Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "allí" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce allí in Spanish?

allí is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈʝi/. It means “there.” ah-YEE — the double l is a y sound and the accent puts the stress at the end.

ah-YEE — the double l is a y sound and the accent puts the stress at the end.

allí /aˈʝi/

Two syllables, a-LLÍ, and the accent is doing real work — the word ends in a vowel, so the default would give "A-lli". The mark moves the beat to the end. Its cousin "allá" needs an accent for the same reason, and both are distinguished from "aquí" mainly by distance: aquí is here, allí is there, allá is further still.

Listen: allí

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

a A wide-open "ah" opening the word, unstressed but at full value.

ll One sound, a firm "y" as in "yes" across Latin America, made with the middle of the tongue rising toward the roof of the mouth. Never an English l.

í A tight "ee" as in "see", carrying the accent and the stress.

Hear it in a sentence

La tienda está allí.

The store is over there.

Listen: La tienda está allí.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"La tienda está allí" uses estar for location. "Tienda" packs ie into one beat, TYEN-da, with a soft d between vowels. Say "está allí" and the final á merges with the opening a of "allí" into one longer vowel — es-TA-YEE — which is exactly how a native speaker would run it.

Where English speakers slip

An English l for the ll produces "al-EE", which is not how any Spanish speaker says this word. It is a y sound throughout Latin America. The accent then gets ignored, giving "AH-yee" with a front beat. And the opening a wants reducing to a schwa, which flattens the word's whole shape — keep it wide open even though it is quick.