Spanish orthography

File:«Ortografía de la lengua española» (2010).jpg

Ortografía de la lengua española (2010)

Spanish orthography is the orthography used in the Spanish language. The alphabet uses the Latin script. The spelling is fairly phonemic, especially in comparison to more opaque orthographies like English, having a relatively consistent mapping of graphemes to phonemes; 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. Spanish punctuation uniquely includes the use of inverted question and exclamation marks: Template:Angbr Template:Angbr.

Spanish uses capital letters much less often than English; they are not used on adjectives derived from proper nouns (e.g. francés, español, portugués from Francia, España, and Portugal, 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: Template:Angbr. This accent is used to mark the tonic (stressed) syllable, though it may also be used occasionally to distinguish homophones such as si ('if') and sí ('yes'). The only other diacritics used are the tilde on the letter Template:Angbr, which is considered a separate letter from Template:Angbr, and the diaeresis used in the sequences Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr—as in bilingüe ('bilingual')—to indicate that the Template:Angbr is pronounced, , rather than having the usual silent role that it plays in unmarked Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr.

In contrast with English, Spanish has an official body that governs linguistic rules, orthography among them: the Royal Spanish Academy, which makes periodic changes to the orthography. The currently valid work on orthography is the Ortografía de la lengua española, published in 2010.

Alphabet in Spanish

The Spanish language is written using the Spanish alphabet, which is the ISO Latin script with one additional letter, Template:Angbr, for a total of 27 letters. Although the letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are part of the alphabet, they appear only in loanwords such as Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang (tungsten or wolfram) and in sensational spellings: okupa, Template:Wikt-lang. Each letter has a single official name according to the Real Academia Española's new 2010 Common Orthography, but in some regions alternative traditional names coexist as explained below. The digraphs Template:Vr and Template:Vr were considered single letters of the alphabet from 1754 to 2010 (and sorted separately from Template:Vr and Template:Vr from 1803 to 1994). Letters in red are no longer part of the alphabet.

Spanish alphabet

Uppercase	A	B	C	Ch1	D	E	F	G	H	I
Lowercase	a	b	c	ch	d	e	f	g	h	i
Name	a	be (alternative: be larga, be alta)	ce	che	de	e	efe	ge	hache	i
Phoneme(s)			, 2					,	silent3

^1 The digraph Template:Angbr represents the affricate . The digraph was formerly treated as a single letter, called che.

^2 The phonemes and are not distinguished in most dialects; see seseo.

^3 With the exception of some loanwords: Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, which have .

Uppercase	J	K	L	Ll	M	N	Ñ	O	P	Q
Lowercase	j	k	l	ll	m	n	ñ	o	p	q
Name	jota	ka	ele	elle	eme	ene	eñe	o	pe	cu
Phoneme(s)			4		5	, 5				6

^4 The digraph Template:Angbr (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang) represents the palatal lateral in a few dialects; but in most dialects—because of the historical merger called yeísmo—it, like the letter Template:Angbr, represents the phoneme .

^5 The exact realization of nasals in syllable-final position depends on phonetic attributes of following consonants (even across word boundaries) so that Template:Angbr can represent a nasal that is labial (as in ánfora), palatal (as in cónyuge), velar (as in rincón), etc. In rare instances, word-final Template:Angbr is used, but there is no actual pronunciation difference.

^6 Used only in the digraph Template:Angbr.

Uppercase	R8	S	T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z
Lowercase	r	s	t	u	v	w	x	y	z
Name	erre	ese	te	u	uve, ve, ve corta, ve baja, ve chica	uve doble, ve doble, doble ve, doble u	equis	ye, i griega	zeta
Phoneme(s)	,					,	, 9	,	2

^8 The digraph Template:Angbr, which only appears between vowels, represents the trill .

^9 Old orthography with the letter Template:Angbr representing has been preserved in some proper names such as México.

For details on Spanish pronunciation, see Spanish phonology and Help:IPA/Spanish.

When acute accent and diaeresis marks are used on vowels (Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr) they are considered variants of the plain vowel letters, but Template:Angbr is considered a separate letter from Template:Angbr. This makes a difference when sorting alphabetically: Template:Angbr appears in dictionaries after Template:Angbr. For example, in a Spanish dictionary Template:Wikt-lang comes after Template:Wikt-lang.

There are five digraphs: Template:Angbr ("che" or "ce hache"), Template:Angbr ("elle" or "doble ele"), Template:Angbr ("doble erre"), Template:Angbr ("ge u") and Template:Angbr ("cu u"). While che and elle were each formerly treated as a single letter, in 1994 the tenth congress of the Association of Spanish Language Academies agreed to alphabetize Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr as ordinary sequences of letters. Spain requested the change at the behest of UNESCO and the European Union, in an effort to facilitate translation and computing.

Thus, for example, in dictionaries, chico is alphabetized after centro and before ciudad, instead of being alphabetized after all words beginning with cu- as was formerly done.

Despite their former status as unitary letters of the alphabet, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr have always been treated as sequences with regard to the rules of capitalization. Thus the word Template:Wikt-lang in a text written in all caps is CHILLÓN, not *ChILlÓN, and if it is the first word of a sentence, it is written Chillón, not *CHillón. Sometimes, one finds lifts with buttons marked Template:Wikt-lang, but this double capitalization has always been incorrect according to RAE rules.

This is the list of letters from most to least frequent in Spanish texts: Template:Angbr;Template:Efn the vowels make up around 45% of the text.

Alternative names

B and V

The letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr were originally simply known as Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang, which in modern Spanish are pronounced identically. In Old Spanish, they likely represented different sounds, but the sounds merged later. Their usual names are be and uve; in some regions, speakers may instead add something to the names to distinguish them. Some Mexicans and most Peruvians generally say Template:Wikt-lang / chica ('big B' / 'little V'); Argentines, Uruguayans and Chileans, be larga / corta ('long B' / 'short V'). Some people give examples of words spelt with the letter; e.g., b de Template:Wikt-lang / v de Template:Wikt-lang ('b as in Template:Wikt-lang' / 'v as in Template:Wikt-lang'); Colombians tend to say for B and Template:Wikt-lang for V. In Venezuela, they call B b de Template:Wikt-lang and V v de Template:Wikt-lang, or and ('tall B' / 'short V'). Regardless of these regional differences, all Spanish-speaking people recognize be as the official name of B.

R

The digraph Template:Angbr is sometimes called or . It is sometimes suggested that the name of the letter Template:Angbr be when it is single, and when it is double, but the dictionary of the Real Academia Española defines the name of Template:Angbr as . is considered obsolete. The name was used when referring specifically to the alveolar tap and referring to the alveolar trill . The two contrast between vowels, with the latter being represented with Template:Angbr, but the sounds are otherwise in complementary distribution so that a single Template:Angbr may represent either. As a referent to the trill sound rather than the phoneme, can refer to a single or double Template:Angbr.

W

In Hispanic American Spanish, Template:Angbr is sometimes called , , or . In Colombia, Mexico, and in some Central American countries, because of English acculturation, the letter is usually called (like English "double u"). In Spain, it is usually called .

I

Because of its origin, Template:Angbr is occasionally known as ("Latin i") to distinguish it from Template:Angbr, which is known as ("Greek i").

Y

The most common name for Template:Angbr in Spain is , but it has been commonly superseded in Hispanic American Spanish by in an effort to standardize on a one-word name, as opposed to a name consisting of two words. Using as the only name for the letter is one of the newest proposed changes specified by the 2010 new common orthography.

Z

The name for Template:Angbr is (formerly also spelled , pronounced the same). In older Spanish, it was called or , and the diminutive form of this word, cedilla, is now used in both Spanish and English to refer to the diacritic mark exhibited in the letter Template:Angbr.

Other characters

Besides the letters, other characters are specially associated with Spanish-language texts:

• The currency symbols of Spanish-language countries: Template:Angbr (centavo), Template:Angbr (colón), Template:Angbr (peseta), Template:Angbr (peso), Template:Angbr (Paraguayan guaraní).
• Template:Angbr, abbreviation of cada una or cada uno ('each one')
• Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are used in abbreviations like 1.º, 1.ª ('first') or D.ª ("doña"); in ordinal numbers they match the grammatical gender of the noun being modified: masculine Template:Angbr and feminine Template:Angbr. N.º (número, 'number') can be represented as one character Template:Angbr.
• Template:Angbr is the symbol of the arroba, a pre-metric unit of weight (about 11.502 kg, 25.3 pounds).
• Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are used at the beginning of interrogative and exclamatory sentences, respectively. They are also used in the middle of a sentence if only part of the sentence is a question or exclamation: Template:Langx ("John started eating and wow!")
• The guillemets (Template:Langx) Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr are used in formal settings in the same sense as quotation marks, although they are very uncommon in informal usage.

Orthography

Orthographic principles

Spanish orthographic rules are similar, but not identical, to those of other Romance languages of the Iberian Peninsula, such as Portuguese, Catalan and Galician.

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 Template:Angbr, which usually represents or , but can also represent or , especially in proper nouns from times of Old Spanish (e.g. or Pedro Ximénez – in both cases the Template:Angbr is pronounced ).

The converse does not always hold, i.e. for a given pronunciation there may be multiple possible spellings, as a result of decisions by the Royal Spanish Academy. The main issues are:

• the use of both Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr for ;
• the use of both Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr for before Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr;
• the silent Template:Angbr;
• the occasional use of accents to distinguish two words that sound the same, such as tú / tu, sí / si, and más / mas (see differential accents below).

For some speakers, additional problems may come from:

• the use of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr ();
  • the use of Template:Angbr/Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and (less commonly) Template:Angbr as part of a rising diphthong at the beginning of words (variant of );Template:Efn
• the use of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr (as well as Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr before Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr), either for (seseo) or for (ceceo);
• the use of Template:Angbr (also Template:Angbr in a few prefixed words) and the letter combinations Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr before Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, either for (seseo) or for (ceceo);
• the use of Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr before a vowel for ;
• the use of both Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr for before consonants (in a few Greek-derived words, Template:Angbr is used for word-initial from etymological ξ).

The use of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, and the silent Template:Angbr is mostly based on etymology. In particular, using Template:Angbr in many cases is not a living continuation of Old Spanish (which often had Template:Angbr in place of intervocalic Template:Angbr as a result of Vulgar Latin merger, as in other Romance languages), but an artificial restitution based on Latin: Template:Wikt-lang 'horse' is spelled as Latin Template:Wikt-lang and unlike French Template:Wikt-lang, Italian Template:Wikt-lang, Portuguese Template:Wikt-lang, or Catalan Template:Wikt-lang. The letter Template:Angbr is used in place of Latin Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr (in a few words also Template:Angbr): Template:Wikt-lang<Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang<Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang<Template:Wikt-lang. Additionally, Template:Angbr is a purely orthographical sign used before word-initial rising diphthongs.Template:Efn However, in some words RAE mandated counteretymological spellings because of established tradition of usage, e. g. Template:Wikt-lang<Template:Wikt-lang.

The includes a series of "rules of thumb" on using the letters Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr. For example, verbs ending in -bir are spelled with Template:Angbr, except Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, and their derivatives.

Use of different letters for the same sound

sound	before Template:Angbr	elsewhere
	Template:Angbr (or Template:Angbr in some loanwords) or Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr
	Template:Angbr (or Template:Angbr in some loanwords)	Template:Angbr (or Template:Angbr in some loanwords)
	Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr (or Template:Angbr in Mexico)	Template:Angbr (or Template:Angbr in Mexico)
	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr
	Template:Angbr	Template:Angbr

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-:

• : qu↔c: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-quir); Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-car).
• : c↔z: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-cer); Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-zar).
• : gü↔gu: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-güir); Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-guar).
• : gu↔g: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-guir); Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-gar).
• : g→j: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (-ger). But in verbs ending in -jar, the j is kept before e: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (not ).

The same occurs in other parts of speech when combined with certain suffixes, such as Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang for nouns and pronouns or Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang for adjectives and adverbs: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → abriguito; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang. Likewise, nouns and adjectives ending in z change this letter to c in the plural for similar reasons: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang.

Letter-to-sound correspondences

Consonants

Consonants

Letter	Context	IPA	Examples	English approximation
b or v	word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	practically the same as the typical English Template:Angbr, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. about
	elsewhere (i.e. after a vowel, even across a word boundary, or after any consonant other than Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr)	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	between baby and bevy (like the typical English Template:Angbr, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth)
	rare: Template:Angbr at the end of loanwords	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr; e.g. vase or fase
c	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink (central and northern Spain) or Template:IPAblink (most other regions)Template:Efn	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the English voiceless ⟨th⟩ (as in thing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English Template:Angbr (as in sass) in all other regions
	before voiced consonants	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	a sound between a light English Template:Angbr and the typical English Template:Angbr (between gold and ahold)
	elsewhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; ; Template:Wikt-lang	same as certain instances of English Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can)
ch	everywhereTemplate:Efn	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink (depending upon the dialect)	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; church
d	word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	practically the same as the typical English Template:Angbr, except that it is fully voiced and the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth; e.g. adore
	elsewhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this
f	before voiced consonants	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. vase
	elsewhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. face
g	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	similar to a "strong" English Template:Angbr-sound (e.g. the Template:Angbr in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated Template:Angbr (as in heaven)
	not before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and either word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	practically the same as the typical English Template:Angbr sound, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. ago
	not before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and not in the above contexts	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Efn	a sound between a light English Template:Angbr and the typical English Template:Angbr (between gold and ahold)
gu	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and either word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr		Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	a sound like the Template:Angbr in English language
	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and not in the above contexts		Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	similar to the typical English Template:Angbr, but preceded by a soft guttural sound
	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and either word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	practically the same as the typical English Template:Angbr sound, except that it is fully voiced; e.g. ago
	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and not in the above contexts	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	a sound between a light English Template:Angbr and the typical English Template:Angbr (between gold and ahold)
gü	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and either word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr		Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang	a sound like the Template:Angbr in English penguin
	before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, and not in the above contexts		Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	similar to the typical English Template:Angbr, but preceded by a soft guttural sound
h	everywhere	(silent)Template:Efn	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	silent (like the English Template:Angbr in English honor or hour)
	everywhere; occurs in loanwords and foreign proper names	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	hámster, hawaiano, hachís, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Yokohama, WahidTemplate:Efn	similar to a "strong" English Template:Angbr-sound (e.g. the Template:Angbr in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated Template:Angbr (as in heaven)
hi	before a vowel	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang;	similar to or the same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. you (but often more strongly pronounced, sometimes resembling the English Template:Angbr, as in jam)
hu	before a vowel	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Efn	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; we (sometimes sounds closer to the English Template:Angbr, like in Gwen, or Template:Angbr, like in cobweb)
j	everywhere	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang;Template:Efn	similar to a "strong" English Template:Angbr-sound (e.g. the Template:Angbr in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated Template:Angbr (as in heaven) However, the letter originally had a j sound akin to jump in older versions of Spanish.
k	rare; only occurs in a few loanwords and sensational spellings	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang	same as certain instances of English Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr; e.g. skull, scan, or picking (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English at the beginning of a word, e.g. in can)
l	everywhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr (especially like the [[alveolar lateral approximant|clear Template:Angbr]] of British English, rather than the [[velarized alveolar lateral approximant|dark Template:Angbr]] of American English);e.g. pull/pəɫ̩/
ll	everywhere	Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink (depending upon the dialect)	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	similar to the Template:Angbr in English million (in some dialects simplified to a sound between the typical English Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, e.g. between yes and Jess)
m	everywhere except word-finally	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; madam
	word-final	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink (depending upon the dialect)	Template:Wikt-lang	varying between the typical English Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, e.g. the Template:Angbr in English sing
n			Template:Wikt-lang
	everywhere but before other consonants	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. nun
	before other consonantsTemplate:Efn	Template:IPAblink Template:IPAblink Template:IPAblink Template:IPAblink Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; madam same as the English Template:Angbr in symphony same as the typical English Template:Angbr (as in Template:Wikt-lang) same as the English Template:Angbr in canyon same as the typical English Template:Angbr (as in sink or sing)
ñ	everywhere	Template:IPAblink or [nj] (depending upon the dialect)	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	roughly like minions
p	everywhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as certain instances of English Template:Angbr; e.g. span or typing (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English at the beginning of a word, e.g. in pan)
	in the consonant cluster Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	between baby and bevy (like the typical English Template:Angbr, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth)
qu	only occurs before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	same as certain instances of English Template:Angbr Template:Angbr or ⟨q⟩; e.g. skull, scan, or unique (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English at the beginning of a word, e.g. in key)
r	word-initial, morpheme-initial,Template:Efn or after Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, or Template:Angbr; in emphatic and oratorical or formal speech, may also be used instead of Template:IPAblink in syllable-final (especially before Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, or Template:Angbr) and word-final positions (before pause or consonant-initial words only)	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; amor puro	trilled or rolled Template:Angbr
	elsewhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; amor eterno	flapped Template:Angbr; e.g. the same sound as the Template:Angbr of ladder in American English
rr	only occurs between vowels	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	trilled or rolled Template:Angbr
s	before a voiced consonant (e.g. Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr,Template:Angbr)	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang;Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. the Template:Angbr in is or busy; 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 of English busy and the palato-alveolar of pleasure
	everywhere else	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; 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 of English sea and the palato-alveolar of sure
sh	Not considered to be a Spanish digraph (hence words like sherpa, show, flash are considered extranjerismos crudos), but used in proper names from other languages, some of them being accentuated in the Spanish manner (names from Native American languages or from languages using non-Latin writing systems)	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink (sometimes Template:IPAblink)	Áncash; Shanghái; Washington	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. sheesh; when this digraph is equated with the phoneme (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 of English sea and the palato-alveolar of she
t	everywhere	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as certain instances of English Template:Angbr; e.g. stand (unaspirated, i.e. without the puff of air that accompanies English at the beginning of a word, e.g. in tan). Also, the tip of the tongue touches the upper teeth, rather than the alveolar ridge and found in the word month /mənt̪θ/
	before voiced consonants	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this
tl	rare; mostly in loanwords from Nahuatl	or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	similar to the combined Template:Angbr sound in English cat-like
tz	rare; from loanwords	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Pátzcuaro	same as the "ts" in English cats
w	rare; in loanwords from English and non-European languages		Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Wahid, Taiwán	water (sometimes turn to /gw/ or /bw/)Template:Efn
	rare; in loanwords from German and in Visigothic names; word-initial after a pause, or after Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:Efn	Template:Wikt-lang; Wamba; Wittenberg	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; 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 Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr)	Template:IPAblink	Volkswagen, Ludwig	between baby and bevy (like the typical English Template:Angbr, but with the upper lip in place of the upper teeth)
x	between vowels and word-finally	(sometimes )	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. taxi or Exactly
	word-initially	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; 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 of English sea and the palato-alveolar of she
	before a consonant	or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-langTemplate:EfnTemplate:Efn	same as the typical English Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr; e.g. max or mass
	in some words borrowed from Nahuatl, mostly place names, and in some Spanish proper names conserving archaic spelling	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; xiote; Texas; La Axarquía; Ximena; Ximénez; Mexía; Template:Wikt-lang	similar to a "strong" English Template:Angbr-sound (e.g. the Template:Angbr in Scottish loch or in German Bach) or aspirated Template:Angbr (as in heaven)
	in some words from indigenous American languages, mostly place names	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink (sometimes Template:IPAblink)	Xela; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. sheesh; when this is equated with the phoneme (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 of English sea and the palato-alveolar of she
y	as a semivowel (almost always in a diphthong)	Template:IPAblink or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang	same as the typical English Template:Angbr (but joined in a single syllable with another vowel sound); aye, boy
	as a consonant	Template:IPAblink, Template:IPAblink, or Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn	similar to the typical English Template:Angbr, or Template:Angbr but softer; e.g. similar to yes or Jess, yeast
z	usually does not occur before Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr	Template:IPAblink (central and northern Spain) or Template:IPAblink (most other regions)Template:Efn	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	same as the English voiceless ⟨th⟩ (as in thing) in central and northern Spain, or the typical English Template:Angbr (as in sass) in all other regions
	before voiced consonants	Template:IPAblink (central and northern Spain) or Template:IPAblink (most other regions)Template:Efn	Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Aznar	same as the typical English voiced ⟨th⟩; e.g. this in central and northern Spain, or the typical English Template:Angbr; e.g. the Template:Angbr in is or busy

Vowels

Vowels

Letter	IPA	Examples	English approximation
a	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	between trap and spa
e	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	between bet and bait
i	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	ski city
y		Template:Wikt-lang
o	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang	between coat (American more than British) and caught
u	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	rule

SemivowelsTemplate:Efn

Letter		IPA	Examples	English approximation
i	Template:Angbr before a vowel	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	you
hi; y	Template:Angbr before a vowel; Template:Angbr before a vowel	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	You
u	Template:Angbr before a vowel (but silent in Template:Angbr, also Template:Angbr before an Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr)	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang	wine
hu	Template:Angbr before a vowel	Template:IPAblink	Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang; Template:Wikt-lang<Template:Efn	Gwen

The phoneme 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 an affricate (Template:IPAblink). The approximant allophone differs from non-syllabic in a number of ways; it has a lower F2 amplitude, is longer, can only appear in the syllable onset (including word-initially, where non-syllabic normally never appears), is a palatal fricative in emphatic pronunciations, and is unspecified for rounding (e.g. viuda Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler 'widow' vs ayuda Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler 'help'). The two also overlap in distribution after and : enyesar Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('to plaster') aniego Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('flood'). Although there is dialectal and ideolectal variation, speakers may also exhibit other near-minimal pairs such as abyecto ('abject') vs abierto ('opened'), or even minimal pairs across word boundaries such as ya visto ('I already dress') vs y ha visto ('and he has seen'). There are some alternations between the two, prompting scholars like Template:Harvcoltxt to postulate an archiphoneme , so that ley Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler would be transcribed phonemically as and leyes Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler as .

In a number of varieties, including some American ones, a process parallel to the one distinguishing non-syllabic from consonantal occurs for non-syllabic and a rare consonantal . Near-minimal pairs include deshuesar Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('to debone') vs. desuello Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('skinning'), son huevos Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('they are eggs') vs son nuevos Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('they are new'), and huaca Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('Indian grave') vs u oca Template:ErrorTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Category handler ('or goose').

Doubling of vowels and consonants

Vowels in Spanish can be doubled to represent a hiatus of two identical vowels: leer, chiita, loor, duunviro. This especially happens in prefixed and compound words: portaaviones, sobreesfuerzo, microorganismo. However, in this case simplification of double vowels is also mostly allowed: portaviones, sobresfuerzo, microrganismo. Simplification is not allowed when it would change the meaning: archiilegal ('arch-illegal') but archilegal ('arch-legal').

The only consonant letters that can be doubled in the Spanish orthography are Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr (as the digraphs Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, respectively), Template:Angbr (only when they represent different sounds: e.g. acción, diccionario), Template:Angbr (e.g. innato, perenne, connotar, dígannos), and Template:Angbr (in a few words with the prefix sub-: subbase, subbético). Exceptions to this limitation are gamma (and its derivatives gammaglobulina, 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 for digamos+se+lo, exilofonista for ex+xilofonista. However, the combination sal+le is pronounced with a prolonged l and has no correct spelling according to the current orthography.

Optional omission of a consonant in consonant combination

In some words, one of consonants in a consonant combination may optionally be omitted. This includes Greek-derived words such as Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang (word-initial consonant clusters that are foreign to Spanish are mostly simplified in pronunciation, but more commonly retained in spelling) and other words such as Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang (the spelling is mostly used in Costa Rica, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay).

The letter Y

The letter Template:Angbr is consistently used in the consonantal value. The use of the letter Template:Angbr for a vowel or a semivowel is very restricted. The diphthongs Template:Angbr are usually written Template:Angbr at the end of words (e. g. ), though exceptions occur in loanwords (e.g. ) and in Chilean voseo forms (e. g. ). The spelling Template:Angbr is used at the end of some words, where it is pronounced as a falling diphthong, such as ; the word may also be pronounced with a raising diphthong. The letter Template:Angbr is conserved in rarely used encliticized verbal forms like , (it is more normal to say ). The letter Template:Angbr is used for the vowel in the conjunction y and in some acronyms, like Template:Wikt-lang (from ). Otherwise, Template:Angbr for a vowel or semivowel occurs only in some archaically spelled proper names and their derivations: , and also (from with regular usage of Template:Angbr in a word-final diphthong). Derivatives of foreign proper names also conserve Template:Angbr: , from Taylor.

Special and modified letters

The vowels can be marked with an acute accent—Template:Angbr—for two purposes: to mark stress if it does not follow the most common pattern, or to differentiate words that are otherwise spelled identically (called the in Spanish). The accented Template:Angbr is found only in some proper names: Aýna, Laýna, Ýñiguez.

A silent Template:Angbr is used between Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr to indicate a hard pronunciation, so that Template:Angbr represents and Template:Angbr represents . The letter Template:Angbr (Template:Angbr with diaeresis) is used in this context to indicate that the Template:Angbr is not silent, e.g. Template:Wikt-lang . 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 (Template:Wikt-lang, to be pronounced as three syllables).

Also a silent Template:Angbr always follows a Template:Angbr when followed by Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr, as in Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang, but there is no case for the combination Template:Angbr, with Template:Angbr fulfilling this role (as in Template:Wikt-lang). There are no native words in Spanish with the combination Template:Angbr nor Template:Angbr; again, Template:Angbr is used instead (Template:Wikt-lang). When they appear, usually from Latin idioms such as Template:Wikt-lang, the Template:Angbr is not silent, so Template:Angbr is never needed after Template:Angbr. Prior to the introduction of the 2010 Common Orthography words such as Template:Wikt-lang ('quorum'), Template:Wikt-lang ('quasar') or Template:Wikt-lang ('Qatar') were spelled with Template:Angbr; this is no longer so.

Keyboard requirements

To write Spanish on a typewriter or to set type, the special characters required are Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr. The uppercase Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr are also prescribed by the RAE, although occasionally dispensed with in practice.

As implemented on the mechanical typewriter, the keyboard contained a single dead key, with the acute accent ( ´ ) in the lowercase position, and the diaeresis ( ¨ ) in the uppercase position. With these, one could write Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr. A separate key provided Template:Angbr. (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 Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr completed the required minimum. When an additional key was added to electro-mechanical typewriters, this was used for Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, though these are not required. (These symbols are used for ordinal numbers: Template:Angbr for primero, Template:Angbr for segunda, etc.)

As implemented in the MS-DOS operating system and its successor Microsoft Windows, a Template:Angbr/Template:Angbr 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 (Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr) is supported. Although not needed for Spanish, another dead key with Template:Angbr (the grave accent) in lowercase position and Template:Angbr (the circumflex accent) in uppercase position was included. Also available is Template:Angbr (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—Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr—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 and accentuation

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, Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr (not preceded by another consonant) and on the final syllable when the word ends in any consonant other than Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr 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 example ('I speak') contrasts with ('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:

• Some nouns and adjectives gain or lose their accent mark when they become plural: e.g. → ; → .
• Verbs may gain or lose their accent mark when a pronominal suffix is added: e.g. + → ; + → .
  • An accent mark is always present if two (or more) pronouns are suffixed: + + → ; + + → .

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 a rising diphthong, counted as a single syllable—unlike Portuguese and Catalan, which tend to treat such a sequence as two syllables. A syllable is of the form XAXX, where X represents a consonant, permissible consonant cluster, or no sound at all, and A represents a vowel, diphthong, or triphthong. A diphthong is any sequence of an unstressed high vowel (Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr) with another vowel (as in or ), and a triphthong is any combination of three vowels beginning and ending with unstressed high vowels (as in or ). Hence, Spanish writes (no accent), while Portuguese and Catalan both put an accent mark on (all three languages stress the first Template:Angbr). By contrast, Spanish puts the accent on , while Portuguese and Catalan spell without the accent (again, all three languages stress the Template:Angbr).

An accent over the high vowel (Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr) of a vowel sequence prevents it from being a diphthong (i.e., it signals a hiatus): for example, , , and all have two syllables each.

The letter Template:Angbr is not considered an interruption between vowels for diphthongisation purposes; for instance, is considered to have two syllables: ahu-mar ().Template:Efn As such, it is also not taken into account when determining the stressed syllable; for example, has three syllables, with a being the stressed vowel: de-sahu-cio ( or ). This is also why words such as 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 ).

If the diphthongs Template:Angbr are written Template:Angbr at the end of words, the letter Template:Angbr is considered a consonant letter for the purpose of accentuation: , .

A word with final stress is called oxytone (or in traditional Spanish grammar texts); a word with penultimate stress is called paroxytone ( or ); a word with antepenultimate stress (stress on the third-to-last syllable) is called proparoxytone (). 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 name . (Spanish words can be stressed only on one of the last three syllables, except in the case of a verb form with enclitic pronouns, such as or .) All proparoxytones and sobresdrújulas have a written accent mark.

Adjectives spelled with a written accent (such as , , ) keep the written accent when they are made into adverbs with the -mente ending (thus , , ), and do not gain any if they do not have one (thus from ). In the pronunciation of these adverbs—as with all adverbs in —primary stress is on the ending, on the penultimate syllable. The original stress of the adjective—whether marked, as in fácilmente, or not marked, as in libremente—may be manifested as a secondary stress in the adverb.

Some words, such as , , and , 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 now guion and truhan. Regardless of the spelling, however, these words may still be pronounced with a hiatus as before, and RAE does not discourage this practice. Furthermore, other grammatical rules were not changed by the reform; for example, "trees and grass" can be translated as either (if hie pronounced as a diphthong) or (if pronounced with a hiatus); the latter form is still correct even though hie is always treated as a diphthong for the purposes of syllabification.

Accentuation of capital letters

The Real Academia Española indicates that accents are required on capitals (but not when the capitals are used in acronyms).

Differential accents

File:Spanish orthography.jpg

Blackboard used in a university classroom shows students' efforts at placing "ü" and acute accent diacritic used in Spanish orthography.

In eight cases, the written accent is used to distinguish stressed monosyllabic words from clitics:

Monosyllabic words distinguished by differential accent

Clitic	Stressed word
('of')	('give' or present subjunctive and imperative of 'dar')
('the', masculine definite article)	('he, it' for masculine nouns)
('but', archaic)	('more')
('my')	('me' after prepositions)
(third person reflexive)	('I know' or imperative 'be')
('if')	('yes' or 'himself' after prepositions)
(informal object case of 'you')	('tea')
(informal 'your')	(informal subject case of 'you')

The written accent in the word té is conserved in its plural: . However, it is usually not conserved in the imperatives dé and sé when combined with a pronominal suffix, unless it is necessary for stress purposes (e.g. dé + → (formal form of "give me") and dé + → (formal form of "give it"), but dé + me + lo → (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 the interrogative pronouns to distinguish them from relative pronouns (which are pronounced the same but unstressed):

'Where are you going?'

'Where you cannot find me.'

Relative and interrogative words distinguished by differential accent

Relative	Interrogative
	Template:Efn

The use of Template:Angbr in the word (meaning 'or') is a hypercorrection. Up until 2010, Template:Angbr was used when applied to numbers: ('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 Template:Angbr (zero) and Template:Angbr (the letter).

The differential accent is sometimes used in demonstrative pronouns (e. g. 'this one') to distinguish them from demonstrative determiners (e. g. 'this') and in the adverb 'only' to distinguish it from the adjective . 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 called or in traditional Spanish grammar.

Foreign words

Loanwords in Spanish are usually written according to Spanish spelling conventions (extranjerismos adaptados): e.g. pádel, fútbol, chófer, máster, cederrón ('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.

The RAE prescribes extranjerismos crudos to be written in italics in a text printed in roman type, and vice versa, and in quotation marks in a manuscript text or when italics are not available:

Spanish-speakers use both English-style and angled quotation marks, so the above example could also be written as follows:

This typographical emphasis is prescribed by the RAE since 1999. In practice, this RAE prescription is not always followed.

This typographical emphasis is not used for foreign proper names and their derivations with the suffixes ; nor is it used for some Spanish derivations of , such as .

According to the RAE rules, presence of the letters Template:Vr and Template:Vr, and also the letter Template:Vr 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.

According to the current , Latin expressions (e. g. ) 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. ) and not typographically emphasized. Some Latin expressions have become single words in Spanish: , . These words are not typographically emphasized.

For foreign names from non-Latin-script languages, using Spanish orthographic transcription is recommended: Al-Yazira, Menájem Beguín.

Capitalization

Capitalization in Spanish is sparse compared to English.

In general, only personal and place names, some abbreviations (e.g. , but Template:Wikt-lang ); the first word (only) in the title of a book, movie, song, etc. (except when the title contains only two words, then the second word is also sometimes capitalized); and the first word in a sentence are capitalized, as are names of companies, government bodies, celebrations, periodicals, etc. Some geographical names have a capitalized article: , but . Capitalized article is also used in names of periodicals, such as . Some nouns have capital letters when used in a special administrative sense: 'state' (sovereign polity), but 'state' (political division; condition). Nomenclature terms in geographical names are written in lowercase: 'the Mediterranean Sea'. According to the current , geographical names of the type "nomenclature term + adjective from another name of the same geographical object" are not capitalized at all: 'the Iberian Peninsula', because comes from , another name of the same peninsula (although mainly used in a historical context).

Adjectives from geographical names, names of nationalities or languages are not capitalized, nor (in standard style) are days of the week and months of the year.

Writing words together and separately

The following words are written together:

• prefixed words, such as Template:Wikt-lang;
• adverbs ending in -mente, such as Template:Wikt-lang;
• compound words from verbs and nouns, such as Template:Wikt-lang;
• the conjunction Template:Wikt-lang ('because') and the noun Template:Wikt-lang ('reason');
• indefinite pronouns such as Template:Wikt-lang;
• combinations of verbs with enclitic pronouns, such as Template:Wikt-lang 'delivering it to me' from Template:Wikt-lang 'delivering' + Template:Wikt-lang 'me' + Template:Wikt-lang 'it'.

The following word combinations are written separately:

• compound adverbs such as Template:Wikt-lang;
• the interrogative Template:Wikt-lang ('why');
• combinations of prefixes and word combinations: Template:Wikt-lang (but Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-langTemplate:Efn).

Coordinated compound adjectives are written with a hyphen: Template:Wikt-lang.

Syllabification

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 of b, c, d, f, g, k, p, t plus r or l do not divide: pe-rro, lu-char, ca-lle, pro-gra-ma, ha-blar. Exceptionally, r and l 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 silent h is not taken into account when syllabifying words. Two vowels separated by an h may form a hiatus or a diphthong: ahu-mar, de-sahu-cio, bú-ho.

The combination tl in the middle of words may be divided into syllables in two ways: at-le-ta or a-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 word abuelo is syllabified a-bue-lo, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line is abue-lo.

2. Hiatuses are not divided at the end of line. So, the word paella is syllabified as pa-e-lla, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line is pae-lla. This rule includes hiatuses with an intervening silent h: alcohol is syllabified as al-co-hol, but the only way to hyphenate it at the end of a line is al-cohol. On the other hand, the name Mohamed contains a pronounced h, so the hyphenation Mo-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 or bien-estar, inte-racción or inter-acción, reins-talar or re-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 letter h are not permitted at the beginning of a line: sulfhí-drico (not *sul-fhídrico), brah-mán (not *bra-hmán).

The letter x between vowels phonetically represents two consonants separated by a syllable border, but hyphenation at the end of line is permitted before the x: 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, symbols, acronyms

Abbreviations are written with the period: art. for Template:Wikt-lang. Contractions are written in the same way: admón. for Template:Wikt-lang, or sometimes using superscript letters: D.ª for Template:Wikt-lang. 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. or Vd. for Template:Wikt-lang, Sr. for Template:Wikt-lang. Rarely, abbreviations are written using the slash: c/ for Template:Wikt-lang, b/n for Template:Wikt-lang.

One-letter abbreviations are pluralized by doubling the letter: pp. for Template:Wikt-lang. More-than-one-letter abbreviations are pluralized by adding s: vols. for Template:Wikt-lang. The ending -es is used for contractions if it appears in the corresponding complete word: admones. for Template:Wikt-lang. Traditional exceptions: the plural of pta. (Template:Wikt-lang) is pts., that of cent. (Template:Wikt-lang) and cént. (Template:Wikt-lang) is cts., and that of Ud. or Vd. (Template:Wikt-lang) is Uds. or Vds.

Letter symbols such as those of chemical elements or measurement units are written following international conventions and do not require the abbreviation period: H (Template:Wikt-lang), kg (Template:Wikt-lang). For some notions, Spanish-specific symbols are used: O (Template:Wikt-lang 'west'), sen (Template:Wikt-lang 'sine').

Acronyms are written in all capitals and read by letters (Template:Wikt-lang for organización no gubernamental 'non-governmental organization') or as words (Template:Wikt-lang for Organización de las Naciones Unidas). Some acronyms read as words are written as normal words, including proper names of more than four letters such as Unesco, Unicef or common nouns such as Template:Wikt-lang. Some acronyms read by letters may also be spelled according to their pronunciation: Template:Wikt-lang. 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'.

Numerals

Numbers may be written in words (uno, dos, tres...) or in figures (1, 2, 3, ...).

For the decimal 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. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang. The corresponding ordinal numbers may be written as a single word or separately, e.g. Template:Wikt-lang () or Template:Wikt-lang (). Numbers more than 30 (cardinal and ordinal) are usually written separately, e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, but one-word spellings such as Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang are also accepted by the current .

Whole hundreds are also written as single words, e.g. Template:Wikt-lang.

Fractionary numbers such as Template:Wikt-lang 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. siglo xxi) and for regnal numbers (e. g. Luis XIV). Roman or Arabic numerals may be used for historical dynasties (e. g. la xviii dinastía or la 18.ª dinastía); volumes, chapters, or other parts of books (e. g. tomo iii, tomo 3.º, 3.^er tomo, or tomo 3); celebrations (e. g. XXIII Feria del Libro de Buenos Aires, or 23.ª Feria...). Roman numerals are typeset in small capitals if they would not be capitalized when written in words.

History

The Royal Spanish Academy has reformed the orthographic rules of Spanish several times.

In Old Spanish, Template:Angbr was used to represent the voiceless palatal sound (as in Template:Wikt-lang 'he/she said'), while Template:Angbr represented the voiced palatal (as in Template:Wikt-lang 'son'). With the changes of sibilants in the 16th century, the two sounds merged as (later to become velar ), and the letter Template:Angbr was chosen for the single resulting phoneme in 1815. This results in some words that originally contained Template:Angbr now containing Template:Angbr, most easily seen in the case of those with English cognates, such as ejercicio, "exercise". When Cervantes wrote Don Quixote he spelled the name in the old way (and English preserves the Template:Angbr), but modern editions in Spanish spell it with Template:Angbr. For the use of Template:Angbr in Mexico—and in the name México itself—see below.

The letter Template:Angbr (c-cedilla)—which was first used in Old Spanish—is now obsolete in Spanish, having merged with Template:Angbr in a process similar to that of Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr. Old Spanish Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang became modern Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang.

Words formerly spelled with Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr (such as Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, and Template:Wikt-lang) are now written with Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr (Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, respectively). The sequences Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr do not occur in modern Spanish except some loanwords: Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang; some borrowed words have double spellings: Template:Wikt-lang/Template:Wikt-lang. A notable case is the word Template:Wikt-lang used in biochemistry, meaning "enzyme", as different from Template:Wikt-lang meaning "on", "over" or "on top of" something.

The old spellings with Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr remained in use until the eighteenth century. They were replaced by Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, and Template:Angbr, respectively in 1726. Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr continued to be used in some words due to their etymology (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang), but this usage was largely reduced during the 1860—1880s, so these words became Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang. The letter Template:Angbr was replaced by Template:Angbr in 1815, although word-final Template:Angbr remained until 1832 (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, now Template:Wikt-lang). The combinations Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr were originally used only in a few etymological cases (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang) and also in diminutives (Template:Wikt-lang); in the of 1815, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr were replaced by Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr in some words (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang) but by Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr in other words (e. g. Template:Wikt-lang); the Diccionario of 1817 used mostly Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang) but Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr word-initially (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang); in the Diccionario of 1832, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr in words that did not have g in Latin were changed to Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, from Latin Template:Wikt-lang, became Template:Wikt-lang), but word-initial unetymological Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr remained; the Diccionario of 1837 stated explicitly that from then on, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr were to be written only in words where they are justified by etymology.

Old Spanish used to distinguish /s/ and /z/ between vowels, and it distinguished them by using Template:Angbr for the former and Template:Angbr for the latter, e.g. Template:Wikt-lang ('bear') and Template:Wikt-lang ('I dare to'). In orthography, the distinction was suppressed in 1763.

Words spelled in modern Spanish with Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang) were written with Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr up until 1815. In some words, Template:Angbr was written Template:Angbr (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang), and Template:Angbr was written Template:Angbr (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang). To distinguish Template:Angbr pronounced Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, sometimes Template:Angbr was used for the latter, e. g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang (these forms appeared in the , but the Diccionario did not put the diaeresis in these words).

File:Santiago de Parada, Nigrán, YGLESIA DE REFVGIO 1835.jpg

A church in Nigrán, marked as YGLESIA DE REFVGIO, "sanctuary church".

In 1726, most double consonants were simplified (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang)—but the Template:Angbr of a prefix before the Template:Angbr of a root was differentiated to Template:Angbr in 1763 (e.g. "Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang"). And the Graeco-Latin digraphs Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr were reduced to Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, respectively (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang). This was mostly done in 1754, but some exceptions persisted until 1803.

An earlier usage had Template:Angbr as a word initial Template:Angbr. It is only maintained in the archaic spelling of proper names like Yglesias or Ybarra. Although the RAE has always used the word-initial I as needed, the use of Y is occasionally found in handwriting and inscriptions up to the middle of the 19th century. The usage of Template:Angbr for the vowel in words of Greek origin was abolished in 1754 (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang). The usage of Template:Angbr in non-word-final diphthongs was abolished in 1815 (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang).

File:Autoridades.jpg

Cover of the first volume of the Diccionario de autoridades (1726), showing obsolete usages like "Phelipe", "eſta", "Impreſsór".

In early printing, the long s Template:Angbr was a different version of Template:Angbr used at the beginning or in the middle of a word. In Spain, the change to use the familiar round s everywhere, as in the current usage, was mainly accomplished between the years 1760 and 1766; for example, the multi-volume España Sagrada made the switch with volume 16 (1762).

File:Facsimil estatutosrae.jpg

A page of the first edition of the RAE statutes (1715), showing many obsolete spellings.

From 1741 to 1815, the circumflex was used over vowels to indicate that preceding Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr should be pronounced /k/ and /ks/ respectively and not /tʃ/ and /x/, e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang.

The use of accent marks in printing varies by period, due to reforms successively promulgated by the Spanish 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, the Diccionario de autoridades, unlike the RAE statutes and later RAE publications, does not put accents on the capital letters.) In the Orthographía of 1741, the default stress is defined as paroxytone in words ending in Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, or Template:Angbr, and in verbal forms ending in Template:Angbr, and as oxytone in words ending in Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr, or other consonants. Since the 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 Template:Angbr, and verbal forms ending in Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr; but other words ending in Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr were accented according to the general rule: capitan, jóven, demas, mártes. In 1880, 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. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang—but future-tense verb forms like Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang had already been spelled with the accent); words ending in Template:Angbr which are not plurals (e. g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang); verbs in the imperfect tense (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang); the possessives mío and mía and the word Template:Wikt-lang. On the other hand, some words lost their accent mark, e. g. Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang. Meanwhile, one-letter words other than the conjunction y—namely the preposition a and the conjunctions e (the form of y before an [i] sound), o, and u (form of o 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. The accent-marked infinitives such as Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang began to outnumber the unaccented form around 1920, dropped the accent mark again in 1952, and regained it in 1959. Monosyllabic preterite verb forms such as Template:Wikt-lang and Template:Wikt-lang were written with accent marks before 1952.

The 1754 and later editions also stated that surnames ending in -ez are not accented, though pronounced as paroxytones, e. g. Perez, Enriquez. The Prontuario 1853 and later editions did not mention surnames ending in -ez explicitly (but Perez 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). The Gramática 1870 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. The Gramática 1880 follows the general rule for accentuation of surnames: Enríquez, Fernández.

Since 1952, the letter Template:Angbr is no longer considered an interruption between syllables, so the spellings such as Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang became Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang. The spelling Template:Wikt-lang 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:

• 1754: dé, sé, sí.
• 1763: dé, sé, sí, él, mí.
• The word tú is accented in the Diccionario since 1783.
• Accented interrogatives appear in the Diccionario from 1817.
• The word té is accented in the Diccionario from 1832; the accent disappeared after 1880 and reappeared in 1925.
• The word más is accented in the Prontuario since 1853.
• The Prontuario 1853 also added luégo (as an adverb) and the verb forms éntre, pára, sóbre; the Gramática 1870 also added nós (as majestic 'we'), and the musical notes mí, lá, sí. These accents were abolished by the Gramática 1880.
• The Gramática 1870 also mentions the obsolete pronoun ál ('another thing'), which is also mentioned in the Diccionario since 1869.
• The demonstrative pronouns éste, ése, aquél appear accented since the Prontuario 1853. However, the norms of 1952 stated that they may be not accented except in the case of ambiguity and also extended the possibility of accentuating to other similar words such as otro, algunos, pocos, muchos; this extension was abolished by the revision of 1959.
• The adverb sólo is mentioned by the Prontuario 1853, but not by the Gramática 1870. The Gramática 1880 states that the word is accented "by the common usage" (por costumbre). The norms of 1952 made the accent on sólo mandatory, but their revision of 1959 stated the accent in sólo is not normally needed, but can be used in the cases of ambiguity. The 1999 states that the accent in sólo may be used, but it is necessary only in the cases of ambiguity. The 2010 recommends not to accent the demonstratives and solo, but the DLE 2014 states that they may be accented in cases of ambiguity.
• Additionally, the words Template:Wikt-lang (normally pronounced with a diphthong) and Template:Wikt-lang (normally pronounced with a hiatus) were originally not distinguished, but they appear in the Prontuario 1853 as áun and aún. Since the Gramática 1880, they are spelled aun and aún.

The names of numbers in the upper teens and the twenties were originally written as three words (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang y Template:Wikt-lang), but nowadays they are spelled as a single word (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang). For the numbers from 21 to 29, the "fused" forms are accepted since 1803 and became common over the second half of the 19th century. For those from 16 to 19, the one-word forms became accepted in 1925 and took the lead in the 1940s. The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (2005) labeled the separate spelling as obsolete. Fusing of number-names above 30 (e.g. Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang) is rare, but accepted by the DPD 2005 and the 2010 besides the usual separate spelling: Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang.

In the 18th century, the letter Template:Angbr was used in a few loanwords and also in the word kalendario (following the Latin spelling Kalendae); however, the first edition of the Diccionario de la lengua castellana (1780) already spelled calendario. The fourth edition of the Diccionario de la lengua castellana (1803) stated that Template:Angbr may be in any case replaced by Template:Angbr or Template:Angbr and did not give any words beginning with Template:Angbr, while still including the letter in the alphabet. In the eighth edition of the Ortografía de la lengua castellana (1815), the letter Template:Angbr was deleted from the Spanish alphabet. However, the letter was reinstated in the fourth edition of the Prontuario de ortografía de la lengua castellana (1853), and its use in loanwords was reallowed.

The letter Template:Angbr was formerly considered unneeded for writing Spanish. Previous RAE orthographies did not include Template:Angbr in the alphabet and restricted its use to foreign proper names and Visigothic names from Spanish history (the use of Template:Angbr in Visigothic names stems from the Middle Ages, although at that time Template:Angbr was not considered a letter but a ligature of two Template:Angbrs or Template:Angbrs). However, in the of 1969, RAE included Template:Angbr into the Spanish alphabet, allowing its use in loanwords.

In 1999, the written accent was added to a few words ending on the stressed diphthong au or eu: Template:Wikt-lang became Template:Wikt-lang. 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: Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Wikt-lang + Template:Wikt-lang), Template:Wikt-lang → Template:Wikt-lang (Template:Wikt-lang + Template:Wikt-lang).

Reform proposals

In spite of the relatively regular orthography of Spanish, there have been several initiatives to simplify it further. Andrés Bello succeeded in making his proposal official in several South American countries, but they later returned to the standard set by the Real Academia Española. Another proposal, Ortografía R̃asional Ispanoamerikana, remained a curiosity. Juan Ramón Jiménez proposed changing Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr to Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, 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 first International Conference of the Spanish Language held in Zacatecas in 1997, most notoriously advocating for the suppression of Template:Angbr, which is mute in Spanish, but, despite his prestige, no serious changes were adopted. The Academies, however, from time to time have made minor changes in the orthography (see above).

A Mexican Spanish convention is to spell certain indigenous words with Template:Angbr rather than the Template:Angbr that would be the standard spelling in Spanish. This is generally due to the origin of the word (or the present pronunciation) containing the voiceless postalveolar fricative sound or another sibilant that is not used in modern standard Spanish. The most noticeable word with this feature is (see Toponymy of Mexico). The Real Academia Española recommends this spelling. The American Spanish colloquial term is shortened from , which uses in place of the of rural Mexican Spanish .

Punctuation

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 with inverted variants of the question mark and exclamation mark ([¿] and [¡]), respectively. Most languages that use the Latin alphabet (including Spanish) use question and exclamation 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, 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 the Ortografía de la lengua castellana in 1754. Originally, the usage of inverted marks at the beginning was recommended only for large sentences, but the Gramática 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: ('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?

The period indicates the end of the sentence.

The comma is used for separating appositions, subordinate clauses, interjections, tags in tag questions, vocatives, and discursives. It is also used in enumerations, but the serial comma is not used in Spanish: ('Spain, France(,) and Portugal'). There are some cases in which the comma after a coordinating conjunction, such as complex sentences. Circumstantial complements are usually not separated by a comma.

The semicolon 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.

The colon 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.

The parentheses are used to include parenthetical information. When an entire sentence is parenthesized, the period is placed after the parentheses: (Esta es una frase parentética).

The square brackets are used for writing editor's words inside citations and instead of parentheses inside parentheses.

The dash may be used to write direct speech in dialogues, as a quotation 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.

The quotation 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.

The ellipsis 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.

Arabic alphabet

In the 15th and 16th centuries, dialectal Spanish (as well as Portuguese and Ladino) was sometimes written in the Arabic alphabet by Moriscos. This form of writing is called aljamiado.

See also

• Inverted question and exclamation marks
• Spanish manual alphabet
• Chilean manual alphabet

Bibliography

• Ortografía de la lengua española published by the Real Academia Española (RAE).

External links

• A la nación española: Sobre reformas ortográficas, Mariano Cubí i Soler, Imprenta de Miguel i Jaime Gaspar, Barcelona, 1852 (Biblioteca Digital Hispánica).
• Collation in Spanish Template:Webarchive
• Spanish Alphabet Pronunciation – simplified for beginners to Spanish letter pronunciation.