Skip to content
edumaterial.net
Menu
Change language

Back to Spanish

r and rr: one tap or a trill

CEFR A1

pero

/ˈpeɾo/

but

perro

/ˈpero/

dog

What tells the two sounds apart

  • /ɾ/Make one brief tongue-tip contact just behind the upper teeth, at the ridge.
  • /r/Let the tongue tip vibrate at the ridge. Use airflow rather than forcing it.

Why it is hard

English r usually has no tongue-tip contact. Practise “pero” and “perro” separately, then alternate them: the sound changes the meaning. A single written r at the start of a word, as in “rojo”, has the trill. The model is a careful Spain pronunciation; regional r sounds also vary in the Americas.

El perro está arriba, pero no está solo.

To practise

  1. caro/ˈkaɾo/expensive
  2. carro/ˈkaro/cart; car in much of the Americas
  3. rojo/ˈroxo/red
  4. arriba/aˈriba/up; above