Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "casi" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce casi in Spanish?

casi is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈka.si/. It means “almost.” KAH-see, stress on the first syllable, with a wide "ah" and a hissing s.

KAH-see, stress on the first syllable, with a wide "ah" and a hissing s.

casi /ˈka.si/

Two syllables, CA-si, beat on the first, straight from the default rule for a vowel-final word. It is an adverb, so it never changes form for gender or number — one shape, one stress, always. That makes it one of the simpler words in the course to get right.

Listen: casi

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Sound it out

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

si A voiceless hiss and a tight "ee" as in "see". The s stays clean even between vowels, where English would voice it into a z.

Hear it in a sentence

Casi siempre llego temprano.

I almost always arrive early.

Listen: Casi siempre llego temprano.

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"Casi siempre llego temprano" stacks two adverbs, and "casi" modifies "siempre" rather than the verb. "Llego" opens with the double l as a y sound, YEH-go, with a soft g between vowels. "Temprano" is stressed on PRA and contains a single tapped r inside its cluster.

Where English speakers slip

English voices s between vowels without thinking — compare "easy" — so this arrives as "KAH-zee". Spanish keeps it hissed. The first vowel also gets flattened toward the English "cast", when it should be the wide "ah" of "father". And do not confuse it with "casa" — one letter apart, and a house is not almost anything.