Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la luna" in Spanish?

lah LOO-nah — the u is a rounded "oo", never the "yoo" of English "lunar".

la luna /la ˈlu.na/

LU-na: two syllables, and the first carries the beat, straight from the default rule for a vowel-final word. The plural "lunas" keeps it. The related "lunes" — Monday, literally the moon's day — is also front-stressed, so the family stays rhythmically consistent.

Listen: la luna

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Sound it out

la A bright forward l and a wide "ah", unstressed. Its l and the noun's l are the same bright sound.

lu A second bright l and a pure "oo" as in "boot", carrying the stress. Spanish u never adds a y glide before it.

na A clean n and a wide-open "ah", the feminine ending.

Hear it in a sentence

Hoy se ve la luna.

You can see the moon today.

Listen: Hoy se ve la luna.

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"Hoy se ve la luna" uses the impersonal "se", meaning roughly one can see the moon. Without it, "ve la luna" would need a subject. "Ve" is a single syllable with a b sound for the v: beh. Say "se ve la luna" as one linked run.

Where English speakers slip

The English "lunar" inserts a y glide, giving "LYOO-na", which Spanish never does. It is a clean rounded "oo". The final a then wants reducing to "uh", and both l's want darkening — keep them bright and forward. Two l's in a three-syllable phrase makes this a good drill for the Spanish l.