Welcome to the Spanish alphabet, or abecedario. The good news is that it's very similar to the English alphabet. It has 27 letters, and once you learn the sound for each one, you can pronounce almost any word you see. Spanish is a phonetic language, which means words are spelled just like they sound. This makes learning pronunciation much more straightforward than in English.

Here are all the letters. You'll notice one that English doesn't have: the ñ.

One of the best parts about Spanish pronunciation is the vowels. There are only five vowel sounds, and they are always pronounced the same way. Unlike English, where 'a' can sound different in 'cat', 'father', and 'late', in Spanish, the letter 'a' always makes the same sound.

That's it. Every time you see these letters, they will make these sounds. No exceptions.

Many Spanish consonants sound just like they do in English. However, there are a few special cases and unique characters you'll need to know.

That's right, the 'h' is never pronounced. Think of the word hola. You don't say the 'h' sound at all.

Another example is the word for 'hour'.

Next up is the most distinctively Spanish letter, the 'ñ'. The wavy line above it is called a tilde. This letter makes a "ny" sound, like the 'ni' in 'onion'.

Finally, let's look at two letter pairs, or digraphs. The first is 'll'. In most of the Spanish-speaking world, this is pronounced like the 'y' in 'yes'.

The second is the 'rr'. This is the famous rolled 'r'. It's made by tapping your tongue against the roof of your mouth multiple times very quickly. A single 'r' is just a light tap, but the 'rr' is a strong, continuous trill.

The rolled 'rr' can be tricky, but don't worry. It takes practice. With these basics, you're well on your way to pronouncing Spanish words correctly and confidently.