Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "terminar" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce terminar in Spanish?

terminar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /teɾ.miˈnaɾ/. It means “to finish.” tehr-mee-NAR, three beats with the beat at the end and two single taps of the r.

tehr-mee-NAR, three beats with the beat at the end and two single taps of the r.

terminar /teɾ.miˈnaɾ/

Three syllables, ter-mi-NAR, weight at the end thanks to the r. Regular throughout, so conjugated forms move the beat to the second-to-last syllable: ter-MI-no, ter-MI-nas, ter-mi-NA-mos. The related noun "término" carries an accent that pulls the beat all the way back to the third-from-last syllable, which the default rule never does on its own.

Listen: terminar

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

Sound it out

ter A dry dental t, a short "eh", and one quick tap of the r. Crucially the vowel stays clean — an English r would bend it into "ur".

mi A normal m and a tight "ee" as in "see". Unstressed, but never slackened toward "ih".

nar A clean n, a wide-open "ah" carrying the stress, and a second single tap to close.

Hear it in a sentence

Terminamos a las cinco.

We finish at five.

Listen: Terminamos a las cinco.

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

"Terminamos a las cinco" uses the we form, stressed on MA, and Spanish uses the present tense for a scheduled event where English might say we finish or we'll finish. "A las cinco" links across the boundary as ah-las-SEEN-ko, and "cinco" has its soft c before i and hard c before o — the same letter twice, two different sounds.

Where English speakers slip

This word looks so much like English "terminate" that speakers front-stress it and colour the first r American-style, producing "TER-mi-nate". Spanish puts the beat at the end and makes both r's single forward flicks. The unstressed i in the middle also gets reduced to a schwa by reflex; it should be a clear "ee", quick but fully formed.