LingoDrop
Spanish · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "la música" in Spanish?
lah MOO-see-kah — the accent pulls the stress three syllables from the end.
Three syllables, MÚ-si-ca, and the accent is mandatory. The word ends in a vowel, so the default rule would give mu-SI-ca. The mark pulls the beat back three syllables from the end, and Spanish writes an accent on every such word without exception. The related "músico" behaves identically.
Listen: la música
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Escucho música todas las noches.
I listen to music every night.
Listen: Escucho música todas las noches.
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"Escucho música todas las noches" drops the article before "música", which Spanish does for general statements about an activity. "Todas las noches" means every night, with the plural doing the work of English every. "Escucho" opens with the es- cluster and a hard c.
Where English speakers slip
The English "music" inserts a y glide, giving "MYOO-si-ca", which Spanish never does — it is a clean rounded "oo". The s between vowels then wants voicing into a z. And ignoring the accent produces "mu-SI-ca", which is what the default rule would give and exactly what the mark forbids.