Spanish pronunciation tips: single & double R – Episode 33

Spanish pronunciation tips: single & double R

Podcast episode 33 – SEE ALL EPISODES

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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Hi, welcome back to Speak Spanish with Maria Fernandez. I’m Maria Fernandez, a native Spanish teacher.

Today’s question comes from Ben, one of my Twitter followers. A couple of weeks ago Ben contacted me to say: “Lately, I’ve been trying to improve my Spanish pronunciation. I’ve noticed that I cannot say words like PERO with one R and PERRO with two Rs. Both words seem to sound the same when I say them. How can I pronounce them like a native?”

See also: Maria’s step-by-step Spanish courses.

Spanish pronunciation tips: intro

The single and double R sounds, are two of the most difficult sounds in Spanish. You should work on them regularly, so people can tell whether you’re saying PERO or PERRO.

I remember when I was learning English. I had a pronunciation book with pairs of words that sound very similar, but not identical. It showed you how to produce the different sounds, and it had listening and speaking drills to learn to say them like a native.

Today’s lesson is based on that. I’m going to walk you through how to make both sounds, and how to get PERO and PERRO right every time.

If you do the drills in this lesson several times over the next few days, you’ll soon master these two words.

So, what’s the difference between the single R and the double RR? What do you have to do to produce each sound?

Spanish pronunciation tips: the double R

To produce the double R sound, RRRRR, you need to place the tip of your tongue as if you were going to say the letter T in English. Like in the word: Ten.

Try for yourself. With the tip of your tongue placed as if you were going to say the word Ten, now make your tongue vibrate. RRRR RRRR. To vibrate, the tip of your tongue has to stay up there. RRRR .Notice that if you move your tongue away from your palate, you cannot make it vibrate. RRRR.

To do the exercises in this lesson, you need to speak out loud. If you’re quiet, the vibration won’t work: RRR.

Let’s now say the cluster: RRO.

Remember to place the tip of your tongue in the right place: RRO.

We’re now going to say the whole word: PERRO.

You may want to practice saying the two syllables on their own: PE – RRO.

And now together: PERRO.

Make sure the tip of your tongue moves to the right place fast enough: PERRO.

Spanish pronunciation tips: the single R

Let’s now move on to the single R. Notice that this sound is quite different from that of the English R. So, how is it produced in Spanish?

The single R does NOT have a trill. Instead, this sound is produced by a single flap against the front of your palate: R.

To make this sound, the tip of your tongue goes in the same place as for the double R. As if you were going to say the English word Ten. But, this time, you simply flap your tongue once. Don’t make it trill: R.

Let’s now say the cluster: RO.

And now we’re going to say the whole word: PERO.

To make it easier, practice saying the two syllables on their own: PE – RO.

And now together: PERRO.

Make sure the tip of your tongue moves to the right place fast enough: PERO.

Notice how there’s no trill in this word: PERO.

Spanish pronunciation tips: listening drill

Let’s now do a listening drill. Can you tell me whether the words I say have a single or a double R?

perro
double

pero
single

pero
single

perro
double

perro
double

pero
single

Spanish pronunciation tips: speaking drill

And now, let’s do a speaking drill. We’re going to say the two words, one after the other. Repeat after me:

pero – perro

pero – perro

And again:

pero – perro

pero – perro

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