LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el médico" in Spanish?
el MEH-thee-koh — the accent pulls the stress three syllables from the end.
Three syllables, MÉ-di-co, and the accent is mandatory. The word ends in a vowel, so the default would give me-DI-co. The mark pulls the beat back to the third-from-last syllable, which Spanish always writes. The feminine "médica" keeps it, and the noun "medicina" moves the beat to CI with no accent at all.
Listen: el médico
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
El médico llega a las diez.
The doctor arrives at ten.
Listen: El médico llega a las diez.
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"El médico llega a las diez" uses "llega" with the double l as a y sound. "A las diez" links across into a-las-DYES, with the z pronounced as a plain s and the ie fusing into one beat. Spanish uses the present tense for a scheduled arrival.
Where English speakers slip
The English "medical" pulls the vowel toward "eh-dih" and the accent gets ignored, giving "me-DEE-co". Spanish puts the beat firmly on MÉ. The d between vowels then wants hardening. Note also that "doctor" exists in Spanish too and is equally common in speech — "el doctor" is stressed on the final syllable because it ends in r.