The Galician Alphabet
Galician writes with 23 letters. Six pairs of letters, ch, gu, ll, nh, qu and rr, each spell one sound.
How It Works
The 23 letters and their names. a (a), b (be), c (ce), d (de), e (e), f (efe), g (gue), h (hache), i (i), l (ele), m (eme), n (ene), ñ (eñe), o (o), p (pe), q (que), r (erre), s (ese), t (te), u (u), v (uve), x (xe), z (zeta). You use these names when you spell a word aloud: Xan is xe, a, ene.
Six digraphs. Each of these pairs spells a single sound: ch (chave, key), gu before e or i (guerra, war), ll (ollo, eye), nh (unha, a or one), qu before e or i (queixo, cheese) and rr between vowels (carro, car). A single r and a double rr make different words: caro (expensive) and carro (car).
Letters for foreign words only. J, k, w and y appear only in names and in words from other languages that keep their own spelling: Kant, Darwin, Nova York. Everyday Galician words use native letters instead: quilo (kilo), maio (May), rei (king), xardín (garden).
Galician spelling is its own. Spelling follows the RAG/ILG standard, not Spanish. Many words look like Spanish words but are spelled differently, so learn each word with its Galician spelling. The next topics look at the tricky letters one by one: The Letter X, The Sounds CH, LL and Ñ, C, Z and QU and Silent H.
Examples (5)
- Chámome Xan: xe, a, ene.
My name is Xan: x, a, n.
Word by Word: I-call-myself Xan: xe, a, ene.
Spelling a name aloud with the Galician letter names.
- Este carro é moi caro.
This car is very expensive.
The double rr of carro (car) and the single r of caro (expensive) make two different words.
- Un quilo de patacas, por favor.
A kilo of potatoes, please.
Galician writes quilo with qu, not k.
- En maio imos á praia.
In May we go to the beach.
Galician writes i where Spanish writes y: maio, not mayo.
- O meu amigo Kevin vive en Nova York.
My friend Kevin lives in New York.
Foreign names keep letters such as k, w and y.
Common Mistakes
Using k in an everyday Galician word.
Un kilo de patacas, por favor.Un quilo de patacas, por favor.K is only for foreign words and names. Galician spells the k sound with c or qu: quilo, quilómetro.
Writing y as in Spanish.
En mayo imos á praia.En maio imos á praia.Galician words do not use y. Spanish mayo, rey and hoy are maio, rei and hoxe in Galician.
Writing j as in Spanish.
O jardín é moi bonito.O xardín é moi bonito.Galician never writes j in its own words. Where Spanish has j, Galician usually has x: xardín, xente, xogo.
How It Connects
Related Patterns
- The Letter X
X is the most distinctive Galician letter and replaces the Spanish j in many words.
Level 1 - ch / ll / ñThe Sounds CH, LL and Ñ
Explains the sounds of the digraphs ch and ll and the letter ñ.
Level 1 - Velar N: unha and Final N
Explains the digraph nh, used only in unha and its family.
Level 1 - c / z / quC, Z and QU
Explains how c, z and qu share out the th and k sounds.
Level 1 - Silent H
H is part of the alphabet but has no sound.
Level 1 - Capital Letters
Covers when to write these letters as capitals.
Level 3
Learn Next
Patterns that build on this one.
Practice The Galician Alphabet in Bubblegum
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