Palabra Lexi · common words in Spanish

How to say "horse" in Spanish

"Horse" in Spanish is caballo, pronounced kah-BAH-yoh (stress on the syllable in capitals). It is a masculine noun (el caballo, plural los caballos).

Pronunciation is spelled out in English, one syllable at a time, with the stressed syllable in capitals. The speaker button uses your browser's built-in Spanish voice. Gender and plural: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

How to pronounce caballo

Caballo is pronounced kah-BAH-yoh, in IPA /kaˈbaʝo/. Caballo has three syllables, kah-BAH-yoh, with the stress on the second. There is no written accent because the word follows the basic rule: words ending in a vowel, -n or -s are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.

• Ll sounds like the y in "yes" in most accents.

Listen: normal and slow speed, in your browser's Spanish voice. IPA: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Is caballo masculine or feminine?

Caballo is masculine, so it takes el (the) and un (a): el caballo. The plural is los caballos. That fits the usual pattern: most nouns ending in -o are masculine.

Example sentences

Un caballo blanco
a white horse

Monto el caballo
I ride the horse

El caballo corre rápido
The horse runs fast

How to remember caballo

caballo [kah-BAH-yoh] sounds like the English “cab-eye-oh”. Picture this:

The horse works as a cab: winks an eye — oh! — and you're already in the saddle.

A sound-alike plus a vivid scene is the keyword method, a well-studied way to learn vocabulary. How it works.

Practice caballo

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