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Spanish · Pronunciation · A1 to B2

Spanish intonation: how the voice turns a statement into a question

Same words, three meanings · tap to hear
highlow tie-nesham-bre
Grey line: a statement. Level, then a fall on the last stressed syllable, HAM-.

Short answer: intonation is the rise and fall of the voice across a sentence. In Spanish it does grammatical work: Tienes hambre. (You’re hungry) and ¿Tienes hambre? (Are you hungry?) use exactly the same words in the same order. Only the voice tells them apart: a statement falls at the end, a yes/no question rises. Questions with a question word (¿Dónde…?, ¿Qué…?) start high on that word and fall, as in English. Overall Spanish pitch moves in a narrower range than English, so English speakers often sound surprised or emotional when they don’t mean to.

Statement, yes/no, question word, list

Four basic tunes

Statement↘
VivoI-liveen Madrid.in Madrid
BEE-boh en mah-DREED · “I live in Madrid.”Why: Falls on the last stressed syllable, -DRID.
Yes/no question↗
¿Vivesyou-liveen Madrid?in Madrid
BEE-bes en mah-DREED · “Do you live in Madrid?”Why: Rises at the end. The word order is the same as the statement.
Question word↘
¿Dóndewherevives?you-live
DON-deh BEE-bes · “Where do you live?”Why: High on dónde, then down. A rise here would sound like you didn’t hear.
List↗ ↗ ↘
Pan,breadlechemilky huevos.and eggs
PAN, LEH-cheh ee WEH-bohs · “Bread, milk and eggs.”Why: Each item rises slightly; the last one falls to close the list.
Spanish rhythm

Every syllable gets its turn

EnglishSpanish phoTOgraphyfotograFÍa
Spanish is syllable-timed: each syllable takes roughly the same time, and unstressed vowels keep their full sound. Don’t swallow them as English does with the “a” in “photography”.
Emotion and politeness

¡Qué bien!

Pleasure
¡Quéhowbien!good
KEH BYEN · “How great!”Why: High start on qué, long fall on bien.
Surprise
¿En serio?in seriousness
en SEH-ryoh · “Really?”Why: A big rise: much wider than a normal question.
Polite request
¿Memepasasyou-passla sal?the salt
meh PAH-sahs lah SAL · “Could you pass the salt?”Why: A gentle rise turns a command into a request. A falling ending sounds blunt.
Doubt
Bueno…well
BWEH-noh · “Well…”Why: Level and long: the speaker is hesitating or not convinced.
Pauses change meaning

Mi hermano, que vive en Lima, …

A pause (a comma in writing) with a slight rise before it can change who or what you mean.

No pause
Mi hermanomy brotherque vivewho livesen Limain Limaes médico.is doctor
mee ehr-MAH-noh keh BEE-beh en LEE-mah es MEH-dee-koh · “My brother who lives in Lima is a doctor.”Why: Without pauses: one of several brothers, the one in Lima.
With pauses
Mi hermano,my brotherque vive en Lima,who lives in Limaes médico.is doctor
mee ehr-MAH-noh ↗ | keh BEE-beh en LEE-mah ↗ | es MEH-dee-koh · “My brother, who lives in Lima, is a doctor.”Why: With pauses: you have one brother; the Lima part is extra information.
Address
Come,eatJuan.Juan
KOH-meh | HWAN · “Eat, Juan.”Why: A pause: you are talking to Juan.
No address
ComeeatsJuan.Juan
KOH-meh HWAN · “Juan eats.”Why: No pause: Juan is the one eating.
Echo questions and surprise

¿Que viene quién?

When you didn’t catch something, or can’t believe it, Spanish repeats the sentence with a big rise, often starting with ¿Que…? (“That…?”).

Keep going

Related guides

la rPronunciation →Vowels, consonants and sounds.canciónStress and accents →Which syllable is stressed.¿dónde?Questions →Question words and word order.¿ ?Punctuation →Why ¿ opens the question.