Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "el color" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce el color in Spanish?

el color is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /el koˈloɾ/. It means “color.” el koh-LOR, with the stress on the last syllable — the opposite of English COL-or.

el koh-LOR, with the stress on the last syllable — the opposite of English COL-or.

el color /el koˈloɾ/

Two syllables in the noun, co-LOR, with the weight at the end. The word ends in r, a consonant other than n or s, so the default rule puts the stress on the final syllable and no accent is needed. In the plural, "colores" now ends in s, and the default shifts the beat to co-LO-res — still second-to-last, still unmarked.

Listen: el color

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Sound it out

el A short "eh" as in "bed" and a bright, forward l. The article is unstressed and leans onto the noun; do not give it a beat of its own.

co A hard k with no puff of air, then a pure "oh". Unstressed but never reduced to "kuh" — this is the syllable English speakers most often swallow.

lor Another bright l, a pure "oh", and a single quick tap of the r. This is the stressed beat, so it should be the loudest and longest part of the phrase.

Hear it in a sentence

Me gusta ese color.

I like that color.

Listen: Me gusta ese color.

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"Me gusta ese color" uses the gustar structure, so the colour is doing the pleasing and "me" is receiving it. "Ese" means that one, pointing at something a little way off, and it links smoothly into "color" — say it as EH-seh-ko-LOR in one breath. The masculine "ese" agrees with the masculine noun.

Where English speakers slip

This is a near-twin of English "color", and that resemblance does most of the damage: speakers front-stress it as "KOH-lor" and reduce the second syllable, exactly as English does. Spanish flips the pattern — koh-LOR — and keeps both o's fully rounded. The final r is a tap, not the English r that swallows the vowel before it, so avoid the "lore" ending entirely.