Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "el mar" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce el mar in Spanish?

el mar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /el maɾ/. It means “sea.” el mahr — one syllable, with a wide-open "ah" and a single flicked r.

el mahr — one syllable, with a wide-open "ah" and a single flicked r.

el mar /el maɾ/

The noun is a single beat, so there is nothing to assign. The plural "mares" adds a syllable and lands its beat on MA, the second-to-last, as the rule for this ending requires. Note this noun is usually masculine but turns feminine in poetic and nautical usage — "la mar" is a real phrase, just a marked one.

Listen: el mar

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Sound it out

el A short "eh" and a bright forward l, unstressed and leaning onto the noun.

ma A normal m and a wide-open "ah" as in "father". The vowel finishes fully before the tongue moves for the r.

r A single quick tap of the tongue tip against the ridge behind the upper teeth. Not the drawn-out English r that colours everything before it.

Hear it in a sentence

El mar está tranquilo hoy.

The sea is calm today.

Listen: El mar está tranquilo hoy.

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"El mar está tranquilo hoy" uses estar because calmness is a passing condition. "Tranquilo" has a silent u after qu and a single tapped r in its opening cluster: tran-KEE-lo. Say "el mar está" and the r links straight into the following vowel.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers produce the r of "mar" as in "marvel", bunching the tongue and stretching the vowel into a long "ahr". Spanish keeps the "ah" pure and adds a single flick afterward, so the two sounds stay separate. There is also a false friend worth flagging: "el mar" is the sea, while "la marea" is the tide and "la marca" is a brand.