Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "venir" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce venir in Spanish?

venir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /beˈniɾ/. It means “to come.” beh-NEER — it starts with a b sound, and the stress lands on the final syllable.

beh-NEER — it starts with a b sound, and the stress lands on the final syllable.

venir /beˈniɾ/

Two syllables, ve-NIR, weight on the last thanks to the r ending. The conjugation splits into two shapes: "VEN-go" for I come, with an irregular g appearing from nowhere, and "VIE-nes" and "VIE-ne", where the stressed e breaks into ie. Both put the beat on the stem, unlike the infinitive.

Listen: venir

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Sound it out

v A b sound. Spanish treats b and v as the same letter for pronunciation purposes, so nothing here involves the teeth touching the lip.

e A short "eh" as in "bed", unstressed but at full value.

ni A clean n plus a tight "ee" as in "see". This is the stressed beat.

r One quick flick of the tongue tip to close the word.

Hear it in a sentence

Ven a mi casa el sábado.

Come to my house on Saturday.

Listen: Ven a mi casa el sábado.

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"Ven a mi casa el sábado" uses the bare command form "ven", one of a small set of irregular imperatives that drop their ending entirely. "Sábado" carries an accent pulling the beat back to the third-from-last syllable, SÁ-ba-do, which is always a marked exception in Spanish. Note the article before the day, doing the work of English on.

Where English speakers slip

The v is the first thing to go, buzzed with the teeth like an English v — say a b instead. The vowel in the second syllable is the next: English slackens it toward "ih", giving "veh-NIHR", where Spanish wants a tight "ee". And keep the r a light tap; letting it curl turns the ending into the English word "near", which bends the vowel out of shape.