Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "aquí" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce aquí in Spanish?

aquí is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈki/. It means “here.” ah-KEE, with the accent pinning the stress to the final syllable and a silent u.

ah-KEE, with the accent pinning the stress to the final syllable and a silent u.

aquí /aˈki/

Two syllables, a-QUÍ, and the accent is essential. The word ends in a vowel, so the default rule would give "A-qui". The mark drags the beat to the end. Compare "acá", a near-synonym common in parts of Latin America, which needs an accent for exactly the same reason.

Listen: aquí

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Sound it out

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

quí A hard k with no puff of air — the u is silent, as it always is in qu before e or i — then a tight "ee" carrying the accent and the stress.

Hear it in a sentence

Ven aquí, por favor.

Come here, please.

Listen: Ven aquí, por favor.

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"Ven aquí, por favor" uses the bare command "ven", one of the short irregular imperatives. Say "ven aquí" and the n links straight into the a, giving beh-na-KEE as one flow. And "por favor" gives you a b sound where the spelling says v, plus two single tapped r's.

Where English speakers slip

English says the u in "quick" and "quiz", so readers voice it here as well and produce "ah-KWEE". After q it is always silent in Spanish. Then the accent gets ignored, producing "AH-kee" with a front beat. The opening a also wants reducing to a schwa. Three habits, and correcting them all turns a mangled word into a clean one.