Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "seguro" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce seguro in Spanish?

seguro is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /seˈɣu.ɾo/. It means “sure / safe.” seh-GOO-roh, three beats with a soft g and a single tapped r.

seh-GOO-roh, three beats with a soft g and a single tapped r.

seguro /seˈɣu.ɾo/

Three syllables, se-GU-ro, beat on the second-to-last, following the default rule. All four forms keep it. The noun "seguridad" moves the beat to the end because of its d ending, and "seguro" itself doubles as a noun meaning insurance — same sound, same stress, different job.

Listen: seguro

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Sound it out

se A hissing s and a short "eh" as in "bed". Unstressed but fully formed.

gu Between vowels the g softens: the back of the tongue rises toward the roof of the mouth without quite touching, so the air keeps flowing. Then a pure "oo" carrying the stress.

ro A single tap of the tongue tip and a pure "oh". One flick, not a roll, since the r sits between vowels.

Hear it in a sentence

Estoy seguro de eso.

I'm sure about that.

Listen: Estoy seguro de eso.

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"Estoy seguro de eso" needs the preposition "de" after the adjective, which English drops — you are sure of that. Note the choice of estar: with ser, "soy seguro" would describe you as a safe or reliable person, not a confident one. "De eso" merges the two e sounds into one longer vowel.

Where English speakers slip

Half the difficulty is the g, hardened into the plosive of "go" when between vowels it should be soft and almost breathy. The r then gets the English curl instead of a single flick. And the ser-estar split matters here as much as anywhere: "estoy seguro" is I am sure, "es seguro" is it is safe, and swapping them produces sentences that sound odd rather than merely accented.