Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "salir" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce salir in Spanish?

salir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /saˈliɾ/. It means “to go out / to leave.” sah-LEER, with the stress at the end and a bright, forward l.

sah-LEER, with the stress at the end and a bright, forward l.

salir /saˈliɾ/

Two syllables, sa-LIR, beat on the last from the r ending. The irregularity shows up in the I form, "SAL-go", where a g appears out of nowhere, and in the future "sal-DRÉ", which needs a written accent to hold the stress on the final vowel. The bare command is "sal", a single syllable.

Listen: salir

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Sound it out

sa A hissing s and a wide-open "ah". Unstressed, quick, but never reduced to "suh".

li A bright l with the tongue tip just behind the upper teeth, then a tight "ee" as in "see". This is the stressed beat.

r A single flick of the tongue tip to close the word, leaving the "ee" before it clean.

Hear it in a sentence

Salimos a las ocho.

We're leaving at eight.

Listen: Salimos a las ocho.

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"Salimos a las ocho" uses the we form, stressed sa-LI-mos on the second-to-last syllable per the default rule. The phrase "a las ocho" links right through — ah-la-SO-cho — with the s of "las" carrying into the silent-h-free vowel of "ocho". Spanish uses the present tense here for a planned departure, where English needs a future.

Where English speakers slip

The vowel in the stressed syllable gets slackened into the "ih" of English "sill", giving "sa-LIHR". Spanish i is always the tight "ee" of "seen". The l is the second issue: English darkens an l before a consonant or at a syllable end, and Spanish never does, so keep the tongue tip forward. Meaning-wise, note that "salir con" means to date someone, which is not obvious from to leave.