Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "tengo" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce tengo in Spanish?

tengo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈteŋ.ɡo/. It means “I have.” TENG-goh, stress on the first syllable, with a hard g like "go" and no puff after the t.

TENG-goh, stress on the first syllable, with a hard g like "go" and no puff after the t.

tengo /ˈteŋ.ɡo/

Two syllables, TEN-go, weight on the first. The word ends in a vowel, so the default rule stresses the second-to-last syllable and nothing has to be written. This matters across the whole verb: "tengo" is front-stressed, but "tenemos" moves the beat to the middle, and "tendré" needs an accent to hold it at the end.

Listen: tengo

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Sound it out

te The tongue tip touches the upper teeth for the t — further forward than in English — and no air puffs out after it. Then a short "eh" as in "bed".

n Before a g, this n slides back and becomes the "ng" of "sing". It happens automatically once you let the g follow closely, and it is what gives the word its hum.

go A hard g as in "gate" — never the soft j sound of English "gentle" — plus a pure, unglided "oh".

Hear it in a sentence

Tengo clase a las diez.

I have class at ten.

Listen: Tengo clase a las diez.

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"Tengo clase a las diez" shows Spanish using "tener" where English would use a very different structure — you have class, you don't take it. Note there is no article before "clase"; Spanish drops it in this fixed kind of expression. And listen to "clase a las": the final e of "clase" merges with the a that follows, so it comes out KLAH-seh-ah-las in one flow.

Where English speakers slip

The first sound is the tell. English t is aspirated — hold your palm up and you feel the puff — while Spanish t is dry and dental, made with the tongue right against the teeth. Get that wrong and even a perfectly stressed "tengo" sounds foreign. The second common slip is the final o drifting into "oh-w" the way English "go" does. Cut it short and keep it pure.