Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "el campo" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce el campo in Spanish?

el campo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /el ˈkam.po/. It means “countryside / field.” el KAHM-poh — a wide-open "ah" and an m before the p, as Spanish always writes it.

el KAHM-poh — a wide-open "ah" and an m before the p, as Spanish always writes it.

el campo /el ˈkam.po/

Two syllables — CAM-po — with the stress on the first, following the default rule for a vowel-final word. The plural "campos" keeps it. The related "campesino" adds two syllables and shifts the beat to SI, still second-to-last — the rule handles the whole family without any written marks.

Listen: el campo

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Sound it out

el A short "eh" and a bright forward l, unstressed.

cam A hard k with no puff of air, a wide-open "ah" carrying the stress, and an m — Spanish writes and says m before p and b, never n.

po An unaspirated p and a pure "oh", unstressed but fully rounded.

Hear it in a sentence

Mis abuelos viven en el campo.

My grandparents live in the countryside.

Listen: Mis abuelos viven en el campo.

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"Mis abuelos viven en el campo" uses "abuelos" for grandparents, the masculine plural covering a mixed pair. "Abuelos" glides its ue into one beat: a-BWEH-los. "Viven" has two b sounds where the spelling shows v's.

Where English speakers slip

The stressed vowel gets flattened toward the English "camp", when Spanish wants the wide "ah" of "father". The k and p then want English puffs of air. And the meaning is broader than English "field": "el campo" is the countryside in general, so "vivo en el campo" means I live in the country, not I live in a field.