Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "pequeño" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce pequeño in Spanish?

pequeño is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /peˈke.ɲo/. It means “small.” peh-KEH-nyoh, three beats — the ñ is one fused sound, not "n" plus "y".

peh-KEH-nyoh, three beats — the ñ is one fused sound, not "n" plus "y".

pequeño /peˈke.ɲo/

Three syllables — pe-QUE-ño — with the stress on the second-to-last, exactly, straight from the default rule for a word ending in a vowel. The ñ counts as a single consonant when splitting syllables, so the break falls before it rather than through it. All four forms keep the same stress.

Listen: pequeño

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Sound it out

pe An unaspirated p and a short "eh". Unstressed, so it goes quickly, but the vowel stays clear.

que A hard k with no puff of air — the u is a silent spelling device keeping the c hard before an e — plus another short "eh", this one stressed.

ño The ñ is a single palatal nasal: the flat middle of the tongue presses against the roof of the mouth and the sound comes out through the nose. It is one movement, not an n followed by a separate y. Then a pure "oh".

Hear it in a sentence

Vivimos en un pueblo pequeño.

We live in a small town.

Listen: Vivimos en un pueblo pequeño.

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"Vivimos en un pueblo pequeño" places the adjective after the noun, the standard Spanish order. "Pueblo" has the ue glide in one beat, PWEH-blo, and "vivimos" starts with a v pronounced as a b. Say "pueblo pequeño" and you get two unaspirated p's in a row — a good test of keeping the air still.

Where English speakers slip

The ñ is what learners approximate rather than produce: they say "pe-KEN-yo" with two separate sounds, when it should be one continuous palatal nasal made in a single tongue position. Try saying the middle of "onion" and freeze there. The u after q also gets pronounced by English readers, giving "pe-KWEH-nyo" — it is silent. And the final o wants reducing to "uh", which Spanish never allows.