and the silent⟨h⟩ is mostly based on etymology. In particular,⟨b⟩ in many cases is not a continuation of Old Spanish (which often had⟨v⟩ in place of intervocalic⟨b⟩ as a result of Vulgar Latin merger, as in other Romance languages), but an artificial restitution based on Latin:caballo 'horse' is spelled as Latincaballus and unlike Frenchcheval, Italiancavallo, Portuguesecavalo, or Catalancavall. The letter⟨h⟩ is used in place of Latin⟨h⟩ and⟨f⟩ (in a few words also⟨g⟩):hoy <hodie,hablar <fabulare,hermano <germanus. Additionally,⟨h⟩ is a purely orthographical sign used before word-initialrising diphthongs.[c] However, in some words RAE mandated counter-etymological spellings because of established tradition of usage, e.g.abogado <advocatus.
TheOrtografía includes a series of "rules of thumb" on using the letters⟨b/v⟩,⟨g/j⟩,⟨ll/y⟩,⟨c/s/z⟩,⟨h⟩, and⟨x⟩. For example, verbs ending in-bir are spelled with⟨b⟩, excepthervir,servir,vivir, and their derivatives.
| sound | before⟨e / i⟩ | elsewhere |
|---|---|---|
| /θ/or/s/ | ⟨c⟩ (or⟨z⟩ in some loanwords) or⟨s⟩ | ⟨z⟩ or⟨s⟩ |
| /k/ | ⟨qu⟩ (or⟨k⟩ in some loanwords) | ⟨c⟩ (or⟨k⟩ in some loanwords) |
| /x/ | ⟨g⟩ or⟨j⟩ (or⟨x⟩ in Mexico) | ⟨j⟩ (or⟨x⟩ in Mexico) |
| /ɡ/ | ⟨gu⟩ | ⟨g⟩ |
| /ɡw/ | ⟨gü⟩ | ⟨gu⟩ |
In some Spanish verbs, the same stem is spelled differently before different verb endings. This is required to keep the regularity of the conjugated forms in terms of sound, when a letter represents different sounds, or to avoid unusual combinations, such as-ze- or-qua-:
The same occurs in other parts of speech when combined with certain suffixes, such as-ito /-ita for nouns and pronouns or-ísimo /-ísima for adjectives and adverbs:taza →tacita;poco →poquito;abrigo →abriguito;agua →agüita;feroz →ferocísimo;loco →loquísimo;largo →larguísimo;exiguo →exigüísimo. Likewise, nouns and adjectives ending in⟨z⟩ change this letter to⟨c⟩ in the plural for similar reasons:lápiz →lápices;feroz →feroces.
| Letter | Context | IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b orv | word-initial after a pause, or after⟨m⟩ or⟨n⟩ | [b] | bestia;embuste;vaca;envidia | practically the same as the typical English⟨b⟩, except that it is fullyvoiced; e.g.about |
| elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than⟨m⟩ or⟨n⟩) | [β][d] | bebé;obtuso;vivir;curva;mibebé;mivaca | betweenbaby andbevy (like the typical English⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth) | |
| rare:⟨v⟩ at the end of loanwords | [v] or[f][17] | leitmotiv;lev;molotov | same as the typical English⟨v⟩ or⟨f⟩; e.g.vase orfase | |
| c | before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ | [θ](central and northern Spain) or [s](most other regions)[e] | cereal;encima | same as the Englishvoiceless ⟨th⟩ (as inthing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English⟨s⟩ (as insass) in all other regions |
| before voiced consonants | [ɣ] | anécdota | a sound between a light English⟨g⟩ and the typical English⟨h⟩ (betweengold andahold) | |
| elsewhere | [k] | casa;claro;vaca;escudo | same as certain instances of English⟨k⟩ or⟨c⟩; e.g.skull,scan, orpicking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English/k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. incan) | |
| ch | everywhere[f] | [tʃ] or[ʃ] (depending upon the dialect) | ocho;chícharo | same as the typical English⟨ch⟩;church |
| d | word-initial after a pause, or after⟨l⟩ or⟨n⟩ | [d] | dedo;cuando;aldaba | practically the same as the typical English⟨d⟩, except that it is fullyvoiced and the tip of the tongue touches theupper teeth; e.g.adore |
| elsewhere | [ð][d] | dádiva;arder;admirar;midedo;verdad | same as the typical Englishvoiced ⟨th⟩; e.g.this | |
| f | before voiced consonants | [v][18][19] | afgano;Afganistán | same as the typical English⟨v⟩; e.g.vase |
| elsewhere | [f] | fase;café | same as the typical English⟨f⟩; e.g.face | |
| g | before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ | [x] or[h] | general | similar to a "strong" English⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the⟨ch⟩ in Scottishloch or in GermanBach) or aspirated⟨h⟩ (as inheaven) |
| not before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after⟨n⟩ | [ɡ] | gato;grande;vengo | practically the same as the typical English⟨g⟩ sound, except that it is fullyvoiced; e.g.ago | |
| not before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣ][d] | trigo;amargo;signo;migato | a sound between a light English⟨g⟩ and the typical English⟨h⟩ (betweengold andahold) | |
| gu | before⟨a⟩ or⟨o⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after⟨n⟩ | [ɡw] | guante;lengua | a sound like the⟨gu⟩ in Englishlanguage |
| before⟨a⟩ or⟨o⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣw][d] | agua;averiguar | similar to the typical English⟨w⟩, but preceded by a soft guttural sound | |
| before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after⟨n⟩ | [ɡ] | guerra | practically the same as the typical English⟨g⟩ sound, except that it is fullyvoiced; e.g.ago | |
| before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣ][d] | sigue | a sound between a light English⟨g⟩ and the typical English⟨h⟩ (betweengold andahold) | |
| gü | before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, and either word-initial after a pause, or after⟨n⟩ | [ɡw] | güero,pingüino | a sound like the⟨gu⟩ in Englishpenguin |
| before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, and not in the above contexts | [ɣw][d] | averigüe | similar to the typical English⟨w⟩, but preceded by a soft guttural sound | |
| h | everywhere | (silent)[c] | hoy;hacer;prohibir;huevo;hielo | silent (like English⟨h⟩ in Englishhonor orhour) |
| everywhere; occurs in loanwords and foreign proper names | [x] or[h] | hámster,hawaiano,hachís,yihad,haiku,dírham,Yokohama,Wahid[g] | similar to a "strong" English⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the⟨ch⟩ in Scottishloch or in GermanBach) or aspirated⟨h⟩ (as inheaven) | |
| hi | before a vowel | [j] or[ʝ] | hierba;hielo | similar to or the same as the typical English⟨y⟩; e.g.you (but often more strongly pronounced, sometimes resembling the English⟨j⟩, as injam) |
| hu | before a vowel | [w] (sometimes[ɡw] or[bw]) | hueso;huevo[h] | usually the same as the⟨w⟩ in Englishwe |
| j | everywhere | [x] or[h] | jamón;eje;reloj;[i] | similar to a "strong" English⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the⟨ch⟩ in Scottishloch or in GermanBach) or aspirated⟨h⟩ (as inheaven) |
| k | rare; only occurs in a few loanwords and sensational spellings | [k] | kilo,karate,okupa | same as certain instances of English⟨k⟩ or⟨c⟩; e.g.skull,scan, orpicking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English/k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. incan) |
| l | everywhere | [l] | lino;alhaja;principal | same as the typical English⟨l⟩ (especially like theclear⟨l⟩ of British English, rather than thedark⟨l⟩ of American English); e.g.pull |
| ll | everywhere | [ʎ],[ʝ] or[dʒ] (depending upon the dialect) | llave;pollo | similar to the⟨lli⟩ in Englishmillion (in some dialects simplified to a sound between the typical English⟨y⟩ and⟨j⟩, e.g. betweenyes andJess) |
| m | everywhere except word-finally | [m] | madre;comer;campo[j] | same as the typical English⟨m⟩;medal |
| word-final | [n] or[ŋ] (depending upon the dialect) | álbum | varying between the typical English⟨n⟩ and⟨ng⟩, e.g. the⟨ng⟩ in Englishsing | |
| n | sin | |||
| everywhere but before other consonants | [n] | nido;anillo;anhelo | same as the typical English⟨n⟩; e.g.nun | |
| before other consonants[j] | [m] [ɱ] [n] [ɲ] [ŋ] | invierno confite mundo enyesar cinco | same as the typical English⟨m⟩;imperfect same as the English⟨m⟩ insymphony same as the typical English⟨n⟩ (as innun) same as the English⟨ny⟩ incanyon same as the typical English⟨ng⟩ (as insink orsing) | |
| ñ | everywhere | [ɲ] or[nj] (depending upon the dialect) | ñandú;cabaña[j] | roughly likeminion |
| p | everywhere | [p] | pozo;topo;esposa | same as certain instances of English⟨p⟩; e.g.span ortyping (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English/p/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. inpan) |
| in the consonant cluster⟨pt⟩[21] | [β] | optimista | betweenbaby andbevy (like the typical English⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth) | |
| qu | before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ | [k] | quise | same as certain instances of English⟨k⟩⟨c⟩ or ⟨q⟩; e.g.skull,scan, orunique (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English/k/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. inkey) |
| elsewhere; rare, and usually occurs in loanwords of Latin or English origin; considered by the RAE as an unadapted foreign spelling (see below) | [kw] (sometimes[k]) | statuquo,quad,squash | same as the typical English⟨qu⟩:quality | |
| r | word-initial, morpheme-initial,[k] or after⟨l⟩,⟨n⟩,⟨s⟩, or⟨z⟩; in emphatic and oratorical or formal speech, may also be used instead of[ɾ] in syllable-final (especially before⟨l⟩,⟨m⟩,⟨n⟩,⟨s⟩,⟨t⟩, or⟨d⟩) and word-final positions (before pause or consonant-initial words only) | [r] | rumbo;honra;alrededor;israelí;Azrael;subrayar;amorpuro | trilled or rolled⟨r⟩ |
| elsewhere | [ɾ] | caro;bravo;partir;amoreterno | flapped⟨r⟩; e.g. the same sound as the⟨dd⟩ ofladder inAmerican English | |
| rr | only occurs between vowels | [r] | carro | trilled or rolled⟨r⟩ |
| s | before a voiced consonant (e.g.⟨l⟩,⟨m⟩,⟨d⟩,⟨g⟩) | [z] | isla;mismo;desde;jurisdicción;deshuesar;atisbo;presbítero;resbalar;rasgo;riesgo;desvelar;esvarar[l] | same as the typical English⟨z⟩; e.g. the⟨s⟩ inis orbusy; in central and northern Spain, thePaisa region of Colombia, and the Andes, this sound is made with thetip of the tongue rather than theblade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar[z] of Englishbusy and the palato-alveolar[ʒ] ofpleasure |
| everywhere else | [s] | saco;casa;deshora;espita[l] | same as the typical English⟨s⟩;sass; in central and northern Spain,Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar[s] of Englishsea and the palato-alveolar[ʃ] ofsure | |
| sh | only used in loanwords, generally from English; considered by the RAE as an unadapted foreign spelling (see below) | [ʃ] or[tʃ] (sometimes[s]) | sherpa,show,flash,Áncash,Shanghái,Washington | same as the typical English⟨sh⟩; e.g.sheesh; when this digraph is equated with the phoneme/s/ (typically in northern and central Spain,Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes), the sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar[s] of Englishsea and the palato-alveolar[ʃ] ofshe |
| t | everywhere | [t] | tamiz;átomo | same as certain instances of English⟨t⟩; e.g.sta (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English/t/ at the beginning of a word, e.g. intan). Also, the tip of the tongue touches theupper teeth, rather than thealveolar ridge and found in the wordmonth[mənt̪θ] |
| before voiced consonants | [ð] | atmósfera | same as the typical Englishvoiced ⟨th⟩; e.g.this | |
| tl | rare; mostly in loanwords fromNahuatl | [tl] or[tɬ] | tlapalería;cenzontle;Popocatépetl | similar to the combined⟨tl⟩ sound in Englishcat-like |
| tz | rare; from loanwords | [ts] | quetzal;Pátzcuaro | same as⟨ts⟩ in Englishcats |
| w | rare; in loanwords from English and non-European languages | [w] (sometimes[ɡw] or[bw])[h] | waterpolo,taekwondo,kiwi,wau,Wahid,Taiwán | usually the same as the⟨w⟩ in Englishwater |
| rare; in loanwords from German and in Visigothic names; word-initial after a pause, or after⟨m⟩ or⟨n⟩ | [b][m] | wolframio;Wamba;Wittenberg | same as the typical English⟨b⟩; e.g.bib | |
| rare; in loanwords from German and in Visigothic names; elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than⟨m⟩ or⟨n⟩) | [β] | Volkswagen,Ludwig | betweenbaby andbevy (like the typical English⟨v⟩, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth) | |
| x | between vowels and word-finally | [ks] (sometimes[gz]) | exacto;taxi;relax,exigente | same as the typical English⟨x⟩; e.g.taxi orexactly |
| word-initially | [s] | xenofobia | same as the typical English⟨s⟩;sass; in central and northern Spain,Paisa region of Colombia, and Andes, this sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar[s] of Englishsea and the palato-alveolar[ʃ] ofshe | |
| before a consonant | [ks] or[s] | extremo[l][n] | same as the typical English⟨x⟩ or⟨s⟩; e.g.max ormass | |
| in some words borrowed from Nahuatl, mostly place names, and in some Spanish proper names conserving archaic spelling | [x] or[h] | México;Oaxaca;xiote;Texas;La Axarquía;Ximena;Ximénez;Mexía;Roxas | similar to a "strong" English⟨h⟩-sound (e.g. the⟨ch⟩ in Scottishloch or in GermanBach) or aspirated⟨h⟩ (as inheaven) | |
| in some words from indigenous American languages, mostly place names | [ʃ] or[tʃ] (sometimes[s]) | Xela;xocoyote;Mixco (['mis.ko]) | same as the typical English⟨sh⟩; e.g.sheesh; when this is equated with the phoneme/s/ (typically in northern and central Spain, thePaisa region of Colombia, and Andes), the sound is made with the tip of the tongue rather than the blade, with a sound quality intermediate between the alveolar[s] of Englishsea and the palato-alveolar[ʃ] ofshe | |
| y | as a semivowel (almost always in adiphthong) | [i] or[j] | hay,soy | same as the typical English⟨y⟩ (but joined in asingle syllable with another vowel sound);aye,boy |
| as a consonant | [j],[ʝ], or[dʒ][d] | ya;yelmo;ayuno | similar to the typical English⟨y⟩, or⟨j⟩ but softer; e.g. similar toyes,Jess oryeast[22] | |
| z | usually does not occur before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ | [θ](central and northern Spain) or [s](most other regions)[e] | zorro;paz;caza | same as the Englishvoiceless ⟨th⟩ (as inthing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English⟨s⟩ (as insass) in all other regions |
| before voiced consonants | [ð](central and northern Spain) or[z](most other regions)[e] | jazmín,juzgado,Aznar | same as the typical Englishvoiced ⟨th⟩; e.g.this in central and northern Spain, or the typical English⟨z⟩; e.g. the⟨s⟩ inis orbusy |
| Letter | IPA | Examples | English approximation |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | [a] | azahar | between trap and spa |
| e | [e] | vehemente | betweenbet andbait |
| i | [i] | dimitir;mío | ski city |
| y | y | ||
| o | [o] | boscoso | betweencoat (American more than British) andcaught |
| u | [u] | cucurucho;dúo | rule |
| Letter | IPA | Examples | English approximation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| i | ⟨i⟩ before a vowel | [j] | aliada;cielo;amplio;ciudad | you |
| hi;y | ⟨hi⟩ before a vowel;⟨y⟩ before a vowel | [ʝ] | hierba;hielo;ya;yelmo;ayuno | You |
| u | ⟨u⟩ before a vowel (but silent in⟨qu⟩ and⟨gu⟩ before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩) | [w] | cuadro;fuego;arduo | wine |
| hu | ⟨hu⟩ before a vowel | [w̝] | hueso;huevo;Huila<[h] | Gwen |
The phoneme/ʝ/ is realized as an approximant in all contexts except after a pause, a nasal, or a lateral. In these environments, it may be realized as anaffricate ([ɟʝ]).[16][23] The approximant allophone differs from non-syllabic/i/ in a number of ways; it has a lowerF2 amplitude, is longer, can only appear in the syllable onset (including word-initially, where non-syllabic/i/ normally never appears), is apalatal fricative in emphatic pronunciations, and is unspecified for rounding (e.g.viuda[ˈbjuða]ⓘ 'widow' andayuda[aˈʝʷuða]ⓘ 'help').[24] The two also overlap in distribution after/l/ and/n/:enyesar[eɲɟʝeˈsaɾ]ⓘ ('to plaster')aniego[aˈnjeɣo]ⓘ ('flood').[23] Although there is dialectal and ideolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs such asabyecto ('abject') andabierto ('opened'),[25] or even minimal pairs across word boundaries such asyavisto[(ɟ)ʝaˈβisto] ('I already dress') andyhavisto[jaˈβisto] ('and he has seen').[26] There are somealternations between the two, prompting scholars likeAlarcos Llorach (1950) harvcoltxt error: no target: CITEREFAlarcos_Llorach1950 (help)[27] to postulate anarchiphoneme/I/, so thatley[lei̯]ⓘ would be transcribed phonemically as/ˈleI/ andleyes[ˈleʝes]ⓘ as/ˈleIes/.
In a number of varieties, including some American ones, a process parallel to the one distinguishing non-syllabic/i/ from consonantal/ʝ/ occurs for non-syllabic/u/ and a rare consonantal/w̝/.[23][28] Near-minimal pairs includedeshuesar[dezw̝eˈsaɾ]ⓘ ('to debone') vs.desuello[deˈsweʎo]ⓘ ('skinning'),sonhuevos[ˈsoŋˈw̝eβos]ⓘ ('they are eggs') vssonnuevos[ˈsoⁿˈnweβos]ⓘ ('they are new'),[27] andhuaca[ˈ(ɡ)w̝aka]ⓘ ('Indian grave') vsuoca[ˈwoka]ⓘ ('or goose').[26]
Vowels in Spanish can be doubled to represent a hiatus of two identical vowels; e.g.leer,chiita,loor,duunviro. This especially happens in prefixed and compound words; e.g.portaaviones,sobreesfuerzo,microorganismo. However, in this case simplification of double vowels is also mostly allowed; e.g.portaviones,sobresfuerzo,microrganismo. Simplification is not allowed when it would change the meaning:archiilegal ('arch-illegal') butarchilegal ('arch-legal').
The only consonant letters that can be doubled in the Spanish orthography are⟨l⟩,⟨r⟩ (as the digraphs⟨ll⟩ and⟨rr⟩, respectively),⟨c⟩ (only when they represent different sounds; e.g.acción,diccionario),⟨n⟩ (e.g.innato,perenne,connotar,dígannos), and⟨b⟩ (in a few words with the prefixsub-; e.g.subbase,subbético). Exceptions to this limitation aregamma (and its derivativesgammaglobulina,gammagrafía),digamma,kappa,atto-, as well as unadapted foreign words (including proper names) and their derivations (see below). When a double consonant other than⟨nn⟩ or⟨bb⟩ would appear on a morpheme border, it is simplified:digámoselo fordigamos +se +lo,exilofonista forex- +xilofonista.[29] However, the combinationsal +le (from the verbsalir) is pronounced with a prolonged⟨l⟩ ([̍ sal.le]) and has no correct spelling according to the current orthography.[30] Using the spellingsalle is considered incorrect, since it would imply a wrong pronunciation (and also would make the combination homographous with the formsalle of the verbsallar); spellings such assal-le andsal·le have been proposed but rejected by the RAE.
In some words, one of consonants in a consonant combination may optionally be omitted. This includes Greek-derived words such aspsicología /sicología,mnemónico /nemónico (word-initial consonant clusters that are foreign to Spanish are mostly simplified in pronunciation, but more commonly retained in spelling) and other words such asobscuro /oscuro,transcribir /trascribir,septiembre /setiembre (the spellingsetiembre is mostly used in Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay).
The letter⟨y⟩ is consistently used in the consonantal value. The use of the letter⟨y⟩ for a vowel or a semivowel is very restricted. The diphthongs⟨ai, ei, oi⟩ are usually written⟨ay, ey, oy⟩ at the end of words (e.g.hay, ley, voy), though exceptions occur in loanwords (e.g.bonsái, agnusdéi) and in Chileanvoseo forms (e.g.estái, hablabai).[31] The spelling⟨uy⟩ is used at the end of some words, where it is pronounced as a falling diphthong, such ascocuy; the wordmuy may also be pronounced with a raising diphthong. The letter⟨y⟩ is conserved in rarely used encliticized verbal forms likedoyte,haylas (it is more normal to sayte doy, las hay). The letter⟨y⟩ is used for the vowel/i/ in the conjunctiony and in some acronyms, likepyme (frompequeña y mediana empresa). Otherwise,⟨y⟩ for a vowel or semivowel occurs only in some archaically spelled proper names and their derivations:Guaymas, guaymeño, and alsofraybentino (fromFray Bentos with regular usage of⟨y⟩ in a word-final diphthong). Derivatives of foreign proper names also conserve⟨y⟩:taylorismo, fromTaylor.
The vowels can be marked with anacute accent—⟨á, é, í, ó, ú, ý⟩—for two purposes: to markstress if it does not follow the most common pattern, or to differentiate words that are otherwise spelled identically (called thetilde diacrítica in Spanish). The accented⟨y⟩ is found only in some proper names:Aýna,Laýna,Ýñiguez.
A silent⟨u⟩ is used between⟨g⟩ and⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ to indicate a hard/ɡ/ pronunciation, so that⟨gue⟩ represents/ɡe/ and⟨gui⟩ represents/ɡi/. The letter⟨ü⟩ (⟨u⟩ with diaeresis) is used in this context to indicate that the⟨u⟩ is not silent, e.g.pingüino[piŋˈɡwino]. The diaeresis may occur also in Spanish poetry, occasionally, over either vowel of a diphthong, to indicate an irregular disyllabic pronunciation required by the meter (vïuda, to be pronounced as three syllables).
Also a silent⟨u⟩ always follows a⟨q⟩ when followed by⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩, as inqueso andquímica, but there is no case for the combination⟨qü⟩, with⟨cu⟩ fulfilling this role (as incuestión). There are no native words in Spanish with the combination⟨qua⟩ nor⟨quo⟩; again,⟨cu⟩ is used instead (cuando). When they appear, usually from Latin idioms such asstatu quo, the⟨u⟩ is not silent, so⟨ü⟩ is never needed after⟨q⟩. Prior to the introduction of the 2010Common Orthography words such ascuórum ('quorum'),cuásar ('quasar') orCatar ('Qatar') were spelled with⟨q⟩; this is no longer so.
To write Spanish on atypewriter or to settype, the special characters required are⟨á⟩,⟨é⟩,⟨í⟩,⟨ó⟩,⟨ú⟩,⟨ñ⟩,⟨Ñ⟩,⟨ü⟩,⟨Ü⟩,⟨¿⟩, and⟨¡⟩. The uppercase⟨Á⟩,⟨É⟩,⟨Í⟩,⟨Ó⟩, and⟨Ú⟩ are also prescribed by the RAE, although occasionally dispensed with in practice.
As implemented on the mechanical typewriter, the keyboard contained a singledead key, with the acute accent( ´ ) in the lowercase position, and the diaeresis( ¨ ) in the uppercase position. With these, one could write⟨á⟩,⟨é⟩,⟨í⟩,⟨ó⟩,⟨ú⟩, and⟨ü⟩. A separate key provided⟨ñ/Ñ⟩. (A dead key "~" is used on the Spanish and Portuguese keyboards, but on the Hispanic American keyboard the "~" is not a dead key). The inverted marks⟨¿⟩ and⟨¡⟩ completed the required minimum. When an additional key was added to electro-mechanical typewriters, this was used for⟨ª⟩ and⟨º⟩, though these are not required. (These symbols are used forordinal numbers:⟨1.º⟩ forprimero,⟨2.ª⟩ forsegunda, etc.)
As implemented in theMS-DOSoperating system and its successorMicrosoft Windows, a⟨ç⟩ /⟨Ç⟩ pair—not required in Spanish but needed for Catalan, Portuguese, and French—is typically added, and the use of the acute accent and diaeresis with capital letters (⟨Á⟩,⟨É⟩,⟨Í⟩,⟨Ó⟩,⟨Ú⟩,⟨Ü⟩) is supported. Although not needed for Spanish, another dead key with⟨`⟩ (the grave accent) in lowercase position and⟨^⟩ (the circumflex accent) in uppercase position was included. Also available is⟨·⟩ (the"flying point", required in Catalan). To make room for these characters not on the standard English keyboard, characters used primarily in programming, science, and mathematics—⟨[⟩ and⟨]⟩,⟨{⟩ and⟨}⟩,⟨/⟩ and⟨|⟩, and⟨<⟩ and⟨>⟩—are removed, requiring special keystroke sequences to access.
On a USA or UK physical keyboard, all of the Spanish characters are present using the US-International layout.
Stress in Spanish is marked unequivocally through a series of orthographic rules. The default stress is on the penultimate (next-to-last) syllable on words that end in a vowel,⟨n⟩ or⟨s⟩ (not preceded by another consonant) and on the final syllable when the word ends in any consonant other than⟨n⟩ or⟨s⟩ or in a consonant group. Words that do not follow the default stress have an acute accent over the stressed vowel. In many cases, the accent is essential to understanding what a word means, for examplehablo'I speak' contrasts withhabló'he/she/you spoke'.
A corollary of the accentuation rule above is that the written accent can sometimes appear in certain forms of a word but not others, to indicate that the same syllable is stressed. For example:
For purposes of counting syllables and assigning stress in Spanish, where an unmarked high vowel is followed by another vowel the sequence is treated as arising diphthong, counted as a single syllable—unlike Portuguese and Catalan, which tend to treat such a sequence as two syllables.[32] A syllable is of the formXAXX, whereX represents a consonant, permissible consonant cluster, or no sound at all, andA represents a vowel, diphthong, or triphthong. A diphthong is any sequence of an unstressedhigh vowel (⟨i⟩ or⟨u⟩) with another vowel (as ingracias ornáutico), and a triphthong is any combination of three vowels beginning and ending with unstressed high vowels (as incambiáis orbuey). Hence, Spanish writesfamilia (no accent), while Portuguese and Catalan both put an accent mark onfamília (all three languages stress the first⟨i⟩). By contrast, Spanish puts the accent ondía, while Portuguese and Catalan spelldia without the accent (again, all three languages stress the⟨i⟩).
An accent over thehigh vowel (⟨i⟩ or⟨u⟩) of a vowel sequence prevents it from being a diphthong (i.e., it signals ahiatus): for example,tía,dúo,oír andbaúl all have two syllables each.
The letter⟨h⟩ is not considered an interruption between vowels for diphthongisation purposes; for instance,ahumar is considered to have two syllables:ahu-mar ([au.ˈmaɾ]).[p] As such, it is also not taken into account when determining the stressed syllable; for example,desahucio has three syllables, witha being the stressed vowel:de-sahu-cio ([de.ˈsau.θjo] or[de.ˈsau.sjo]). This is also why words such asbúho[ˈbu.o] require an acute accent over the high vowel to break the diphthong (without the accent, the word*buho would be considered a single-syllable word, with the assumed pronunciation[ˈbwo]).
If the diphthongs⟨ai, ei, oi, ui⟩ are written⟨ay, ey, oy, uy⟩ at the end of words, the letter⟨y⟩ is considered a consonant letter for the purpose of accentuation:estoy,yóquey.
A word with final stress is calledoxytone (oraguda in traditional Spanish grammar texts); a word with penultimate stress is calledparoxytone (llana orgrave); a word with antepenultimate stress (stress on the third-to-last syllable) is calledproparoxytone (esdrújula). A word with preantepenultimate stress (on the fourth last syllable) or earlier does not have a common linguistic term in English, but in Spanish receives the namesobresdrújula. (Spanish words can be stressed only on one of the last three syllables, except in the case of a verb form withenclitic pronouns, such asponiéndoselo orllévesemelo.) All proparoxytones andsobresdrújulas have a written accent mark.
Adjectives spelled with a written accent (such asfácil,geográfico,cortés) keep the written accent when they are made into adverbs with the-mente ending (thusfácilmente,geográficamente,cortésmente), and do not gain any if they do not have one (thuslibremente fromlibre). In the pronunciation of these adverbs—as with all adverbs in-mente—primary stress is on the ending, on thepenultimate syllable. The original stress of the adjective—whether marked, as infácilmente, or not marked, as inlibremente—may be manifested as a secondary stress in the adverb.
Some words, such aspiar,hierba,guion andtruhan, are pronounced either with a diphthong or with a hiatus between the adjacent vowels, depending on the region. Pre-1999 orthographic rules treated these as hiatus, and accentuated the words accordingly (e.g.guión,truhán). The 1999 orthography reform by the RAE admitted the two spellings (with or without the accent), corresponding to two different pronunciations. The subsequent 2010 reform, though, declared that for orthographic and syllabification purposes such letter combinations should always be considered diphthongs, so the only correct spelling is nowguion andtruhan. Regardless of the spelling, however, these words may still be pronounced with a hiatus as before, and RAE does not discourage this practice.[33] Furthermore, other grammatical rules were not changed by the reform; for example, "trees and grass" can be translated as eitherárbolesy hierba (ifhie pronounced as a diphthong) orárbolese hierba (if pronounced with a hiatus); the latter form is still correct even thoughhie is always treated as a diphthong for the purposes of syllabification.[34]
The Real Academia Española indicates that accents are required on capitals (but not when the capitals are used inacronyms).[35]
In eight cases, the written accent is used to distinguish stressed monosyllabic words fromclitics:
| Clitic | Stressed word |
|---|---|
| de ('of') | dé ('give' or present subjunctive and imperative of 'dar') |
| el ('the', masculine definite article) | él ('he, it' for masculine nouns) |
| mas ('but', archaic) | más ('more') |
| mi ('my') | mí ('me' after prepositions) |
| se (third person reflexive) | sé ('I know' or imperative 'be') |
| si ('if') | sí ('yes' or 'himself' after prepositions) |
| te (informal object case of 'you') | té ('tea') |
| tu (informal 'your') | tú (informal subject case of 'you') |
The written accent in the wordté is conserved in its plural:tés. However, it is usually not conserved in the imperativesdé andsé when combined with a pronominal suffix, unless it is necessary for stress purposes (e.g.dé +me →deme (formal form of "give me") anddé +lo →delo (formal form of "give it"), butdé +me +lo →démelo (formal form of "give it to me")).
Names of letters and musical notes are written without the accent, even if they have homonymous clitics:a,de,e,o,te,u;mi,la,si.
The written accent is also used in theinterrogative pronouns to distinguish them fromrelative pronouns (which are pronounced the same but unstressed):
| Relative | Interrogative |
|---|---|
| como | cómo |
| cual(es) | cuál(es) |
| cuan | cuán |
| cuando | cuándo |
| cuanto(s) cuanta(s) | cuánto(os) cuánta(s) |
| cuyo(s) cuya(s) | cúyo(s) cúya(s)[q] |
| (a)donde | (a)dónde |
| que | qué |
| quien(es) | quién(es) |
The use of⟨ó⟩ in the wordo (meaning 'or') is ahypercorrection. Up until 2010,⟨ó⟩ was used when applied to numbers:7 ó 9 ('7 or 9'), to avoid possible confusion with the digit 0. The tenth congress of the Association of Spanish Language Academies deemed the use of an accent unnecessary, as typewriting eliminates possible confusion due to the different shapes of⟨0⟩ (zero) and⟨o⟩ (the letter).[1]
The differential accent is sometimes used in demonstrative pronouns (e.g.éste 'this one') to distinguish them from demonstrative determiners (e.g.este 'this') and in the adverbsólo 'only' to distinguish it from the adjectivesolo. However, the current position of the RAE is not to use accent in these words regardless of their meaning (as they are always stressed), except in cases of possible ambiguity (and even then it is recommended to rephrase, avoiding the accented spellings of these words entirely).
These diacritics are often calledacentos diacríticos ortildes diacríticas in traditional Spanish grammar.
Loanwords in Spanish are usually written according to Spanish spelling conventions (extranjerismos adaptados); such as inpádel,fútbol,chófer,máster, andcederrón ('CD-ROM'). However, some foreign words (extranjerismos crudos) are used in Spanish texts in their original forms, not conforming to Spanish orthographic conventions: e.g.ballet,blues,jazz,jeep,lady,pizza,sheriff,software.
Quiero escucharjazz y comerpizza.
Quiero escuchar jazzy comer pizza.
Quiero escuchar "jazz" y comer "pizza".
Quiero escuchar «jazz» y comer «pizza».
The RAE prescribesextranjerismos crudos to be written with typographical emphasis: initalics in a text printed inroman type, and vice versa, and inquotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available. This typographical emphasis is prescribed by the RAE since 1999.[36] In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.
This typographical emphasis is not used for foreignproper names and their derivations with the suffixes-iano, -ismo, -ista; nor is it used for some Spanish derivations ofextranjerismos crudos, such aspizzería. According to the RAE, presence of the letters⟨k⟩ and⟨w⟩, and also the letter⟨h⟩ representing an aspirated sound, does not impede a loanword to be considered a Spanish word and to be written without the typographical emphasis and with an added acute accent if it is necessary to indicate the stressed syllable:hámster,sándwich.
However, spellings such as⟨qu⟩ for[kw] or⟨sh⟩ for[ʃ] (sometimes pronounced as[tʃ] or[s] by Spanish speakers) are not considered as belonging to the Spanish orthography, so words containing them are consideredextranjerismos crudos and should be typographically emphasized according to RAE prescriptions:quad,squash,sherpa,show,flash. Before 2010, some words were written using⟨qu⟩ for[kw] and the Spanish accent mark:quásar, quórum, exequátur. Since 2010, they are prescribed to be written either ascuásar, cuórum, execuátur (without the typographical emphasis) or as unadapted foreign wordsquasar,quorum,exequatur with the typographical emphasis. However,⟨sh⟩ for[ʃ] is used together with the Spanish accent mark in some proper names such asÁncash orShanghái, or even in rare words from non-Latin-script languages such assharía (written with the typographical emphasis).
According to the currentOrtografía, Latin expressions (e.g.curriculum vitae,grosso modo,statu quo) are treated as unadapted foreign words, so they are also typographically emphasized. From 1870 to 2010, Latin expressions in Spanish texts were accentuated according to the Spanish orthographical rules (e.g.currículum vítae) and not typographically emphasized. Some Latin expressions have become single words in Spanish:etcétera,suigéneris. These words are not typographically emphasized.
For foreign names from non-Latin-script languages, using Spanishorthographic transcription is recommended:Al-Yazira,Menájem Beguín.
Capitalization in Spanish is sparse compared to English. In general, onlypersonal and place names, some abbreviations (e.g.Sr. López, butseñorLópez); the first word of the title of a book, movie, song; and the first word in a sentence are capitalized. The names of companies, government bodies, and celebrations are usually capitalized. Some geographical names have a capitalizedarticle:El Salvador, butlos Estados Unidos. Capitalized article is also used in names of periodicals, such asEl País,El Nuevo Diario. Some nouns have capital letters when used in a special administrative sense:Estado 'state' (sovereign polity), butestado 'state' (political division; condition). Nomenclature terms in geographical names are written in lowercase:el mar Mediterráneo 'the Mediterranean Sea'. According to the currentOrtografía, geographical names of the type "nomenclature term + adjective from another name of the same geographical object" are not capitalized at all:la península ibérica 'the Iberian Peninsula', becauseibérica comes fromIberia, another name of the same peninsula (although mainly used in a historical context).[37]
Adjectives from geographical names, names of nationalities or languages are not capitalized, nor are days of the week and months of the year.[38][39]
The following words are written together:
The following word combinations are written separately:
Coordinated compound adjectives are written with a hyphen:político-económico.
Spanish words are divided into syllables using the following rules:
1. A vowel between two consonants always ends the first syllable and the second consonant begins another:pá-ja-ro. Put differently, if a vowel follows a consonant, the consonant, not the vowel, must begin the new syllable.
2. If a vowel is followed by two consonants, the syllables divide between the consonants:can-tar, ver-ter, án-da-le. However,ch, ll, rr and combinations ofb, c, d, f, g, k, p, t plusr orl do not divide:pe-rro, lu-char, ca-lle, pro-gra-ma, ha-blar. Exceptionally,r andl after a consonant can begin a new syllable in prefixed or compound words:sub-ra-yar, sub-lu-nar, ciu-dad-re-a-le-ño.
3. Two vowels may form a hiatus or a diphthong (see the section "Stress and accentuation" above):pa-e-lla, puen-te, ra-íz. Three vowels may sometimes form a triphthong:es-tu-diáis.
4. The silenth is not taken into account when syllabifying words. Two vowels separated by anh may form a hiatus or a diphthong:ahu-mar, de-sahu-cio, bú-ho.
The combinationtl in the middle of words may be divided into syllables in two ways:at-le-ta ora-tle-ta, corresponding to the pronunciations [að̞ˈle.t̪a] (more common in Spain) and [aˈt̪le.t̪a] (more common in Hispanic America).
These rules are used for hyphenating words at the end of line, with the following additional rules:
1. One letter is not hyphenated. So, the wordabuelo is syllabifieda-bue-lo, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line isabue-lo.
2. Hiatuses are not divided at the end of line. So, the wordpaella is syllabified aspa-e-lla, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line ispae-lla. This rule includes hiatuses with an intervening silenth:alcohol is syllabified asal-co-hol, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line isal-cohol. On the other hand, the nameMohamed contains a pronouncedh, so the hyphenationMo-hamed is accepted. See also rule 3 containing an exception to this rule.
3. Prefixed and compound words may be divided phonetically (corresponding to the above rules) or morphologically (the border between morphemes is considered a border between syllables):bie-nestar orbien-estar,inte-racción orinter-acción,reins-talar orre-instalar.
This rule is not valid:
a) for compounds in which one part is not used as an independent word:pun-tiagudo (not *punti-agudo);
b) for words with unproductive prefixes:arzo-bispo (not *arz-obispo);
c) for words containing etymological prefixes not determined as such by surface analysis:adhe-sivo (not *ad-hesivo).
4. Unusual combinations containing the letterh are not permitted at the beginning of a line:sulfhí-drico (not *sul-fhídrico),brah-mán (not *bra-hmán).
The letterx between vowels phonetically represents two consonants separated by a syllable border, but hyphenation at the end of line is permitted before thex:ta-xi, bo-xeo.
Words written with hyphen are hyphenated by repeating the hyphen on the following line:teórico-/-práctico. Repeating the hyphen is not necessary if the hyphenated word is a proper name where a hyphen is followed by a capital letter.
Abbreviations are written with the period:art. forartículo. Contractions are written in the same way:admón. foradministración, or sometimes using superscript letters:D.ª fordoña. Hyphenating abbreviations (including contractions) at the end of line is not allowed and putting them in separate lines with terms they accompany is not allowed. Abbreviations are not capitalized if the original word is written in lowercase, but there are some traditional exceptions:Ud. orVd. forusted,Sr. forseñor. Rarely, abbreviations are written using the slash:c/ forcalle,b/n forblanco y negro.
One-letter abbreviations are pluralized by doubling the letter:pp. forpáginas. More-than-one-letter abbreviations are pluralized by addings:vols. forvolúmenes. The ending-es is used for contractions if it appears in the corresponding complete word:admones. foradministraciones. Traditional exceptions: the plural ofpta. (peseta) ispts., that ofcent. (centavo) andcént. (céntimo) iscts., and that ofUd. orVd. (usted) isUds. orVds.
Letter symbols such as those of chemical elements or measurement units are written following international conventions and do not require the abbreviation period: H (hidrógeno), kg (kilogramo). For some notions, Spanish-specific symbols are used: O (oeste 'west'), sen (seno 'sine').
Acronyms are written in all capitals and read by letters (ONG fororganización no gubernamental, 'non-governmental organization') or as words (ONU forOrganización de las Naciones Unidas). Some acronyms read as words are written as normal words, including proper names of more than four letters such asUnesco,Unicef or common nouns such asovni. Some acronyms read by letters may also be spelled according to their pronunciation:oenegé. Acronyms written in all capitals are not pluralized in writing, but they are pluralized in speech:las ONG [las o.e.neˈxes] 'the non-governmental organizations'.
Numbers may be written in words (uno,dos,tres...) or in figures (1, 2, 3, ...).
For thedecimal separator, the comma and the point are both accepted (3,1416 or 3.1416); the decimal comma is preferred in Spain, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay, but the decimal point is preferred in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Both marks are used in Bolivia, Costa Rica, Cuba, and El Salvador.
For the thousands separator, the currently standard mark is the thin space (123 456 789). Formerly, the point was sometimes used, but now it is not recommended.
When written in words, numbers up to 30 are nowadays written as a single word, e.g.dieciséis,veintinueve. The corresponding ordinal numbers may be written as a single word or separately, e.g.decimosexto (decimosexta, decimosextos, decimosextas) ordécimo sexto (décima sexta, décimos sextos, décimas sextas). Numbers more than 30 (cardinal and ordinal) are usually written separately, e.g.treinta y cinco,trigésimo quinto, but one-word spellings such astreintaicinco,trigesimoquinto are also accepted by the currentOrtografía.
Whole hundreds are also written as single words, e.g.cuatrocientos.
Fractionary numbers such ascincuentaiseisavo are written as a single word.
Daytime is written in the 24-hour format, using the colon (18:45) or the point (18.45). Dates are expressed in the day-month-year format, with the following options possible: 8 de mayo de 2015; 8-5-2015; 8-5-15; 8/5/2015; 8.5.2015; 8-V-2015. Leading zeros in the day and the month (08.05.2015) are not used, except in computerized or bank documents.
Roman numerals (I, II, III, ...) are used for centuries (e.g.sigloxxi) and forregnal numbers (e.g.Luis XIV). Roman or Arabic numerals may be used for historical dynasties (e.g.laxviiidinastía orla 18.ª dinastía); volumes, chapters, or other parts of books (e.g.tomoiii,tomo3.º, 3.ertomo, ortomo3); celebrations (e.g.XXIII Feria del Libro de Buenos Aires, or23.ª Feria...).[40] Roman numerals are typeset insmall capitals if they would not be capitalized when written in words.
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TheRoyal Spanish Academy has reformed the orthographic rules of Spanish several times.
InOld Spanish,⟨x⟩ was used to represent the voiceless palatal sound/ʃ/ (as indixo 'he/she said'), while⟨j⟩ represented the voiced palatal/ʒ/ (as infijo 'son'). With thechanges of sibilants in the 16th century, the two sounds merged as/ʃ/ (later to become velar/x/), and the letter⟨j⟩ was chosen for the single resulting phoneme in 1815. This results in some words that originally contained⟨x⟩ now containing⟨j⟩, most easily seen in the case of those with English cognates, such asejercicio, "exercise". WhenCervantes wroteDon Quixote he spelled the name in the old way (and English preserves the⟨x⟩), but modern editions in Spanish spell it with⟨j⟩. For the use of⟨x⟩ in Mexico—and in the nameMéxico itself—see below.
The letter⟨ç⟩ (c-cedilla)—which was first used in Old Spanish—is now obsolete in Spanish, having merged with⟨z⟩ in a process similar to that of⟨x⟩ and⟨j⟩. Old Spanishcoraçon,cabeça,fuerça became moderncorazón,cabeza,fuerza.
Words formerly spelled with⟨ze⟩ or⟨zi⟩ (such ascatorze,dezir, andvezino) are now written with⟨ce⟩ and⟨ci⟩ (catorce,decir,vecino, respectively). The sequences⟨ze⟩ and⟨zi⟩ do not occur in modern Spanish except some loanwords:zeugma,zigurat,zipizape; some borrowed words have double spellings:zinc /cinc.[41] A notable case is the wordenzima used inbiochemistry, meaning "enzyme", as different fromencima meaning "on", "over" or "on top of" something.
The old spellings with⟨ç⟩,⟨ze⟩, and⟨zi⟩ remained in use until the eighteenth century. They were replaced by⟨z⟩,⟨ce⟩, and⟨ci⟩, respectively in 1726.[42]⟨Ze⟩ and⟨zi⟩ continued to be used in some words due to their etymology (e.g.zelo,zizaña), but this usage was largely reduced during the 1860—1880s, so these words becamecelo andcizaña. The letter⟨x⟩ was replaced by⟨j⟩ in 1815,[43] although word-final⟨x⟩ remained until 1832 (e.g.relox, nowreloj).[44] The combinations⟨je⟩ and⟨ji⟩ were originally used only in a few etymological cases (e.g.Jesús,Jeremías) and also in diminutives (pajita); in theOrtografía of 1815,⟨xe⟩ and⟨xi⟩ were replaced by⟨ge⟩ and⟨gi⟩ in some words (e.g.egemplo) but by⟨je⟩ and⟨ji⟩ in other words (e.g.dije); theDiccionario of 1817 used mostly⟨je⟩ and⟨ji⟩ (e.g.ejemplo) but⟨ge⟩ and⟨gi⟩ word-initially (e.g.gefe); in theDiccionario of 1832,⟨ge⟩ and⟨gi⟩ in words that did not haveg in Latin were changed to⟨je⟩,⟨ji⟩ (e.g.muger, from Latinmulier, becamemujer), but word-initial unetymological⟨ge⟩ and⟨gi⟩ remained; theDiccionario of 1837 stated explicitly that from then on,⟨ge⟩ and⟨gi⟩ were to be written only in words where they are justified by etymology.[45]
Old Spanish used to distinguish /s/ and /z/ between vowels, and it distinguished them by using⟨ss⟩ for the former and⟨s⟩ for the latter, e.g.osso ('bear') andoso ('I dare to'). In orthography, the distinction was suppressed in 1763.[46]
Words spelled in modern Spanish with⟨cua⟩,⟨cuo⟩ (e.g.cuando,cuatro,cuota) were written with⟨qua⟩,⟨quo⟩ up until 1815.[43] In some words,⟨co⟩ was written⟨quo⟩ (e.g.quociente →cociente), and⟨cue⟩ was written⟨qüe⟩ (e.g.freqüente →frecuente). To distinguish⟨quo⟩ pronounced⟨co⟩ and⟨cuo⟩, sometimes⟨qüo⟩ was used for the latter, e.g.iniqüo,propinqüo (these forms appeared in theOrtografía, but theDiccionario did not put the diaeresis in these words).
In 1726, most double consonants were simplified (e.g.grammatica →gramática,addicion →adición)[42]—but the⟨m⟩ of a prefix before the⟨m⟩ of a root was differentiated to⟨n⟩ in 1763 (e.g. "commover →conmover").[46] Also, the Graeco-Latin digraphs⟨ch⟩,⟨ph⟩,⟨(r)rh⟩ and⟨th⟩ were reduced to⟨c⟩,⟨f⟩,⟨(r)r⟩ and⟨t⟩, respectively (e.g.christiano →cristiano,triumpho →triunfo,myrrha →mirra,theatro →teatro). This was mostly done in 1754,[47] but some exceptions persisted until 1803.[48]
An earlier usage had⟨Y⟩ as a word initial⟨I⟩. It is only maintained in the archaic spelling of proper names likeYglesias orYbarra. Although the RAE has always used the word-initialI as needed, the use ofY is occasionally found in handwriting and inscriptions up to the middle of the 19th century. The usage of⟨y⟩ for the vowel in words of Greek origin was abolished in 1754 (e.g.lyra →lira). The usage of⟨y⟩ in non-word-final diphthongs was abolished in 1815 (e.g.ayre →aire).
In early printing, thelong s⟨ſ⟩ was a different version of⟨s⟩ used at the beginning or in the middle of a word. In Spain, the change to use the familiar rounds everywhere, as in the current usage, was mainly accomplished between the years 1760 and 1766; for example, the multi-volumeEspaña Sagrada made the switch with volume 16 (1762).
From 1741[49] to 1815, thecircumflex was used over vowels to indicate that preceding⟨ch⟩ and⟨x⟩ should be pronounced /k/ and /ks/ respectively and not /tʃ/ and /x/, e.g.patriarchâ,exâctitud.
The use of accent marks in printing varies by period, due to reforms successively promulgated by theSpanish Royal Academy. In early RAE publications (RAE statutes of 1715,Diccionario de autoridades of 1726), the acute accent was used extensively (e.g.Real Académia Españóla), although it was not used in paroxytones with two or more consonants after the stressed vowel, in most two-syllable paroxytones, and in some other words. (However, theDiccionario de autoridades, unlike the RAE statutes and later RAE publications, does not put accents on the capital letters.) In theOrthographía of 1741, the default stress is defined as paroxytone in words ending in⟨a⟩,⟨e⟩,⟨o⟩, or⟨s⟩, and in verbal forms ending in⟨n⟩, and as oxytone in words ending in⟨i⟩,⟨u⟩, or other consonants. Since theOrtografía of 1754, the default stress is defined as paroxytone in words ending in vowels and oxytone in words ending in consonants, with some grammar-based exceptions, such as differential accents, plurals ending in⟨s⟩, and verbal forms ending in⟨n⟩ or⟨s⟩; but other words ending in⟨n⟩ or⟨s⟩ were accented according to the general rule:capitan, jóven, demas, mártes. In 1880,[50] the rules were simplified: grammatical considerations were no longer taken into account, except for differential accents. As a result, many words spelled previously without the accent gained it. These include words with final stress ending in-n (e.g.capitán,también,jardín,acción,común—but future-tense verb forms likeserán,tendrán had already been spelled with the accent); words ending in⟨s⟩ which are not plurals (e.g.francés,compás,demás); verbs in the imperfect tense (e.g.tenía,vivían); the possessivesmío andmía and the worddía. On the other hand, some words lost their accent mark, e.g.jóven →joven,mártes →martes. Meanwhile, one-letter words other than the conjunctiony—namely the prepositiona and the conjunctionse (the form ofy before an [i] sound),o, andu (form ofo before [o])—were written with the grave accent (à, è, ò, ù) in early RAE publications and with the acute accent (á, é, ó, ú) from 1741 to 1911.[51] The accent-marked infinitives such asoír,reír,sonreír began to outnumber the unaccented form around 1920,[52] dropped the accent mark again in 1952,[53] and regained it in 1959.[54] Monosyllabic preterite verb forms such asdio andfue were written with accent marks before 1952.[53]
TheOrtografía 1754[47] and later editions also stated that surnames ending in-ez are not accented, though pronounced as paroxytones, e.g.Perez,Enriquez. TheProntuario 1853[55] and later editions did not mention surnames ending in-ez explicitly (butPerez occurs in capitalization rules), but stated that oxytone surnames are accented (e.g.Ardanáz, Muñíz) except when homonymous to nouns, adjectives, geographical names, or verb infinitives (e.g.Calderon, Leal, Teruel, Escalar). TheGramática 1870[56] stated that surnames ending in consonant and traditionally written without the accent are sometimes pronounced as paroxytones (e.g.Gutierrez, Aristizabal) and sometimes as oxytones (e.g.Ortiz) and recommends following the general rule for accentuation of surnames. TheGramática 1880[50] follows the general rule for accentuation of surnames:Enríquez, Fernández.
Since 1952, the letter⟨h⟩ is no longer considered an interruption between syllables, so the spellings such asbuho,vahido,tahur becamebúho,vahído,tahúr.[53] The spellingdesahucio was not changed, as pronouncing this word with a diphthong (/de.ˈsau.θjo/ instead of the former pronunciation /de.sa.ˈu.θjo/) came to be considered the norm.
History of differential accents:[57]
The names of numbers in the upper teens and the twenties were originally written as three words (e.g.diezyseis,veinteynueve), but nowadays they are spelled as a single word (e.g.dieciséis,veintinueve). For the numbers from 21 to 29, the "fused" forms are accepted since 1803[48] and became common over the second half of the 19th century.[62] For those from 16 to 19, the one-word forms became accepted in 1925[63] and took the lead in the 1940s.[64] TheDiccionario panhispánico de dudas (2005) labeled the separate spelling as obsolete. Fusing of number-names above 30 (e.g.treintaicinco,cuarentaiocho) is rare, but accepted by theDPD 2005[65] and theOrtografía 2010[66] besides the usual separate spelling:treinta y cinco,cuarenta y ocho.
In the 18th century, the letter⟨k⟩ was used in a few loanwords and also in the wordkalendario (following the Latin spellingKalendae); however, the first edition of theDiccionario de la lengua castellana (1780) already spelledcalendario. The fourth edition of theDiccionario de la lengua castellana (1803) stated that⟨k⟩ may be in any case replaced by⟨c⟩ or⟨qu⟩ and did not give any words beginning with⟨k⟩, while still including the letter in the alphabet. In the eighth edition of theOrtografía de la lengua castellana (1815), the letter⟨k⟩ was deleted from the Spanish alphabet. However, the letter was reinstated in the fourth edition of theProntuario de ortografía de la lengua castellana (1853), and its use in loanwords was reallowed.
The letter⟨w⟩ was formerly considered unneeded for writing Spanish. Previous RAE orthographies did not include⟨w⟩ in the alphabet and restricted its use to foreign proper names and Visigothic names from Spanish history (the use of⟨w⟩ in Visigothic names stems from the Middle Ages, although at that time⟨w⟩ was not considered a letter but a ligature of two⟨v⟩s or⟨u⟩s). However, in theOrtografía of 1969, RAE included⟨w⟩ into the Spanish alphabet, allowing its use in loanwords.
In 1999, the written accent was added to a few words ending on the stressed diphthongau oreu:marramau becamemarramáu. Before 1999, the combinations of accented verb forms with enclitic pronouns conserved the written accent, but now they do not if the general rules of accentuation do not require it:salióse →saliose (salió +se),déme →deme (dé +me).[36][67]
In spite of the relatively regular orthography of Spanish, there have been several initiatives tosimplify it further.Andrés Bello succeeded in making his proposal official in several South American countries, but they later returned to the standard set by theReal Academia Española.[68]Another proposal,Ortografía R̃asional Ispanoamerikana, remained a curiosity.[69][70]Juan Ramón Jiménez proposed changing⟨ge⟩ and⟨gi⟩ to⟨je⟩ and⟨ji⟩, but this is only applied in editions of his works or those of his wife,Zenobia Camprubí.Gabriel García Márquez raised the issue of reform during the firstInternational Conference of the Spanish Language held inZacatecas in 1997, most notoriously advocating for the suppression of⟨h⟩, which is mute in Spanish, but, despite his prestige, no serious changes were adopted.[71][72]The Academies, however, from time to time have made minor changes in the orthography (see above).
AMexican Spanish convention is to spell certain indigenous words with⟨x⟩ rather than the⟨j⟩ that would be the standard spelling in Spanish. This is generally due to the origin of the word (or the present pronunciation) containing thevoiceless postalveolar fricative/ʃ/ sound or anothersibilant that is not used in modern standard Spanish. The most noticeable word with this feature isMéxico. The Real Academia Española recommends this spelling.[73] TheAmerican Spanish colloquial termchicano is shortened frommechicano, which uses/tʃ/ in place of the/ʃ/ of rural Mexican Spanish/meʃiˈkano/.[74]
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Punctuation in Spanish is generally similar to punctuation in English and other European languages, but has some differences.
Spanish has the unusual feature of indicating the beginning of an interrogative or exclamatory sentence or phrase withinverted variants of the question mark and exclamation mark ([¿] and [¡]), respectively. Most languages that use the Latin alphabet (including Spanish) usequestion andexclamation marks at the end of sentences and clauses. These inverted forms appear additionally at the beginning of these sentences or clauses. For example, the English phrase "How old are you?" has just the final question mark, while the Spanish equivalent,¿Cuántos años tienes? begins with an inverted question mark.
The inverted question and exclamation marks were gradually adopted following the Real Academia's recommendations in the second edition of theOrtografía de la lengua castellana in 1754. Originally, the usage of inverted marks at the beginning was recommended only for large sentences, but theGramática of 1870 made them mandatory for all interrogative or exclamatory sentences.
The inverted question and exclamation marks may be used at the beginning of a clause in the middle of a sentence, for example:Si no puedes ir con ellos, ¿quieres ir con nosotros? ('If you cannot go with them, would you like to go with us?').
Sentences that are interrogative and exclamative at the same time may be written with two signs on each side: ¿¡...!? or ¡¿...?! or with one sign on each side: ¡...? or ¿...!
However, parenthesized signs to show doubt or surprise are written as single signs: (?) (!). Doubtful dates may be written with single or double signs: 1576? or ¿1576?
Theperiod indicates the end of the sentence.
Thecomma is used for separating appositions, subordinate clauses, interjections, tags in tag questions, vocatives, and discursives. It is also used in enumerations, but theserial comma is not used in Spanish:España, Francia y Portugal ('Spain, France(,) and Portugal'). There are some cases in which the comma is used after a coordinating conjunction, such as complex sentences. Circumstantial complements are usually not separated by a comma.
Thesemicolon is used for a more significant pause then the comma. It may mean an intermediate division between the comma and the period or separate parts of a sentence which already contain commas.
Thecolon is used for generalizing words before enumerations, for exemplifications, before the direct speech. Sometimes it can be used for juxtaposing clauses (similar to the semicolon), after discursives, and in titles of the type "general: special". The colon is the standard mark in Spanish for addressing people in letters (Estimado profesor:,Querido amigo:); using the comma in this case is considered nonstandard.
Theparentheses are used to include parenthetical information. When an entire sentence is parenthesized, the period is placed after the parentheses:(Esta es una frase parentética).
Thesquare brackets are used for writing editor's words inside citations and instead of parentheses inside parentheses.
Thedash may be used to write direct speech in dialogues, as aquotation dash. Two dashes can sometimes introduce parenthetical constructions. The dash can also be used as a marker in enumerations. The combination "period+dash" may be used to separate the name of the topic and other information, or to separate characters' names and their lines in theatrical works.
Thequotation marks (for citations, direct speech, words in unusual form or meaning) are used in three styles: angled quotation marks (« ») for the outer level, double quotation marks (“ ”) for the inner level, single quotation marks (‘ ’) for the third level. This is the system preferred in Spain, whereas Hispanic American publications often do not use the angled quotation marks. When a closing quotation mark occurs together with another punctuation mark, it is placed after the quotation mark.
Theellipsis is used for marking a sudden pause or suspension in thought and for incomplete citations. The combination "ellipsis+period" is simplified to the ellipsis, but the abbreviation point remains before the ellipsis. When an ellipsis occurs together with another punctuation mark, then the comma, the semicolon, and the colon are placed after the ellipsis, but other punctuation marks may be placed before or after the ellipsis depending on the structure of the sentence.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, dialectal Spanish (as well asPortuguese andLadino) was sometimes written in theArabic alphabet byMoriscos. This form of writing is calledaljamiado.
Eng. variant of[j] in 'yeast'[ʝist]
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