Consonants Part 1 (B–H)

Now that you know the five vowel sounds, it is time to tackle the consonants. Spanish consonants are generally simpler than English ones, but there are some important differences. In this lesson, we cover the first group: B, C, D, F, G, and H.

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B and V — The Same Sound

One of the biggest surprises for English speakers is that b and v are pronounced identically in Spanish. There is no distinction between them. Both letters produce the same two sounds depending on their position in a word.

The Two Sounds of B/V

Position	Sound	Description	Examples
After a pause or after m/n	Hard "b"	Like English "b" in "bat"	bien (good), vamos (let's go), hombre (man)
Between vowels or after other consonants	Soft "b"	Lips barely touch, air passes through	saber (to know), lavar (to wash), Cuba

The soft "b" (sometimes written as /β/ in phonetics) is unique to Spanish. To produce it, bring your lips close together but do not fully close them. Air should pass between your lips gently.