Spelling (Escrita)

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As mentioned, Galician uses six digraphs: ch, gu, ll, nh, qu and rr; qu and gu are used only followed by vowels e and i.

As spelling symbols, the acute stress symbol (´) and the diaeresis (¨) are also used.

The letter h, when it does not occur in digraphs ch and nh, is mute, i.e., it does not represent any phoneme. In spelling it can have a diacritic value or serve the purpose of distinguishing pairs such as

• ora / hora whether / hour.

When it occurs in intervocalic medial position it represents phoneme [r]:

• caro : cara expensive,
• raro strange.

• carro cart.

The digraph nh represents phoneme [M] in intervocalic position, as in unha a (fem.).

The acute accent (´) is used to stress syllables following certain rules:

• mazá apple,
• fácil easy,
• médico doctor.