Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la hoja" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce la hoja in Spanish?

la hoja is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /la ˈo.xa/. It means “leaf.” lah OH-hah — silent h at the front, throaty h in the middle from the j.

lah OH-hah — silent h at the front, throaty h in the middle from the j.

la hoja /la ˈo.xa/

Two syllables, HO-ja, with the weight on the first, as the default rule prescribes for a vowel-final word. The plural "hojas" keeps it. The word covers both a leaf on a tree and a sheet of paper, and the stress is identical in both senses.

Listen: la hoja

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Sound it out

la A bright forward l and a wide "ah". Because the noun opens on a silent h, the article links straight into its vowel.

h Silent. No breath at all — the word begins on the o.

o A pure "oh" carrying the stress.

ja A raspy back-of-the-mouth sound, like the ch in Scottish "loch", followed by a wide-open "ah".

Hear it in a sentence

La hoja cayó del árbol.

The leaf fell from the tree.

Listen: La hoja cayó del árbol.

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"La hoja cayó del árbol" uses "cayó" with an accent holding the stress on the final ó and marking the past tense — and note the y appears to break up vowels that would otherwise collide. "Del" is the compulsory contraction of de plus el, and "árbol" carries its own accent.

Where English speakers slip

This word contains a silent h and a throaty j within three letters of each other, and English readers regularly swap them — voicing the h and softening the j. Neither is right. Start on the vowel and put the rasp where the j is. It is the same lesson as "hijo", and worth drilling on both words together.