Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "los zapatos" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce los zapatos in Spanish?

los zapatos is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /los saˈpa.tos/. It means “shoes.” lohs sah-PAH-tohs — the z is a plain hissing s, never a buzz.

lohs sah-PAH-tohs — the z is a plain hissing s, never a buzz.

los zapatos /los saˈpa.tos/

Three syllables — za-PA-tos — with the stress on the second-to-last, straight from the default rule. The singular "zapato" keeps the same placement, since changing between a vowel and an s ending never moves the default. The related "zapatería" stretches to five syllables and needs an accent to break the i from the a.

Listen: los zapatos

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Sound it out

los A bright l, a pure "oh", and a hissing s, unstressed.

za In Latin American Spanish the z is a clean "s" in every position, followed by a wide-open "ah".

pa An unaspirated p and a second wide "ah", carrying the stress.

tos A dental t with no puff of air, a pure "oh", and a final hissing s.

Hear it in a sentence

Estos zapatos me quedan chicos.

These shoes are too small on me.

Listen: Estos zapatos me quedan chicos.

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"Estos zapatos me quedan chicos" uses the same "quedar" construction as the trousers sentence, and "chicos" here means small rather than boys — a Latin American usage. The ch is as in English "church", and the final s on both words marks the plural clearly.

Where English speakers slip

The z gets buzzed English-style, giving "za-PA-tos" with a genuine z at the front. Latin American Spanish hisses every z. Both a vowels then want differentiating, and the t wants an English puff. In Spain that z would be a th sound, but the s pronunciation you are learning is understood everywhere.