LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el chico" in Spanish?
el CHEE-koh — the ch is as in "church" and the i is a tight "ee".
Two syllables, CHI-co, with the weight on the first, as the default rule prescribes for a vowel-final word. The ch counts as a single consonant for syllable division. The feminine "chica" and both plurals keep the same stress placement, and the word also works as an adjective meaning small in much of Latin America.
Listen: el chico
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Ese chico es mi vecino.
That boy is my neighbor.
Listen: Ese chico es mi vecino.
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"Ese chico es mi vecino" uses ser for identity. "Vecino" starts with a v as a b sound and has a soft c before i: be-SEE-no. Say "ese chico" and the final e links straight into the ch with no gap — Spanish runs word boundaries together as a matter of course.
Where English speakers slip
"CHIK-oh", borrowing the lax vowel of English "chick", is the usual first reading, when Spanish wants a tight "ee". The final o then gets reduced to "uh". Regionally, be aware that "chico" ranges from boy to guy to boyfriend depending on country and context, and in Mexico "chico" as an adjective meaning small is far more common than in Spain.