Pronunciation of U and Ü

Start first lesson

1. Lesson 1

13 questions

2. Lesson 2

16 questions

3. Lesson 3

10 questions

Explanation

Quick Answer

The letter uin Spanish is pronounced like the letter group oo in moon or the letter u in June, but much shorter than in English and with rounded lips pushing forward. Compare the sound of oo and u in moon and June with the sound of u in their Spanish translations, lunaand junio.

The letter u sometimes appears with two dots on top. That sign is called umlaut in English, or diéresisin Spanish. It means that the letter is actually pronounced as the vowel /u/ in spite of being part of the letter groups gue or gui, for example in the words cigüeña(stork) and lingüista(linguist).

Written Vowels vs. Vowel Sounds

In Spanish, each written vowel corresponds to a single vowel sound called a phoneme (fonema). There are five vowels in Spanish: a, e, i, o, and u.

Although y is considered a consonant, it has the same sound as i in certain words and positions, such as hoy(today).

Remember that the h is almost always silent in Spanish, so it does not make any sound in the word hoy above.

The Sound of the Letter U

How to Pronounce U in Spanish

The letter u represents the Spanish vowel sound, or phoneme, /u/. Vowel sounds are made with your mouth open and not blocked by your tongue in any way.

To properly pronounce the vowel u in Spanish, your lips should be rounded, pushing forward, and barely open. The back of your tongue should be close to your soft palate. Check it out in these words: uña(nail), Ucrania(Ukraine), vuelo(flight), cuna(cradle), and espíritu(spirit).

When the U Goes Quiet

When a Spanish word contains the letter groups gue, gui, que, or qui, the letter u is silent, so those groups are pronounced /ge/, /gi/, /ke/, and /ki/—for example: guerra(war), guitarra(guitar), queso(cheese), and aquí(here).

Is the Spanish U Similar to the English U?

Sometimes it is. It’s similar to the English u that can be heard in words like tube or flute, whose translations have the Spanish u sound too: tuboand flauta. However, remember that the Spanish u is much shorter in duration.

Let’s look at some examples of words containing the letter u, whether the letter is stressed or unstressed, in different word positions and letter combinations.

Spanish	English	Stress	Position-Combination
último	last	stressed	beginning of word
unicornio	unicorn	unstressed	beginning of word
atún	tuna	stressed	inside word
buzón	mailbox	unstressed	inside word
champú	shampoo	stressed	end of word
tribu	tribe	unstressed	end of word
baúl	trunk	stressed	combined with a
agua	water	unstressed	combined with a
reúma	rheumatism	stressed	combined with e
afuera	outside	unstressed	combined with e
diurno	daytime (adjective)	stressed	combined with i
ciudad	city	unstressed	combined with i
flúor	fluoride	stressed	combined with o
cuota	fee	unstressed	combined with o

One Letter, One Sound

The pronunciation of the letter u varies little throughout the Spanish-speaking world, so there shouldn’t be much difference between the way tutú(tutu) sounds in Managua, Santiago de Chile, or Santo Domingo.

The Sound of the Letter Ü

You might have noticed that the letter u sometimes appears with two dots on top. That sign is called umlaut in English, or diéresisin Spanish. It means that the letter is actually pronounced as the vowel /u/ in spite of being part of the letter groups gue or gui, for example in the words lingüística(linguistics) and pingüino(penguin).

Let’s look at some examples of words containing the letter ü and what vowel the ü is combined with, either e or i.

Spanish	English	Vowel
pingüino	penguin	i
cigüeña	stork	e
vergüenza	shame	e
lingüística	linguistics	i
lingüista	linguist	i
bilingüismo	bilingualism	i
ambigüedad	ambiguity	e
agüita	tea	i
antigüedad	antiquity	e
piragüista	canoeist	i
ungüento	ointment	e
nicaragüense	Nicaraguan	e
averigüé	I found out	e

Now let's take a look at some sentences that contain u and ü in Spanish!

Spanish	English
Hay una fuente en la puerta principal de la universidad.	There is a fountain at the front gate of the university.
El piragüista vio pingüinos desde la piragua.	The canoeist saw penguins from the canoe.
Averigüé todo sobre esta antigüedad.	I found out all about this antique.
Esto es una agüita o infusión.	This is a tea or infusion.
Cortó las uvas con el cuchillo.	She cut the grapes with the knife.
Este ungüento está hecho con bambú.	This ointment is made with bamboo.
¿En qué parte del universo viven los unicornios?	Where in the universe do unicorns live?
Me da vergüenza hablar de temas tabú.	I feel shame talking about taboo subjects.
Hay lingüistas que estudian el bilingüismo.	There are linguists who study bilingualism.
El guepardo bebió agua y después se durmió.	The cheetah drank water and then fell asleep.
A Ulises le gusta tocar la guitarra.	Ulises likes to play the guitar.
El biólogo nicaragüense estudia las cigüeñas.	The Nicaraguan biologist studies storks.