Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "el hermano" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce el hermano in Spanish?

el hermano is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /el eɾˈma.no/. It means “brother.” e-ler-MAH-noh — silent h, so the article and noun fuse into one run.

e-ler-MAH-noh — silent h, so the article and noun fuse into one run.

el hermano /el eɾˈma.no/

Three syllables: her-MA-no, stressed on the second-to-last, straight from the default rule. The plural "hermanos" keeps the stress and means siblings under the masculine-default convention, so "tengo tres hermanos" does not tell you how many are brothers.

Listen: el hermano

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Sound it out

el A short "eh" and a bright l. With the silent h, the l links directly into the noun's opening vowel.

her The h makes no sound. A short "eh" and a single tap of the r follow — and that vowel must stay clean rather than being coloured by the r.

ma A normal m and a wide-open "ah" carrying the stress.

no A clean n and a pure "oh", unstressed but fully rounded.

Hear it in a sentence

Mi hermano vive en Bogotá.

My brother lives in Bogotá.

Listen: Mi hermano vive en Bogotá.

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"Mi hermano vive en Bogotá" links "mi hermano" into mee-er-MA-no across the silent h. "Bogotá" carries an accent to hold the stress on the final syllable against its vowel ending — drop it and the beat would land on GO. And "vive" has two b sounds where the spelling shows v's.

Where English speakers slip

Voicing the h produces "el her-MA-no" with a breathy break, when the phrase should flow as one unit. The r then gets the English curl, which bends the first syllable into "HUR". Keep a clean "eh" and flick the tongue once. The final o also wants reducing — a habit that affects nearly every Spanish noun ending in o.