Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "el espejo" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce el espejo in Spanish?

el espejo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /el esˈpe.xo/. It means “mirror.” e-les-PEH-hoh — the j is a throaty h and the es- cluster runs together.

e-les-PEH-hoh — the j is a throaty h and the es- cluster runs together.

el espejo /el esˈpe.xo/

es-PE-jo: three syllables, and the second-to-last carries the beat, straight from the default rule for a vowel-final word. The plural "espejos" keeps it. The related verb "reflejar" moves the beat to the end because of its r ending, and its j is the same throaty sound.

Listen: el espejo

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

el A short "eh" and a bright l. The noun opens on a vowel, so the two words link with no break.

es A short "eh" and a hissing s, tightly joined with no supporting vowel in front.

pe An unaspirated p and a short "eh" carrying the stress.

jo A raspy back-of-the-mouth sound, like the ch in Scottish "loch", followed by a pure "oh".

Hear it in a sentence

Me miro en el espejo.

I look at myself in the mirror.

Listen: Me miro en el espejo.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Me miro en el espejo" uses the reflexive "mirarse" — I look at myself — which is what the "me" is doing. Without it, "miro el espejo" would mean I look at the mirror as an object. "Miro" is stressed MI-ro with a single tapped r.

Where English speakers slip

An English j turns this into "es-PEH-joe", the standard first reading of the letter. Pull it to the back of the throat. The opening cluster then gets propped up with an extra vowel, giving "eh-SPEH-ho" — es- runs together in Spanish. And the reflexive matters: dropping the "me" changes what you are looking at.