Spanish is almost completely phonetic.  The only silent letter is H, which is always silent, except for the combination CH, which is pronounced the same in English.  The letters B and V sound the same in Spanish, which can cause some confusion, as do the letters S, Z and soft C.  (In Spain, the soft C and Z are lisped)  The LL and Y also sound the same.  Beyond these minor problems, Spanish is completely phonetic in its spelling, and is therefore vastly simpler than English spelling.  

Here is a table of the pronunciation of the vowels:

A  --  always pronounced as the A in father

E --  pronounced as the A in ate or in some words, E in egg

I -- always pronounced as the EA in tea

O -- always pronounced as the OA in boat.

U --  always pronounced as the OO in too.

When combining vowels, the A, E & O are considered strong, and the I & U are considered weak.  A combination of two strong vowels is pronounced as two syllables.  A combination of a weak and strong vowel is pronounced as a single syllable called a diphthong.   In English, the combination OY as in boy forms a single syllable.  For more on syllabification and accent mark rules, see the accent mark rules page.

Consonants

B -- in between an English B, V and W.  Use the lips only, and not the teeth as in the English V, and don't close the lips tightly as in the English B.  There should be no explosion of breath.  The "twist" of the W should be avoided, but the lip position is similar. 

C -- hard as the sound of K, except if followed by E or I, and then it is soft like S.  In Spain the soft C is lisped. 

Ch -- considered a separate letter, it's pronounced just like English.

D -- much softer than English.  Tip of tongue on the teeth, not the roof of the mouth. In some words it sounds almost like the TH in "they".

F -- just like English.  There is no PH in Spanish, so words in English with a PH will be spelled with an F in Spanish. 

G -- soft when followed by E or I.  It sounds like the English H, but deeper in the throat so that the tonsils rattle a bit.  If followed by any other letter, it is hard, but not nearly as hard as the G in English.

H -- always silent.  Ignore it, except for the ch combination. 

J -- same as the soft G

K -- rare in Spanish.  Only found in words like wisky and kilo. Sounds just like K in English.

L -- as English.

LL -- considered a letter of the alphabet, it is pronounced like a Y, or in some dialects, like the S in television. 

M -- just like English.

N -- just like English

Ñ -- a separate letter of the alphabet, it sounds like NY as in canyon.

P -- similar to English, but much softer.  No explosions of air. 

Q -- used only for the sounds "kay" and "key".  In other words, when the combination CE produces a soft C, and you want a hard one, change the C to QU for QUE.   This causes some  confusion.  Remember this simple rule--if it sounds like an English Q as in queen, then it's  NOT a Q, but rather a CU.  e.g.  cuarenta, cincuenta. 

R -- rolled or trilled with tip of tongue on roof of mouth.  If it occurs at the beginning of a word, it is multiple trilled.  If at the end, it's a light click.  You must exhale to make this happen. 

RR -- same as single R, but multiple trilled.

S -- like English, but some dialects have a subtle "thickness" to the S that makes it sound slightly like an SH. 

T -- same as D, except no vocal chord vibration.  Tip of tongue on teeth, not roof of mouth.

V -- See B

W -- Rare.  Usually pronounced like English.

X --  as English, except that the Colonial period used a different pronunciation so that México is still pronounced as the J in Spanish. 

Y --  see LL

Z -- same as S, except in Spain where it is lisped. 

Here is an ENGLISH phonetic rendition of the entire alphabet.  I use an H on the end of many of these to indicate the long vowel sound.

ah

beh (b grande or b de burro)

ceh (or THEH in Spain)

cheh

deh

eh

EH-feh

heh

AH-cheh

ee

HO-ta

kah

EH-leh

EH-yeh

EH-meh

EH-neh

EH-nyeh

oh

peh

coo

EH-reh

EH-rreh

EH-seh

teh

oo

beh (v chica or v de vaca or oobeh)

DOH-bleh beh

EH-kees

ee gree-EHga  (y griega, Greek Y)

SEH-tah (or THEHtah in Spain)

Trabalenguas

La hermana de Ana va a Copacabana

Pepe Reque come queque

Mimí está aquí y Lilí está allí

Lulú y tú van al Perú

Pepe Peacas pica papas con un pico

Con un pico Pepe Peacas pica papas

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo tras un trigal

Tras un trigal tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo.

Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril,

Rápido corren las ruedas de los carros del ferrocarríl.

Guerra tiene una parra y Parra tiene una perra.  La perra de parra sube a la parra de Guerra.  Guerra coge una porra y pega a la perra de Parra.  

Pedro Pablo pobre pintor pinta paisajes por poca plata para poder pagar pasaje a París. 

For the accent mark rules, see this page. 

For stem changing rules, see this page