Spanish · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "último" in Spanish?

Q: How do you pronounce último in Spanish?

último is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈul.ti.mo/. It means “last.” OOL-tee-moh, with the accent pulling the stress all the way back to the first syllable.

OOL-tee-moh, with the accent pulling the stress all the way back to the first syllable.

último /ˈul.ti.mo/

Three syllables, ÚL-ti-mo, and the accent is essential. The word ends in a vowel, so the default rule would give ul-TI-mo. The mark drags the beat back to the third-from-last syllable, a placement Spanish calls esdrújula — and every word stressed that far back must carry a written accent, without exception. That makes these the easiest accents to predict in the whole language.

Listen: último

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Sound it out

úl A pure "oo" as in "boot" carrying the accent and the stress, closed by a bright forward l. English would darken that l before a consonant; Spanish keeps it light.

ti A dry dental t and a tight "ee". American English would flap this t into a d, and that has to be resisted.

mo A normal m and a pure "oh", unstressed but fully rounded.

Hear it in a sentence

Este es el último tren.

This is the last train.

Listen: Este es el último tren.

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"Este es el último tren" places the adjective before the noun, which is normal for ordinals and words like this one. "Tren" is one syllable with a tr cluster and a released n. Say "el último" and the l links straight into the ú, giving e-LUL-ti-mo in one flow.

Where English speakers slip

Start with the accent, because ignoring it gives "ul-TEE-mo" with the beat in the middle. Spanish marks third-from-last stress every single time, so seeing the accent on the first syllable is a reliable instruction. The u then gets read as the English "ul-" of "ultimate", a flat "uh" sound, when Spanish wants a rounded "oo". And the middle t must not be flapped into a d.