LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el cielo" in Spanish?
el SYEH-loh, two beats — the c is an s and the ie glides into one sound.
Two syllables: CIE-lo, stressed on the first because the ie counts as one diphthong and the word ends in a vowel. The plural "cielos" keeps it. The related "celeste" drops the i entirely, since the diphthong only appears in the stressed stem — a pattern shared with dozens of Spanish words.
Listen: el cielo
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
El cielo está gris hoy.
The sky is gray today.
Listen: El cielo está gris hoy.
Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.
"El cielo está gris hoy" uses estar for a temporary weather state. "Gris" is one syllable with a tapped r in its cluster and a hissed s. Say "gris hoy" and the s links across the silent h into the glide, giving grees-OY as one run.
Where English speakers slip
Both of this word's opening sounds get English treatment: a hard c and a split ie, producing "KYEH-lo" or something even further off. Both come from English reading habits. It is one compact beat: s plus a y glide plus "eh". The word also means heaven, which is why "mi cielo" is a term of endearment rather than a meteorological observation.