Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "aprender" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce aprender in Spanish?

aprender is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a.pɾenˈdeɾ/. It means “to learn.” ah-pren-DEHR, three beats with the stress at the end and a soft dental d.

ah-pren-DEHR, three beats with the stress at the end and a soft dental d.

aprender /a.pɾenˈdeɾ/

Three syllables, a-pren-DER, beat at the end because of the r. The verb is regular, so the present tense shifts the stress to the middle syllable — a-PREN-do, a-PREN-des — always landing on the second-to-last syllable of the form. No accents are needed anywhere in the paradigm.

Listen: aprender

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Sound it out

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

pren An unaspirated p joined to a single tap of the r, then a short "eh" and a released n. Keep the p and r distinct — English blurs them together.

der A dental d with the tongue on the upper teeth, a short "eh" carrying the stress, and a second single tap of the r.

Hear it in a sentence

Estoy aprendiendo español.

I'm learning Spanish.

Listen: Estoy aprendiendo español.

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"Estoy aprendiendo español" uses the progressive, and "aprendiendo" is a mouthful worth breaking down: a-pren-DIEN-do, four beats with the ie fusing into one. "Español" ends in l, so the default rule puts the beat on the last syllable with no accent required, and the ñ in the middle is one fused sound.

Where English speakers slip

Nearly every English speaker reduces that opening a to a schwa — the most persistent Spanish error there is — turning the word into "uh-pren-DEHR". Keep it open. The pr cluster then invites a curled English r that muffles the p, and the d between vowels wants softening toward a th. Three small corrections, and the word stops sounding like the English "apprehend".