Syllable Table — Reference
English has an estimated 15,000+ possible syllables, because vowels shift sound depending on context and consonant combinations are loosely constrained. Spanish doesn’t work that way: 5 pure vowels (see Alphabet & Pronunciation) combine with ~20 consonant sounds in a fixed, rule-based way — so the entire inventory of “core” Spanish syllables fits in one table. Memorize the grid below and you can sound out almost any Spanish word by chaining rows together.
This is the same method behind the Filipino pantig tables used to teach reading (ba be bi bo bu, ka ke ki ko ku…) — which themselves descend from the Spanish colonial-era cartilla syllabary. If you learned to read that way, this table will feel immediately familiar.
Vowel legend
Every cell below is built from one of these 5 sounds — always pure, never reduced:
| Vowel | Sound |
|---|---|
a | AH |
e | EH |
i | EE |
o | OH |
u | OO |
The core grid — consonant + vowel
Rows marked regular behave exactly like their English letter. Rows marked irregular need a spelling swap or a sound that doesn’t exist in English — both are covered in detail in Alphabet & Pronunciation; this table just chains those same rules into every syllable they produce.
| Consonant | a | e | i | o | u |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
p (regular) | pa (PAH) | pe (PEH) | pi (PEE) | po (POH) | pu (POO) |
t (regular) | ta (TAH) | te (TEH) | ti (TEE) | to (TOH) | tu (TOO) |
d (regular) | da (DAH) | de (DEH) | di (DEE) | do (DOH) | du (DOO) |
f (regular) | fa (FAH) | fe (FEH) | fi (FEE) | fo (FOH) | fu (FOO) |
s (regular) | sa (SAH) | se (SEH) | si (SEE) | so (SOH) | su (SOO) |
m (regular) | ma (MAH) | me (MEH) | mi (MEE) | mo (MOH) | mu (MOO) |
n (regular) | na (NAH) | ne (NEH) | ni (NEE) | no (NOH) | nu (NOO) |
l (regular) | la (LAH) | le (LEH) | li (LEE) | lo (LOH) | lu (LOO) |
ch (regular) | cha (CHAH) | che (CHEH) | chi (CHEE) | cho (CHOH) | chu (CHOO) |
b/v (identical) | ba/va (BAH) | be/ve (BEH) | bi/vi (BEE) | bo/vo (BOH) | bu/vu (BOO) |
k sound | ca (KAH) | que (KEH) | qui (KEE) | co (KOH) | cu (KOO) |
g hard | ga (GAH) | gue (GEH) | gui (GEE) | go (GOH) | gu (GOO) |
th/”distinción” | za (THAH) | ce (THEH) | ci (THEE) | zo (THOH) | zu (THOO) |
guttural j/g | ja (HAH, harsh) | ge/je (HEH, harsh) | gi/ji (HEE, harsh) | jo (HOH, harsh) | ju (HOO, harsh) |
ll (yeísmo) | lla (YAH) | lle (YEH) | lli (YEE) | llo (YOH) | llu (YOO) |
ñ | ña (NYAH) | ñe (NYEH) | ñi (NYEE) | ño (NYOH) | ñu (NYOO) |
r tap (mid-word) | ra (RAH, tap) | re (REH, tap) | ri (REE, tap) | ro (ROH, tap) | ru (ROO, tap) |
rr / initial r | rra (RRAH) | rre (RREH) | rri (RREE) | rro (RROH) | rru (RROO) |
y (consonant) | ya (YAH) | ye (YEH) | yi (YEE) | yo (YOH) | yu (YOO) |
h (silent) | ha (AH) | he (EH) | hi (EE) | ho (OH) | hu (OO) |
x | xa (KSAH) | xe (KSEH) | xi (KSEE) | xo (KSOH) | xu (KSOO) |
w (loanwords) | wa (WAH) | we (WEH) | wi (WEE) | wo (WOH) | wu (WOO) |
The
k/g-hard rows swap spelling beforee/i(que/qui,gue/gui) purely to keep the hard sound — theuis silent, same rule as Alphabet & Pronunciation explains forqu/gu.
rhas two rows because it’s the one sound in this table that depends on position, not spelling: a singleris a quick tap mid-word, but a full trill at the start of a word — see the r/rr section of the pronunciation guide for the full rule.
Beyond the grid: clusters and closed syllables
Not every syllable is a bare consonant + vowel. Two more finite pieces cover the rest:
- Consonant clusters (syllable starts with 2 consonants) — there are only 12, and every one ends in
lorr:pl,bl,cl,gl,flandpr,br,cr,gr,fr,dr,tr. E.g. plato, trabajo, clase. - Closed syllables (syllable ends in a consonant, not just a vowel) — almost always one of
n,s,r,l,d, orz. E.g. es-tar, ár-bol, us-ted. - Diphthongs (two vowels fused into one syllable) — already covered in Alphabet & Pronunciation; each vowel keeps its own sound, just spoken quickly together (puerta, baile).
Between the core grid, these 12 clusters, and a handful of closing consonants, you’ve covered the entire syllable inventory of Spanish — there’s no “long tail” of exceptions the way there is in English.
Reading words as syllable chains
Spanish words are just grid syllables stacked in a row. A few of these are also Filipino loanwords (🇵🇭) — if you already say the word in Filipino, you already know how to chain the syllables.
| Word | Syllable chain | Meaning | 🇵🇭 Filipino |
|---|---|---|---|
| mesa | me-sa | table | mesa |
| cabeza | ca-be-za | head | — |
| cocina | co-ci-na | kitchen | kusina |
| baño | ba-ño | bathroom | banyo |
| calle | ca-lle | street | kalye |
| trabajo | tra-ba-jo | work | trabaho |
| guitarra | gui-ta-rra | guitar | gitara |
| semana | se-ma-na | week | semana |
| perro | pe-rro | dog | — |
| pequeño | pe-que-ño | small | — |
Summary
- Spanish’s entire syllable inventory is a closed, learnable set: 5 vowels × ~20 consonant sounds, plus 12 consonant clusters and a handful of closing consonants
- Every “irregular” row in the grid traces back to a rule already covered in Alphabet & Pronunciation — this table just chains those rules into syllables
- Read any Spanish word by breaking it into syllables and reading each one off the grid — there’s no long tail of exceptions to memorize the way there is in English
- 🇵🇭 This grid-based reading method mirrors the Filipino pantig tradition, itself descended from the Spanish cartilla — familiar structure, new vocabulary
See also: Alphabet & Pronunciation — the letter-by-letter rules this table chains together. Numbers — practice reading syllables in numbers.