Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "entender" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce entender in Spanish?

entender is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /en.tenˈdeɾ/. It means “to understand.” en-ten-DEHR, three beats with the stress right at the end.

en-ten-DEHR, three beats with the stress right at the end.

entender /en.tenˈdeɾ/

Three syllables, en-ten-DER, beat at the end thanks to the r. This is a stem-changing verb: when the stress falls on the stem, the second e turns into ie, giving en-TIEN-do and en-TIEN-des; when it moves away, as in en-ten-DE-mos, the plain e returns. Three of the word's four e's are involved in that dance.

Listen: entender

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Sound it out

en A short "eh" and a released n. Unstressed, so it moves quickly, but the vowel keeps its full quality.

ten A dry dental t, another short "eh", another n. The word deliberately repeats itself here, which makes it easy to slur — resist that.

der A dental d, a third "eh", and a single tapped r. This is the stressed syllable, so it should be the loudest and longest of the three.

Hear it in a sentence

No entiendo la pregunta.

I don't understand the question.

Listen: No entiendo la pregunta.

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"No entiendo la pregunta" uses the stem-changed form, and "no entiendo" links the o directly into the e so the two words share one breath. "Pregunta" contains a tapped r inside a cluster — pre-GOON-ta — and its u is a full "oo" vowel, since it follows a g rather than a q.

Where English speakers slip

The repeated e's tempt English speakers into reducing the first two, producing "un-tun-DEHR". All three must stay as clear "eh" vowels. Front-stressing to "en-TEN-der" is the next error, and the third is missing the stem change when conjugating — "entendo" instead of "entiendo" is one of the most common beginner slips, and it happens precisely because the infinitive gives no hint that the vowel will split.