Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "malo" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce malo in Spanish?

malo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈma.lo/. It means “bad.” MAH-loh, stress on the first syllable, with a wide-open "ah" and a bright l.

MAH-loh, stress on the first syllable, with a wide-open "ah" and a bright l.

malo /ˈma.lo/

Two syllables, MA-lo, with the weight on the first, as the default rule prescribes for a vowel-final word. The interesting wrinkle is that "malo" shortens to "mal" directly before a masculine singular noun — "un mal día" — and that shortened form is one syllable ending in l, so its stress needs no thought at all.

Listen: malo

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Sound it out

ma A normal m and a wide-open "ah" as in "father", carrying the stress. Not the flat vowel of English "mallet".

lo A bright, forward l with the tongue tip just behind the upper teeth, then a pure "oh". Unstressed, but fully rounded.

Hear it in a sentence

Este café está malo.

This coffee is bad.

Listen: Este café está malo.

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"Este café está malo" uses estar rather than ser, and that choice changes the meaning: with estar, the coffee has gone bad; with ser, it would be bad by nature. The accent on "está" pulls the beat to the final syllable, and "café" needs its own accent for the same reason.

Where English speakers slip

The vowels are what English gets wrong here. The stressed a gets flattened toward the vowel in "mallet", and the final o gets reduced to "uh", giving "MAL-uh". Spanish wants a wide-open "ah" and a fully rounded "oh". The l should also stay bright and forward rather than picking up the darker quality English gives it between vowels.