How to pronounce Uruguay
Uruguay has 3 syllables. The stress is on the first syllable, "yur". Capital letters in the respelling show where the stress falls.
Say uruguay and check it
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Press record, say "uruguay" once or twice at normal speed, then stop. You will see which syllables matched and what to change.
Uruguay syllables
Uruguay has 3 syllables: YUR-uh-gway.
- YURjɝ
- uhə
- gwayɡweɪ
Three syllables in English: YUR-uh-gwy.
Sounds to watch
The w sound
Round your lips as if for oo and glide into the next vowel. No teeth contact, or it turns into a v.
Weak syllables
The unstressed syllables use a short, relaxed uh (schwa). Rushing through them lightly is correct; giving them a full vowel sounds unnatural.
The er vowel
American er (as in her) is a single vowel with the tongue bunched back. Keep the r quality through the whole vowel.
Gliding vowels
The ay and oh vowels glide: start on one sound and slide into a short ee or oo. Cutting them short makes them sound like eh and aw.
Uruguay in a sentence
- Uruguay won the first football World Cup in 1930.
- Beef exports are central to Uruguay’s economy.
Read either sentence into the recorder above. The check judges only the target word, so the rest of the sentence can be rough.
What Speakeroo listens for
These are the pronunciation patterns from Speakeroo’s speech feature catalog that this target tends to expose. The check above reports the ones it hears.
- Stress placed on the wrong syllableMake the correct syllable longer, clearer and more prominent.
- /v/ and /w/ confusedUse teeth-on-lip contact for /v/ and rounded lips without contact for /w/.
- Schwa not reducedRelax unstressed vowels toward a short neutral sound.
- Diphthong flattened into one vowelMove smoothly between both vowel positions.
- Every syllable stressed equallyEmphasise one main syllable and reduce the others.
Questions
How do you pronounce uruguay?
Uruguay is pronounced /ˈjɝ.ə.ˌɡweɪ/, or YUR-uh-gway in plain letters. It has 3 syllables and the stress falls on the first syllable, "yur".
How many syllables are in uruguay?
3: YUR-uh-gway. The capital letters mark the stressed syllable.
How do you use uruguay in a sentence?
Uruguay won the first football World Cup in 1930. Beef exports are central to Uruguay’s economy.
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