LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la montaña" in Spanish?
lah mon-TAH-nyah — the ñ is one fused sound, not "n" plus "y".
Three syllables — mon-TA-ña — with the stress on the second-to-last, which is where the default rule puts it. The ñ counts as one consonant for syllable division, so the split falls before it. The plural "montañas" keeps the same placement, as does the adjective "montañoso" once you shift for its extra syllable.
Listen: la montaña
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Hear it in a sentence
Subimos a la montaña el domingo pasado.
We climbed the mountain last Sunday.
Listen: Subimos a la montaña el domingo pasado.
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"Subimos a la montaña el domingo pasado" needs the "a" after a verb of motion — you climb to the mountain in Spanish. "Domingo" is stressed do-MIN-go with a soft g, and "pasado" has a soft d between vowels. Days of the week are not capitalised.
Where English speakers slip
The ñ gets split into "mon-TAN-ya", two sounds where one belongs. Say the middle of English "canyon" — which is in fact borrowed from Spanish "cañón" — and freeze on that tongue position. The unstressed o then wants reducing and the final a wants collapsing into "uh". Keep all three vowels distinct and full.