Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ir" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce ir in Spanish?

ir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /iɾ/. It means “to go.” eer, one syllable — a tight "ee" closed by a single tapped r.

eer, one syllable — a tight "ee" closed by a single tapped r.

ir /iɾ/

One beat, and no decision to make about it. What makes this verb remarkable is that almost none of its conjugated forms contain the letters of the infinitive: "voy", "vas", "va", "fui", "iba". The stress in each has to be learned form by form, since the infinitive gives you no pattern to lean on.

Listen: ir

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Sound it out

i A tense "ee" as in "see", short and bright. Spanish i has only this one value; it never slackens into the "ih" of English "ill".

r One quick flick of the tongue tip against the ridge behind the upper teeth. The vowel before it stays completely clean — no English r-colouring.

Hear it in a sentence

Quiero ir al centro.

I want to go downtown.

Listen: Quiero ir al centro.

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"Quiero ir al centro" chains two verbs with no "to" in between, and "al" is the compulsory contraction of a plus el. Say "quiero ir" and the o of "quiero" runs straight into the i, giving KYEH-ro-EER as a single flowing unit. "Centro" has a soft c before e — SEN-tro — plus a tapped r.

Where English speakers slip

The whole word is two sounds and English mangles both: the vowel slackens toward "ih" and the r bunches backward, producing something like "urr". Say the vowel as in "see", hold it clean, and finish with one forward flick. Learners also confuse this with the English "ear", which has a glide in the middle — Spanish has a single steady vowel and then the tap.