In Spanish, consonants are almost never doubled. For example, only the letter f is used to get the f sound in Spanish. Therefore, there is no difficulty in spelling professor. Can you remember whether it's a double f or s in English? And did you even consider that the spelling in English could have been a ph instead of f or ff?
However, there are four exceptions to the double‐consonant rule: ll, rr, cc, and in rare cases, nn. Ll is an actual letter, the fourteenth letter of the Spanish alphabet since 1803. Ll is pronounced like the consonant y in Yerba. In some countries, the ll sounds like a combination of the sound of sh and the letter j in English. A single l sounds like the letter l you hear in English and Spanish words. Rr is not a letter but rather a double rintended to elicit the rolling sound that is difficult for many who are learning Spanish as a second language. You are supposed to roll your tongue for one r if it is the first letter of the word, and you should also roll your tongue whenever you see the letter rr within a word. This accounts for a spelling change sometimes when two words become one. For example, in the name of the island Puerto Rico, the r is rolled because it is the first letter of a word. The adjective for a native, Puertorriqueño, is only one word, so the rr is used to produce the rolling r and maintain the pronunciation.
The third occasion where you will see a double consonant in a Spanish word is when a double c is used to produce the k or x sound as in diccionario (dictionary).
Consonant sounds and spellings
The pronunciation of Spanish consonants is easy to learn. There are many consonants that are pronounced exactly like their English equivalent, and these will not pose any problems for you. Only the consonants that can have more than one pronunciation or that are used in combinations to create a different sound are explained in the following sections. Any consonant that is not covered should be pronounced exactly like it is in English.
There are a lot of Spanish words that look similar to English words, and some are even spelled exactly the same. However these words, called cognates, are usually easier to spell in Spanish than they are in English once you learn the rules.
In Spanish, the letter p is always pronounced like the p in prince, and the Spanish never use the letter combination ph to produce the f sound. If the English word has a ph, the Spanish cognate will always use one f. For example, look at the Spanish words teléfono (telephone), elefante (elephant), and filosofía (philosophy). The letter f is the only way to produce the f sound in Spanish.
The letter c
In Spanish, there are three ways to produce the sound of the English letter k. The letter k is used for words that are originally from other languages, and it is pronounced as it is in English. The letter c is pronounced like a kwhen it is followed by an o, a, or u. However, the letter c is pronounced like an s when it is followed by an e or i. The qu combination must be used to produce the k sound in front of an e or i. A word that the English borrowed from the Spanish, mosquito, has already prepared you to pronounce qu in Spanish without any w sound. Not like quill, but rather like tequila.
The following words have a sound like k. Notice the qu = k in front of e or i, and c = k in front of o, a, or u.
The letter c is pronounced like s when it is in front of e or i, as in the following words:
To pronounce words with a double c, such as diccionario and accidente, the first c is hard because it's followed by a consonant, and the second c is soft because it's followed by an i or e.
The letter g
The letter g in Spanish has issues very much like the letter c: The pronunciation of the letter g is influenced by the letter that follows it. Whether or not you realize it, you have been following a similar rule in English. The reason the g in “goat” is pronounced differently than the g in “gem” is because in both Spanish and English, there is a hard g sound and a soft g sound. Generally, in English, a g that is followed by e or i 