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Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el pasto" in Spanish?
el PAHS-toh — an unaspirated p, a wide-open "ah", and a dry dental t.
Two syllables, PAS-to, beat on the first, the placement the default rule gives for a vowel-final word. The word is normally uncountable, so the plural rarely appears. Note the related "pastar" — to graze — moves the beat to the end because of its r ending.
Listen: el pasto
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Los niños juegan en el pasto.
The children are playing on the grass.
Listen: Los niños juegan en el pasto.
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"Los niños juegan en el pasto" uses "juegan" with the stem change unique to "jugar", where a stressed u becomes ue. Its j is the throaty back-of-mouth sound: HWEH-gan. "Niños" needs its ñ as one fused sound.
Where English speakers slip
English "past" is the near-match readers reach for, and its vowel is too tight — Spanish wants the wide "ah" of "father". The p then wants an English puff, and the final o wants reducing. Regionally, "césped" and "hierba" also mean grass — "pasto" is the everyday Latin American word, while Spain leans toward "césped" for a lawn.