Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "el trabajo" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce el trabajo in Spanish?

el trabajo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /el tɾaˈβa.xo/. It means “work / job.” el trah-BAH-hoh — a crisp tr, a soft b, and a throaty j.

el trah-BAH-hoh — a crisp tr, a soft b, and a throaty j.

el trabajo /el tɾaˈβa.xo/

Three syllables, tra-BA-jo, beat on the second-to-last, straight from the default rule for a vowel-final word. The verb "trabajar" shifts the beat to the end because of its r ending, so the noun and the infinitive have opposite rhythms while sharing a stem.

Listen: el trabajo

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Sound it out

el A short "eh" and a bright l, unstressed.

tra A dry dental t joined to a single tap of the r, then a wide "ah". English fuses t and r into a "ch"-like sound; Spanish keeps them separate.

ba A soft b between vowels — the lips approach without meeting — plus a second wide "ah" carrying the stress.

jo A raspy back-of-the-mouth sound, like the ch in Scottish "loch", followed by a pure "oh".

Hear it in a sentence

Salgo del trabajo a las seis.

I leave work at six.

Listen: Salgo del trabajo a las seis.

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"Salgo del trabajo a las seis" uses "del", the compulsory contraction of de plus el. "Salgo" shows the irregular g that appears in the I form of "salir". And "a las seis" links across into a-las-SAYSS, with the ei gliding into one beat.

Where English speakers slip

The j gets read as an English j, giving "tra-BA-joe", which is the standard error for this letter. Move it to the throat. The b then gets popped when it should be soft between vowels, and the tr cluster picks up an English "ch" quality. All three a vowels also want differentiating — keep them equally wide open.