Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "poco" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce poco in Spanish?

poco is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈpo.ko/. It means “little / few.” POH-koh, two beats with an unaspirated p and two identical pure "oh" vowels.

POH-koh, two beats with an unaspirated p and two identical pure "oh" vowels.

poco /ˈpo.ko/

Two syllables, PO-co, with the weight on the first, as the default rule prescribes. All four forms keep it. The diminutive "poquito" swaps c for qu to protect the hard sound before an i and moves the beat to QUI — a good example of Spanish spelling bending to keep a pronunciation constant.

Listen: poco

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Sound it out

po A p with no puff of air after it, then a pure "oh" carrying the stress. Hold a palm to your mouth: an English p blows, a Spanish one does not.

co A hard k, also unaspirated, and a second "oh" identical in quality to the first. Only the loudness separates them.

Hear it in a sentence

Hablo un poco de español.

I speak a little Spanish.

Listen: Hablo un poco de español.

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"Hablo un poco de español" uses "un poco de" as a set quantity phrase, and the "de" is compulsory before the noun. "Hablo" has a silent h and a soft b between vowels. "Español" ends in l, so the default rule puts the beat on the last syllable with no accent needed.

Where English speakers slip

Both consonants get the English aspiration treatment, and both vowels get differentiated — English glides the first "oh" and reduces the second to "uh", giving "POH-kuh". They should be twins. There is also a meaning subtlety: "poco" alone leans negative, meaning not much, while "un poco" is neutrally a little. "Habla poco español" and "habla un poco de español" say quite different things.