How to pronounce “policía”
Hear how “policía (police, police officer)” sounds in Spanish, then read the breakdown below.
policíapoh-lee-SEE-ah (Latin America) · poh-lee-THEE-ah (Spain)
Accent
Breakdown
| Meaning | police, police officer |
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| Syllables | po · li · cí · a (4) |
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| Stress | The written accent marks the stress: CÍ. |
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| IPA (Latin America) | /po.li.ˈsi.a/ |
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| IPA (Spain) | /po.li.ˈθi.a/ |
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Tips for English speakers
Common mistake: Stress the í: poh-lee-SEE-ah.
- c before e or i sounds like s in Latin America and like the "th" in "think" in most of Spain.
- The accent on í keeps it in its own syllable, so policía has 4 syllables.
- Keep every vowel short and pure: a = "ah", e = "eh", i = "ee", o = "oh", u = "oo". No gliding.
Learn more: Spain vs. Latin America · Stress and accent marks · Spanish vowels
Example sentences
Llama a la policía.Call the police.
El policía nos ayudó.The police officer helped us.
More words
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