Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "la manera" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce la manera in Spanish?

la manera is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /la maˈne.ɾa/. It means “way / manner.” lah mah-NEH-rah, three beats with a single tapped r near the end.

lah mah-NEH-rah, three beats with a single tapped r near the end.

la manera /la maˈne.ɾa/

ma-NE-ra: three syllables, and the second-to-last carries the beat, straight from the default rule for a vowel-final word. The plural "maneras" keeps it. Note the phrase "de manera que" — meaning so that — has the same stress and is one of the commoner ways Spanish links a result to a cause.

Listen: la manera

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Sound it out

la A bright l and a wide "ah", unstressed.

ma A normal m and a wide-open "ah", unstressed but at full value.

ne A clean n and a short "eh" as in "bed", carrying the stress.

ra A single tap of the tongue tip and a final wide "ah". One flick, not a roll, since the r sits between vowels.

Hear it in a sentence

Es la mejor manera de aprender.

It's the best way to learn.

Listen: Es la mejor manera de aprender.

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"Es la mejor manera de aprender" needs "de" before the infinitive, which English replaces with to. "Aprender" is three beats stressed at the end because of its r ending. Say "de aprender" and the e links straight into the a with no break.

Where English speakers slip

What throws this word off is the r, curled English-style so that it colours both vowels around it: "mah-NAIR-uh". It is a single forward flick with clean vowels either side. The two unstressed a vowels then want reducing. Note also that "manera" and "modo" are near-synonyms, and "de todas maneras" and "de todos modos" both mean anyway.