Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "azul" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce azul in Spanish?

azul is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈsul/. It means “blue.” ah-SOOL, stressed on the second syllable — the z is a plain s, not a buzz.

ah-SOOL, stressed on the second syllable — the z is a plain s, not a buzz.

azul /aˈsul/

Two syllables, a-ZUL, with the weight at the end. The word ends in l — a consonant that is not n or s — so the default rule sends the stress to the last syllable, and no accent is needed. In the plural "azules" the ending changes to s and the beat slides to a-ZU-les, second-to-last, still unmarked.

Listen: azul

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Sound it out

a An open "ah" as in "father", unstressed but at full value. English would shrink this opening syllable to "uh"; Spanish keeps it wide.

z In Latin American Spanish, z is a clean hissing "s" in every position, including between vowels like this. There is no z buzz anywhere in the language as it is spoken across the Americas.

ul A pure "oo" as in "boot", tightly rounded, closed by a bright forward l. This is the stressed beat.

Hear it in a sentence

Mi auto es azul.

My car is blue.

Listen: Mi auto es azul.

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"Mi auto es azul" ends the sentence on the adjective with nothing after it, so "azul" is not agreeing with anything visible — but it does not have to, since "azul" has one form for both genders. "Auto" is two beats, OW-to, with the au gliding into a single syllable, and "es azul" links across the boundary into e-sa-ZUL.

Where English speakers slip

Nearly everyone buzzes the z on first sight, giving "ah-ZOOL". Latin American Spanish has no such sound: hiss it. The stress trips people too, since English adjectives of this shape tend to be front-heavy, so "AH-zool" slips out. The accent-free spelling is telling you the default rule applies, and for a word ending in l that means the final syllable takes the weight.