# Linking (sinalefa): why natives sound fast

> id: pronunciation.linking-sinalefa · category: pronunciation · depth: standard · levels: B2 · review: internally_reviewed

**Summary.** Words merge across boundaries: vowels fuse (va a hacer ≈ 'vaser'), final consonants latch onto the next vowel (los amigos ≈ lo-sa-mi-gos). Decoding this is the listening breakthrough.

Vowel meets vowel → one syllable: mi hijo ≈ 'mijo', ¿cómo está usted? flows as one chain. Identical vowels collapse: de este ≈ 'deste'.

Spanish isn't faster than English; it just never pauses between words. Train by reading phrases aloud as single breath-groups: un-a-mi-go-de-Ma-ría.

The listening breakthrough is realizing Spanish isn't faster than English — it just never pauses between words. Vowels fuse across boundaries (mi hijo ≈ 'mijo', de este ≈ 'deste') and final consonants latch onto the next vowel (los amigos ≈ lo-sa-mi-gos). Train by reading phrases aloud as one breath-group: un-a-mi-go-de-Ma-rí-a.

## Examples
- Voy a ir a la oficina. — I'm going to go to the office. *(Sounds like 'voya-ira-lao-ficina'.)*
- ¿Está en casa? — Está aquí. — Is he home? — He's here.
- ¿Cómo está usted? se dice de corrido: 'cómoestáusted'. — 'How are you?' is said all in one run, with no gaps between the words.

Related: pronunciation.syllabification, pronunciation.vowels

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