LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el león" in Spanish?
el leh-OHN, two beats — the e and o are separate syllables, not one glide.
Two syllables, le-ÓN, and the accent is genuinely needed. The word ends in n, so the default rule would give "LE-on". The mark moves the beat to the end. The plural "leones" drops the accent, since the extra syllable puts the default stress on the right beat all by itself.
Listen: el león
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Hear it in a sentence
El león vive en África.
The lion lives in Africa.
Listen: El león vive en África.
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"El león vive en África" ends on a word with an accent pulling the stress three syllables from the end: Á-fri-ca. Continents and countries are capitalised in Spanish even though days and months are not. "Vive" has two b sounds where the spelling shows v's.
Where English speakers slip
The English "lion" is a one-syllable-plus-glide word and readers import that shape, producing "LEE-on". Spanish gives the e and o separate beats with the stress on the second. The accent then gets dropped in writing, which would move the beat forward. And the l should stay bright rather than picking up the English darker quality.