Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ahora" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce ahora in Spanish?

ahora is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈo.ɾa/. It means “now.” ah-OH-rah, three beats — the h in the middle is silent, so the vowels run together.

ah-OH-rah, three beats — the h in the middle is silent, so the vowels run together.

ahora /aˈo.ɾa/

Three syllables, a-HO-ra, with the weight on the second-to-last, following the default rule for a vowel-final word. The silent h does not count for syllable purposes, so the a and o are technically in hiatus — they belong to separate beats even though nothing separates them audibly. In fast speech many speakers merge them into a two-syllable "AH-ra".

Listen: ahora

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Sound it out

a A wide-open "ah" opening the word, unstressed.

h Silent, as always in Spanish. It sits between two vowels and does nothing at all — the a and the o simply meet across it, which is why some speakers compress the word to "ahora" in two beats.

o A pure "oh" carrying the stress.

ra A single tap of the tongue tip and a wide-open "ah". One flick, not a roll, since the r sits between vowels.

Hear it in a sentence

Ahora vivo en la ciudad.

Now I live in the city.

Listen: Ahora vivo en la ciudad.

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"Ahora vivo en la ciudad" uses "ahora" to open the sentence, a common position for time adverbs in Spanish. "Ciudad" is three beats with two weak vowels in a row — see-oo-DAD — and the stress at the end because of the d ending. "Vivo" starts with a v as a b sound.

Where English speakers slip

Voice the h and the word grows a breathy middle, "a-HOR-a", where the two vowels should simply meet. It is completely silent, so the two vowels meet directly. The r then gets the English curl, which turns the ending into "ora" as in the English "aura" — it should be a single flick. Do not confuse it with "la hora" either: same silent h, but that one means the hour.