Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "no" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce no in Spanish?

no is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /no/. It means “no / not.” noh, one tight syllable — the vowel is a pure "oh" that does not slide into a w.

noh, one tight syllable — the vowel is a pure "oh" that does not slide into a w.

no /no/

One syllable, and unlike most short function words this one does carry weight — as a negation it takes real emphasis. In "no entiendo" the "no" is stressed and glued onto the verb, giving no-en-TIEN-do with two peaks rather than one.

Listen: no

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Sound it out

n A clean n with the tongue tip at the upper teeth, slightly further forward than the English n.

o A single, unmoving "oh". English "no" is really "noh-oo" with a glide at the end; the Spanish vowel is set once and held, then stopped.

Hear it in a sentence

No entiendo nada.

I don't understand anything.

Listen: No entiendo nada.

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"No entiendo nada" is a double negative, and Spanish requires it — "no" before the verb and "nada" after it are both mandatory, where English would find one of them redundant. Listen to "no entiendo": the o runs straight into the e with no gap, so the two words share a single breath.

Where English speakers slip

The only sound issue is the glide. English speakers say their own "no", which starts at "oh" and drifts toward "oo" as the lips close; Spanish holds one position and cuts it off. Say it shorter than feels natural and you will be close. The grammar catches more people than the phonetics: leaving out the second negative and saying "entiendo nada" is a very common beginner error, and it sounds distinctly wrong.