LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "el viento" in Spanish?
el BYEN-toh — it starts with a b sound and the ie glides into one beat.
Two syllables — VIEN-to — with the stress on the first because the ie counts as one diphthong and the word ends in a vowel. The plural "vientos" keeps it. The adjective "ventoso" drops the i, once again showing that the diphthong belongs to the stressed stem only.
Listen: el viento
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
El viento cerró la puerta.
The wind closed the door.
Listen: El viento cerró la puerta.
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"El viento cerró la puerta" uses "cerró" with an accent holding the stress on the final ó and marking the past tense — without it, "cerro" would be a hill. The double r must be trilled. And "puerta" contains a ue glide plus a tapped r, which contrasts nicely with that trill.
Where English speakers slip
The v gets buzzed, giving "vee-EN-to", with the ie also split into two syllables. Make it a b and compress the glide. The final o then wants reducing. Note also that Spanish says "hace viento" for it is windy, using "hacer" the same way it does for sun and cold — never "es viento".