Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ellos" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce ellos in Spanish?

ellos is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈe.ʝos/. It means “they / them.” EH-yohs, two beats — the double l is a y sound, and the final s hisses.

EH-yohs, two beats — the double l is a y sound, and the final s hisses.

ellos /ˈe.ʝos/

E-llos: two syllables, and the first carries the beat. Ending in s puts it under the default rule with nothing to write. The feminine "ellas" behaves the same way, and note that a mixed group of men and women takes the masculine "ellos" — the grammar defaults to masculine regardless of the proportions.

Listen: ellos

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Sound it out

e A short "eh" as in "bed", stressed, opening the word with no consonant in front.

ll A single y sound as in "yes", pressed a little firmer than the English one. It is one consonant, which is why the syllable break falls before it.

os A pure "oh" plus a voiceless hiss. That final s marks the plural, so it needs to be clearly audible.

Hear it in a sentence

Ellos llegan el domingo.

They arrive on Sunday.

Listen: Ellos llegan el domingo.

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"Ellos llegan el domingo" opens with a pronoun and follows it with another double l in "llegan", so you get the y sound twice in three words: EH-yos-YEH-gan. Spanish uses "el domingo" with the article where English says simply "on Sunday" — the article carries the on, and there is no separate preposition.

Where English speakers slip

English readers give the ll its English value and produce "ELL-ohs", which sounds like a plural of the name Ella rather than the Spanish pronoun. It is a y sound throughout Latin America. The final vowel then gets reduced into "uhs" and the s voiced into a z — both English reflexes. Keep the o rounded and the s hissed, since it is the only mark of plurality on the word.