Native Spanish speakers don't struggle much with spelling because Spanish is a mainly phonetic language: it's pronounced the way it's written. Each letter has a specific sound, so it's relatively easy to write the words when you hear them.
However one of the difficulties for Spanish language learners and even Spanish-speakers is knowing when to write a word with the letter b or v - why? Because both are pronounced the same way: they both sound like b. Listen to these examples:
Be very careful not to write "bacaciones", for example.
There are a number of rules that let you know whether you need a b or a v in a word. Let's see the rules for each letter.
Which Spanish words are written with "b"?
- The infinitives that end in -bir and all their forms (except for hervir, servir and vivir and their derivatives). For example: escribir, escribían, recibir, recibiste, recibido, inscribir, inscribiendo.
- The infinitives and all verbal forms of: beber, deber, caber, haber and saber.
- The endings -ba, -bas, -bamos, -bais and -ban.
- The imperfect conjugation of ir: iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban.
- Words that start with bibl- (for example: biblioteca, Biblia, bibliografía), or with the syllables bu-, bur- and bus- (for example: burrito, burlar, buscar.)
- The endings -bundo, -bunda and -bilidad (except for movilidad and civilidad). For example: nauseabundo, furibunda, amabilidad.
- Words where b is followed by another consonant. For example: amable, brazo, abdicación, obstruir, obvio, bricolaje.
- The prefixes bi-, bis-, biz-, that mean "two" or "twice". For example: bilingüe, bisiesto, biznieto.
- The prefixes bien- and bene- that mean "well". For example: bienintencionado, beneplácito, benévolo, beneficio.
Which Spanish words are written with "v"?
- The verb ir in the present indicative, imperative and present subjunctive: voy, vas; ve, vaya; vaya, vayamos and the verbs estar, andar and tener (and their derivatives) in the preterite, the imperfect and the future subjunctive: estuve, estuviera, estuviere; anduve, anduviera, anduviese; tuve, tuviera, tuviese.
- Adjectives that end in -ava, -ave, -avo; -eva, -eve, -evo and -iva, -ivo. For example: octava, suave, bravo, nueva, leve, decisivo.
- When the letter v is preceded by the letter d, for example: advertencia, advenedizo, adversario.
- Prefixes vice-, villa-, villar-. For example: vicealmirante, Villalobos.
- The endings -viro, -vira, -ívoro and -ívora (except for víbora). For example: Elvira, carnívoro, herbívora.
- The endings -servar and -versar of the verbs conservar, observar, reservar and conversar.
- The verbal forms that don't contain b or v in their infinitive: tuve, estuve, anduvieron, vayamos (except for the endings of these verbs in the imperfect: -ba, -bas, -bamos, -bais and -ban.
- When the letter v is preceded by b, d or n. For example: obvio, adverso, invierno.
Although these rules don't cover every single word that contains b or v in Spanish, they are a great help!
Here are some examples of words that contain b and v:
See also Spelling: ll or y and Spelling: h or no h
