Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la lluvia" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce la lluvia in Spanish?

la lluvia is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /la ˈʝu.βja/. It means “rain.” lah YOO-byah — the double l is a y sound and the v is a soft b.

lah YOO-byah — the double l is a y sound and the v is a soft b.

la lluvia /la ˈʝu.βja/

Two syllables, LLU-via, with the weight on the first because the ia counts as one diphthong and the word ends in a vowel. The ll also counts as a single consonant. The verb "llover" moves the beat to the end and swaps the u for an o, giving yo-BER — same stem, quite different shape.

Listen: la lluvia

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Sound it out

la A bright forward l and a wide "ah". This is a real 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.

u A pure "oo" as in "boot", carrying the stress.

via The v is a soft b between vowels, then the i glides into the a as a y. One beat, "byah", never "vee-ah".

Hear it in a sentence

La lluvia no para.

The rain isn't stopping.

Listen: La lluvia no para.

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"La lluvia no para" uses "parar" without a reflexive, which is fine here — "no se para" would emphasise the stopping more. "Para" is stressed PA-ra with a single tapped r, and it is a verb here rather than the preposition met earlier in this course.

Where English speakers slip

Three sounds go wrong at once: the ll gets an English l, the v gets buzzed with the teeth, and the ia gets split into two syllables. The result, "loo-VEE-ah", is unrecognisable. Fix them in order — y sound, soft b, single glide — and the word settles into two clean beats: YOO-byah.