Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "lleno" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce lleno in Spanish?

lleno is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈʝe.no/. It means “full.” YEH-noh — the double l is a y sound, so this opens like the English "yes".

YEH-noh — the double l is a y sound, so this opens like the English "yes".

lleno /ˈʝe.no/

Two syllables, LLE-no, beat on the first, straight from the default rule. The ll counts as a single consonant for syllable division, which is why the split falls before it rather than between the two l's. All four gendered and plural forms keep the same stress.

Listen: lleno

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Sound it out

ll One sound, not two, and across Latin America it is a firm "y" as in "yes", made with the middle of the tongue rising toward the roof of the mouth. In Argentina and Uruguay it becomes a "zh" as in "measure". It is never an English l.

e A short "eh" as in "bed", carrying the stress.

no A clean n and a pure "oh", unstressed but fully rounded.

Hear it in a sentence

El autobús va lleno.

The bus is full.

Listen: El autobús va lleno.

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"El autobús va lleno" uses "ir" plus an adjective, a construction Spanish likes for describing how something is travelling — the bus goes full. "Autobús" carries an accent to hold the beat on the final syllable against its s ending, and its au glides into one syllable: ow-to-BOOS.

Where English speakers slip

Read the ll as English and the word turns into "LEN-oh", a different shape entirely. It is a y sound. The e then wants stretching into "ay", English-style, when it should be a short flat "eh". And the final o wants reducing — a habit worth naming because it affects almost every Spanish word ending in o.