Spanish pronunciation practice with real sentences, sound by sound

Try it now: four pure vowels

Esto es una secadora.

This is a dryer. Keep every vowel in secadora short and the same from start to end: “se-ka-DO-ra”, not “say-ka-doh-ruh”. The single r is one quick tap.

Say this line after the speaker

1:45–1:48 · After the speaker · Spanish After Hours, human-written captions

Five vowels that never change

Spanish has five vowel sounds, a e i o u, and each keeps its sound in every word, stressed or not. English glides its vowels and weakens the unstressed ones to “uh”; Spanish does neither. Say no as one clean “o”, not “noh-oo”, and keep the last a of otra a full “a”.

1. Esto es una secadora. This is a dryer. 1:45–1:48
2. ¿Quieres ver otra? Do you want to see another one? 4:43–4:45

B and V: one sound

In Spanish b and v are the same sound. At the start of a phrase and after m or n it is a full English b: Voy, un bolígrafo, contraventanas. Between vowels the lips only come close and the air keeps flowing, a softer b. There is no English v in Spanish.

1. Voy a poner dos zanahorias. I am going to add two carrots. 1:55–1:59
2. Esto es un bolígrafo marrón. This is a brown pen. 3:47–3:50
3. Y las contraventanas en esta casa son marrones. And the shutters on this house are brown. 0:32–0:36

Z and C: “th” in Spain, “s” in Latin America

The letter z, and c before e or i, sound like the th in “think” in most of Spain, and like s in Latin America. The speaker here is from Spain, so you will hear cocina as “ko-THEE-na”. Both are correct; pick one and keep it. Before a, o or u, c is a k: cosas, cámaras.

1. Es ropa sucia. It is dirty clothes. 0:48–0:52
2. Pero también compré otras cosas para la cocina. But I also bought other things for the kitchen. 5:58–6:02
3. Si voy muy rápido, ralentiza el vídeo. If I go too fast, slow the video down. 2:00–2:03
4. Yo creo que ya están cerrando. I think they are already closing. 2:17–2:19

J, H and QU: letters that don’t sound English

• j (and g before e or i) is a breathy sound from the back of the throat, like a strong h; in Spain it is often rough, like the ch in Scottish “loch”: dijo.
• h is silent: había is “a-BEE-a”, hondo is “ON-do”.
• qu is a plain k, and the u is silent: aquí is “a-KEE”, quieres is “KYEH-res”.

1. No te preocupes, me dijo. Don’t worry, he told me. 4:24–4:26
2. No había cámaras en la sala. There were no cameras in the room. 1:06–1:09
3. Algo raro está pasando aquí. Something strange is going on here. 0:00–0:02
4. Respira hondo, y vamos allá. Take a deep breath, and here we go. 3:51–3:54

LL and Y

In most of Spain and Latin America ll and y sound the same, close to the y in “yes”: llegar is “ye-GAR”. In Argentina and Uruguay both sound like the sh in “show” or the s in “measure”. Not an English l.

1. Tardaron un poco en llegar, pero me salvaron. They took a while to arrive, but they saved me. 9:13–9:18

Two lines above have it too: “Yo creo que ya están cerrando” (yo, ya) and “Respira hondo, y vamos allá” (allá). On its own, y (“and”) is just the vowel i.

R and RR

A single r between vowels is one quick tap of the tongue, like the tt in a fast American “butter”. rr, and an r at the start of a word, is a rolled r (a trill). For fourteen sentences sorted by r sound, see Spanish rolled R practice.

1. Y voy a cerrar la puerta. And I am going to close the door. 3:49–3:52
2. Aquí detrás está la carretera. The road is right behind here. 5:17–5:19
3. Pues porque la furgoneta está inclinada y ruedan. Because the van is tilted and they roll. 6:29–6:32

Linking words together

Spanish speakers run words into each other. A consonant at the end of a word joins the vowel that starts the next one, so Es una sounds like “e-SU-na”, and two vowels that meet often share one beat, so quedé en sounds close to “ke-DEN”. Say each sentence as one stream, not word by word.

1. Es una carretera de piedras. It is a road made of stones. 0:13–0:16
2. Al ver las preguntas, me quedé en blanco. When I saw the questions, my mind went blank. 0:56–1:00

How to practise Spanish pronunciation with these sentences

1. Pick one sound a day. Read its rule, then listen to its sentences twice before you speak.
2. Say each line after the speaker three times. If it feels fast, choose 0.75× under “More options”.
3. Compare. Open Compare and play your take beside the original. Listen only for the bold word first, then for the whole line.
4. Come back tomorrow and say yesterday’s lines once before the next sound.

What Sada can and cannot tell you

Sada compares your take with the captions: which words its speech recognition heard, which it missed, and your timing against the speaker. It does not grade a single sound, so it cannot tell you whether your z was a th or an s, or how your vowels compare. A missed word is a hint to listen again; your ears judge the sound. Recordings stay on your device.

For a ten-minute routine and Spanish videos by level, see the Spanish shadowing guide. In Arabic, the same sentences with their meaning and pronunciation in Arabic letters: جمل إسبانية مترجمة بالعربية مع النطق.

Every line comes from Spanish After Hours videos with human-written captions, and was checked in October 2026 against the captions Sada uses, with the range the app opens. Captions can change.

Pronunciation in other languages

• Italian pronunciation practice
• Portuguese nasal vowels
• Spanish rolled R practice