Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "fácil" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce fácil in Spanish?

fácil is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈfa.sil/. It means “easy.” FAH-seel, stressed on the first syllable — and the accent is what makes that happen.

FAH-seel, stressed on the first syllable — and the accent is what makes that happen.

fácil /ˈfa.sil/

Two syllables, FÁ-cil, and the accent is genuinely load-bearing. The word ends in l, so the default rule would put the beat on the final syllable and give "fa-CIL". The mark overrides that and pulls it to the front. In the plural, "fáciles" now ends in s, so the default would already give fa-CI-les — but the accent stays to keep the beat on FÁ.

Listen: fácil

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Sound it out

fá A normal f and a wide-open "ah" carrying the accent and the stress. Not the flat vowel of English "fast".

cil Before an i, the c is a plain "s". Then a tight "ee" and a bright, forward l. Keep that l light — English would darken it at the end of a word.

Hear it in a sentence

El examen fue fácil.

The exam was easy.

Listen: El examen fue fácil.

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"El examen fue fácil" uses "fue", the past of ser, for a completed judgement about the exam. "Examen" is stressed on XA — ek-SA-men — and needs no accent because it ends in n. Its plural "exámenes" does need one, for the same reason "fáciles" does.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers reach for their own word "facile" and produce "FA-sul" with a reduced ending, or ignore the accent and say "fa-SEEL". Neither works: the beat is on the first syllable and the second one keeps a tight "ee" plus a bright l. The c also gets hardened into a k by readers who have not absorbed that c before i is an s.