Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la llave" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce la llave in Spanish?

la llave is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /la ˈʝa.βe/. It means “key.” lah YAH-beh — the double l is a y sound and the v is a soft b.

lah YAH-beh — the double l is a y sound and the v is a soft b.

la llave /la ˈʝa.βe/

Two syllables, LLA-ve, with the weight on the first, which is the default placement for a vowel-final word. The ll counts as a single consonant for syllable division. The plural "llaves" keeps it, and the related "llavero" (keyring) adds a syllable and shifts the beat to VE.

Listen: la llave

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Sound it out

la A bright forward l and a wide "ah". A genuine l, immediately before a double l that is not.

ll One sound: a firm "y" as in "yes" across Latin America, made with the middle of the tongue rising toward the roof of the mouth.

a A wide-open "ah" carrying the stress.

ve A soft b between vowels — the lips approach without meeting — plus a fully pronounced short "eh".

Hear it in a sentence

No encuentro la llave del cuarto.

I can't find the room key.

Listen: No encuentro la llave del cuarto.

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"No encuentro la llave del cuarto" uses "del", the compulsory contraction of de plus el. "Encuentro" shows a stem change with ue in one beat, and "cuarto" glides its ua into one beat too. Two different diphthongs in one short sentence.

Where English speakers slip

Neither of this word's characteristic sounds survives an English reading: the ll becomes a real l and the v gets buzzed, giving "LAH-veh". Both need fixing: y sound at the front, soft b in the middle. The final e then gets dropped by readers treating it as silent, which loses a whole syllable. Having a real l in "la" right before the ll makes this harder — practise the pair together.