Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "caro" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce caro in Spanish?

caro is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈka.ɾo/. It means “expensive.” KAH-roh, two beats with a single tapped r — not the rolled trill of "carro".

KAH-roh, two beats with a single tapped r — not the rolled trill of "carro".

caro /ˈka.ɾo/

Two syllables, CA-ro, beat on the first, which is the default placement for a word ending in a vowel. All four forms keep it there. This word is the standard minimal pair for the Spanish r contrast: "caro" with a tap versus "carro" with a trill, identical apart from that one consonant.

Listen: caro

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Sound it out

ca A hard k with no puff of air, then a wide-open "ah" as in "father" carrying the stress.

ro A single quick tap of the tongue tip against the ridge behind the upper teeth, then a pure "oh". One flick only — this is the sound that keeps "caro" (expensive) apart from "carro" (car).

Hear it in a sentence

Este hotel es muy caro.

This hotel is very expensive.

Listen: Este hotel es muy caro.

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"Este hotel es muy caro" uses ser because the price is treated as a characteristic of the hotel. The h in "hotel" is silent, so "este hotel" runs together as es-teh-o-TEL. "Muy" is one syllable, "mwee", with the u gliding rather than standing as its own vowel.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers produce the r of "car", bunching the tongue backward, which both muffles the sound and colours the "ah" before it. A Spanish tap is a single forward flick with the vowel left completely clean. Overcorrecting into a trill is the other error, and it is a meaningful one: "carro" is a car, so an over-rolled r can turn an expensive hotel into a vehicle.