40 Spanish Words That Start With B: Pronunciation And Example Sentences
The Spanish alphabet isn’t as boring as you’d imagine at first. It’s full of fun letters and fun facts about these letters. In this blog post, we’ll teach you 40 Spanish words that start with B.
Did you know that the Spanish letter B is one of the most challenging consonants for Spanish learners? It’s often confused with the letter V due to their similar pronunciation in many Spanish-speaking regions. Spring Spanish (a project I co-founded) made a great lesson on it:
It’s amazing to learn the difference between B and V. Do you know what’s even more useful?
Learning some important Spanish words that start with B.
1. Fun facts about the Spanish letter ‘B’
We already mentioned that the letter B is often confused with V in Spanish pronunciation.
What about its pronunciation?
‘B’ is pronounced as /b/ – similar to the ‘b’ in the English word ‘boy’. However, between vowels, it’s often softened to a sound more like /β/, which is between a ‘b’ and a ‘v’.
Many of the Spanish words that start with B come from Latin origins. If you’re interested in it, you can learn more about the history of Spanish language on our website.
The Spanish letter B is used in some common expressions, too. One of the most famous of these expressions is: “buscar una aguja en un pajar” (to look for a needle in a haystack).
Oh, and one more thing! The letter ‘B’ never takes an accent mark in Spanish, unlike some other consonants like ‘N’ in ‘ñ‘.
2. Spanish nouns starting with B
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Boca | Mouth |
Barco | Boat |
Brazo | Arm |
Beso | Kiss |
Botella | Bottle |
Banco | Bank |
Bicicleta | Bicycle |
Bolsa | Bag |
Baile | Dance |
Bosque | Forest |
In a real-life conversation, using these Spanish words that start with B could look like this:
María: Hola Carlos, ¿buscas una botella de agua? Hace mucho calor hoy. (María: Hi Carlos, are you looking for a bottle of water? It’s very hot today.)
Carlos: Sí, por favor. Tengo la boca seca. ¿Sabes qué? Vi un hermoso barco en el puerto con banderas de oro ondeando. (Carlos: Yes, please. My mouth is dry. You know what? I saw a beautiful boat in the harbor with gold flags waving.)
María: ¡Qué bonita imagen, amigo mío! Parece que el calor está afectando tu bienestar. (María: What a beautiful image, my friend! It seems the heat is affecting your well-being.)
3. Spanish verbs starting with B
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Besar | To kiss |
Bailar | To dance |
Beber | To drink |
Buscar | To look for |
Bajar | To go down |
Borrar | To erase |
Brillar | To shine |
Barrer | To sweep |
Bañar | To bathe |
Bucear | To dive |
Let’s see how Spanish verbs with B act in conversations:
Lucía: Pedro, necesito buscar mis llaves. No puedo bajar sin ellas. (Lucía: Pedro, I need to look for my keys. I can’t go down without them.)
Pedro: No te preocupes, te ayudaré a buscarlas. Pero primero, debemos borrar esa preocupación de tu cara. (Pedro: Don’t worry, I’ll help you look for them. But first, we must erase that worry from your face.)
Lucía: Tienes razón. A veces es difícil brillar con positividad, pero debemos batallar contra el estrés. (Lucía: You’re right. Sometimes it’s difficult to shine with positivity, but we must battle against stress.)
4. Spanish adverbs starting with B
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Bastante | Quite |
Bien | Well |
Bruscamente | Abruptly |
Brevemente | Briefly |
Básicamente | Basically |
Buenamente | Willingly |
Brutalmente | Brutally |
Bellamente | Beautifully |
Blandamente | Softly |
Brillantemente | Brilliantly |
Use these adverbs in Spanish like this:
Elena: ¡Hola Javier! ¿Cómo estás? ¿Bailaste bien en la fiesta? (Elena: Hi Javier! How are you? Did you dance well at the party?)
Javier: Bastante bien, gracias. La música cambió bruscamente varias veces, pero fue divertido. (Javier: Quite well, thanks. The music changed abruptly several times, but it was fun.)
Elena: ¡Qué bueno! Básicamente, necesitamos más fiestas así para bailar y divertirnos. (Elena: That’s great! Basically, we need more parties like that to dance and have fun.)
5. Spanish adjectives starting with B
Spanish | English |
---|---|
Bonito | Pretty |
Bueno | Good |
Bajo | Low |
Blanco | White |
Brillante | Bright |
Barato | Cheap |
Bello | Beautiful |
Breve | Brief |
Básico | Basic |
Bendito | Blessed |
Use the Spanish adjectives that start with B like this:
Ana: ¡Mira ese bonito edificio blanco, Roberto! Es bajo pero aún se ve brillante. (Ana: Look at that pretty white building, Roberto! It’s low but still looks bright.)
Roberto: Sí, es verdad. Me parece muy bello. El diseño es tan básico pero elegante. (Roberto: Yes, that’s true. I find it very beautiful. The design is so basic but elegant.)
Ana: Estoy de acuerdo. Aunque el precio de entrada es barato, la experiencia será bendita. (Ana: I agree. Although the entrance price is cheap, the experience will be blessed.)
6. Learn Spanish words that start with B with Conversation Based Chunking method
A fantastic way to learn these Spanish words that start with B is Conversation Based Chunking. It’s a method that teaches you how to use lexical chunks in real-life contexts instead of memorizing these words one by one.
For example, if you use bailar in a Spanish sentence, it’s much easier to learn “vamos a bailar” rather than remembering the English translation of the word every time. With this approach, you’ll learn not just the Spanish words that start with B but the whole language!
Sign up now, and you’ll get your first FREE Spanish Chunking Starter Pack: in this pack, you’ll find essential Spanish chunking lists, resources to learn Spanish and access our Full Practice Worksheet Library.