Language/Galician/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

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Galician Alphabet and Pronunciation
Alphabet and Pronunciation in Galician

Hello Galician learners 😊,

In today's lesson, we are going to study how to write and pronounce the Galician alphabet. Galician is spoken mainly in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain where it is co-official with Spanish. The Galician alphabet is used to write the Galician language. You will find in the table below the different letters of its alphabet and their pronunciation.

Once you have mastered the alphabet, you can continue your Galician learning journey by exploring other related lessons, such as Galician Vocabulary - Greetings, Galician Grammar - Give your Opinion, and Galician Vocabulary - Months of the Year. Enjoy your Galician language adventure! 😃

Alphabet and Pronunciation in Galician[edit | edit source]

According to the modern and official standard, it has 23 letters and 6 digraphs, in addition to a few letters (⟨j⟩, ⟨k⟩, ⟨w⟩ and ⟨y⟩) used in foreign words, abbreviations and international symbols. As in Portuguese, all letters are masculine.

  • Note: In medieval Galician there were also the letters: ⟨j⟩ /ʃ/, ⟨g⟩ (/ʃ/ preceding e and i), ⟨ç⟩ (/θ/; /s/ in areas with sigmatism), and the digraphs ⟨lh⟩ /ʎ/, ⟨nh⟩ /ɲ/ and ⟨ss⟩.

Of course J, K, W and Y those are the 4 Letters of inappropriate in Galician Alphabet!

23 letters[edit | edit source]

Letter Name IPA Phonemic values
A a a [a] /a/
B b be [b] /b/
C c ce [θ], [k] /θ/ (+ e e i; /s/ in seseo zones); /k/ (+ a, o e u)
D d de [d] /d/
E e e [e], [ɛ] /e/, /ɛ/
F f efe [f] /f/
G g gue [g] /ɡ/ (/x/ in gheada zones)
H h hache Ø silent
I i i [i] /i/, /j/
L l ele [l] /l/
M m eme [m] /m/
N n ene [n] /n/
Ñ ñ eñe [ɲ] /ɲ/
O o o [o], [ɔ] /o/, /ɔ/
P p pe [p] /p/
Q q que [k] /k/
R r erre [ɾ], [r] /r/, /ɾ/
S s ese [s͇] /s/
T t te [t] /t/
U u u [u] /u/, /w/
V v uve [b] /b/
X x xe [ʃ], [ks͇] /ʃ/, /ks/
Z z zeta [θ] /θ/ (/s/ in seseo zones)

Notes:

  1. Foreign Words: Letters like 'J', 'K', 'W', and 'Y' are often included to accommodate words borrowed from other languages. J j (iota), K k (ca), W w (uve dobre), Y y (i grego). While 'J', 'K', 'W', and 'Y' are not traditionally part of the native Galician alphabet, they are included to represent sounds found in foreign words that have been incorporated into the language. These letters are less common and primarily used for loanwords, showing the influence of other languages on Galician.
  2. Abbreviations and International Symbols: These letters might also be used in acronyms, initialisms, or international symbols that are recognized globally.

6 digraphs[edit | edit source]

Digraph Name Phonemic values
ch ce hache /tʃ/
gu gue u /g/
ll ele dobre /ʎ/
nh ene hache /ŋ/
qu que u /k/
rr erre dobre /r/

Pronunciation Equivalent in English[edit | edit source]

Galician Letter English Approximant Example
A ah a as in apple
B b b as in book
CA / CO / CU kah / koh / kou c as in city before I,e,y, or as in cat elsewhere
CE / CI seh / sih
CH ch
D d d as in day
E eh e as in elephant
F f f as in friend
GA / GO / GU gah / goh / gou
GE / GI heh / hih
H no sound slient
I ih I as in India
J zh only in foreign words
K k only in foreign words
L l l as in life
LL lih
M m m as in many
N n n as in noon
Ñ nih ny as in Espanya (España)
O oh o as in opera
P p p as in people
Q k q as in squid
R r r as in Roma
S s s as in smile
T t t as in tomorrow
U ou u as in ultimate
V b v as in bath
W u only in foreign words
X sh / ks sh as in shy
Y ih only in foreign words
Z s s as in super

Videos[edit | edit source]

Alphabet[edit | edit source]

Pronunciation of Galician[edit | edit source]

Galician vs Portuguese (How SIMILAR are they?)[edit | edit source]

Contributors

Vincent, 210.98.151.66 and Maintenance script


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