Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "por" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce por in Spanish?

por is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /poɾ/. It means “for / by / through (cause, means).” por, one syllable, with a dry p and a single tap of the r at the end.

por, one syllable, with a dry p and a single tap of the r at the end.

por /poɾ/

One unstressed syllable, leaning onto whatever follows. In "por favor" the phrase's only real peak is on VOR; in "gracias por todo" the weight sits on GRA and TO, with "por" slipping between them almost unnoticed.

Listen: por

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

p No puff of air after it. English p explodes; Spanish p is quiet, with the lips parting and the voice starting almost immediately.

o A pure, rounded "oh". Crucially, the r after it must not colour this vowel — in English the r reaches back and swallows the vowel, and Spanish keeps them separate.

r One quick flick of the tongue tip against the ridge behind the upper teeth. Not a trill, and not the bunched English r.

Hear it in a sentence

Gracias por todo.

Thanks for everything.

Listen: Gracias por todo.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Gracias por todo" uses "por" in its cause sense — thanks in exchange for, or on account of, everything. This is the half of the por/para split that deals with reasons and causes rather than goals and destinations. Say the phrase in one flow and you will hear the r tap once, cleanly, without stretching the vowel before it.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers pronounce this like the first syllable of "portion", which bends the o backward into the r and produces a long American "or". Spanish keeps the vowel pure and puts a single quick tap after it. The larger and longer-running difficulty is choosing "por" over "para": roughly, "por" covers cause, means, duration and exchange, while "para" covers purpose, destination and deadlines — but the boundary takes years to feel natural.