How to pronounce the letter P in Spanish?

The letter P is one of the easiest: it’s always pronounced the same way, [p], but different from the English P (as in pin or pool).

The sound of the letter P is one of the sounds babies learn first when parents tell them: “Di papá. Paaapá”.

However, quite many English natives pronounce it as they’d normally do in English. Sometimes they guess right.

Sometimes they don’t.

For example, in English, the letter P in pin and the letter P in spin sound different (although many natives don’t realize this, the same way Spanish natives don’t realize the letters B and V in Spanish can be pronounced in different ways).

In Spanish, the letter P always sounds the same way.

The pronunciation of Spanish P is quite simple and saying it correctly will reduce your foreign accent.

How to pronounce Spanish P

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbol is [p].

Easy, right?

Unfortunately for foreigners, Spanish letters often have more than one sound. It isn’t the case with Spanish P, but to help you with your Spanish pronunciation, I created this. It contains the 37 Spanish sounds and examples (in Spanish and English) for each sound.

Examples of words with the letter P in Spanish

pelo, pantalón, piano

More examples:

piedra, poder, pronunciación,
espárrago, aparcar, espera.

Pepe, ¿me pasas la pimienta?
¿Puedes venir, por favor?
Me apetecen pepinillos.

Tips to pronounce Spanish P + Mouth positioning

• Spanish P sounds similar to English B. Sometimes it may cause misunderstandings.
• It doesn’t have the puff of air that characterizes the English P, like in the word penguin. If you pronounce it this way, natives will immediately know you’re a gringo.
• It sounds like the letter P in Spanish, spoon, or spring.

Common misunderstandings with Spanish P

When a Spaniard speaks in Spanish and says a word that starts with the letter P (peso, polo, pisado, pino), English natives might think we are saying a word that starts with the sound [b].

And the other way around.

This is because Spanish P sounds closer to English B.
Here you can find how to pronounce the letters B and V in Spanish, and more common misunderstandings.

Learn how to pronounce the 33 sounds of Spanish.