Ñ ñ — eñe
«eñe» is a consonant of Spanish, the “The Spanish Latin alphabet” script, read as “ny”. A soft 'ny' in one sound, as in the middle of 'onion' or 'canyon'. For example, in the word “España” — Spain. The Spanish alphabet has 30 letters in total, and this character can be played right here. The wavy mark is called a tilde. It was once a second n written above: 'anno' became 'año'. It appears, for example, in the word “mañana” — tomorrow.
In short
| Character | Ñ ñ |
| Name | eñe |
| Sound | ny |
| What it is | a consonant |
In our course the character comes 15th of 30: the order here is not alphabetical but from familiar to unfamiliar, its neighbours in the course are n and o, appears in 75 words of this site.
How it sounds
A soft 'ny' in one sound, as in the middle of 'onion' or 'canyon'
The character in a word
A lone character is hard to remember: memory holds on to meaning, and a letter has none. The word it stands in provides that anchor.
- EspañaSpain
The character in the “a letter of its own and three combinations” group
ñ is the only letter Latin does not have by default. ch, ll and rr stopped being letters in 2010 but stayed sounds.
Words with this character
How to remember this character
A single letter is the hardest thing to remember: memory has nothing to hold on to — a character has no meaning. A three-step loop works: see the character, try to recall the sound (for «eñe» it is “ny”, as in the word “España”), see the right answer.
And come back to it the next day, not in an hour: a check a day or two later beats a check the same day. Nobody holds the whole alphabet — 30 letters — at once.
- It is better to test yourself the next day than at the end of the same session. That is why a word comes back to you tomorrow.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · g = 0.82 when tested a day or two later, against 0.56 on the same day.
- Studying a little every day gets more into your head than spending the same total time in one sitting.checked many timesDonovan & Radosevich, 1999, Journal of Applied Psychology 84(5) · 63 studies compared, difference d = 0.46 — a sizeable figure for a learning effect.
Frequently asked
How does the Spanish character ñ read?
As “ny” — it is a consonant of the “The Spanish Latin alphabet” script. A soft 'ny' in one sound, as in the middle of 'onion' or 'canyon'. For example, in the word “España” — Spain.
What is the letter ñ called?
Eñe. A character's name and its sound are different things in the Spanish script: it is called “eñe” and reads as “ny”. Learn the second one: the name only helps when the alphabet is recited aloud.
What can ñ be confused with?
The wavy mark is called a tilde. It was once a second n written above: 'anno' became 'año'. Similar characters are best studied side by side and deliberately compared: learned on different days, they stay separate and get mixed up at their first meeting inside a word.