By mosehayward Last updated: August 31, 2022

20 Animal Sounds in Spanish: Can You Bray, Squawk and Meow en Español?

Sure, you think you can quack like a duck.

But can you quack in the language of Cervantes?

This post is for those who might be a bit tapped out from learning to speak Spanish to humans, with all their complex slang, metaphors and counter-intuitive expressions.

It’s time, then, to learn to speak to animals, and yes, the Spanish ear has a whole different way of hearing their squawks, honks and roars.

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20 Animal Sounds in Spanish

What follows is my shortlist of the fauna most worth talking to, accompanied by the noises you should make when communicating with them in Spanish.

I’ve also included the verbs that describe these sounds (just like English’s “a lamb bleats,” “a horse whinnies,” etc.). At times, theses verbs and onomatopoeia provide lovely insight into how Spanish speakers hear and experience these animal sounds, and sometimes they’re just plain fun.

I’ve tried to present the sounds that are most commonly used in the whole Spanish-speaking world and use their most common spellings, but do note that there are some regional variations out there.

Now let’s meet some animals and say hello to them… in Spanish.

1. rana (frog) — croá, croá

Las ranas croan (frogs croak), of course.

But what about that sexy/scary/creepy way that some old (and even occasionally young) Andalusian men hack out syllables through the cigarette tar lining their throats?

In English we’d say that they croak, and the figurative use of croar is fine in Spanish as well. Ellos croan (they croak) can also be used for talking about anyone who is hoarse.

2. perro (dog) — guau

We live with, love and communicate with dogs all the time, so it’s no surprise that we have lots of verbs for the types of noises that they produce. In Spanish, they are:

ladrar — to bark; when talking about humans, to make noises without follow-through, to bluster
gañir — to yelp, howl
regañir — to repeatedly yelp
gruñir — to growl menacingly
aullar — to howl
arrufarse — to bark menacingly while showing teeth

3. pato (duck) — cuac cuac

The verb used for duck quacking is graznar, and quite fabulously it can also be used to describe high-pitched, unimportant babble sometimes emitted by humans. Here’s an example:

Graznan sus quejas. (They cry out/babble out their complaints.)

4. pájaro (bird) — pío

A pío (that’s an accent mark, not a dot, so make sure you stress the I: “PEE-oh”) is a tweet or chirp. If you want to emphasize that you won’t reveal a secret, you can say:

No digo ni pío. (I won’t say a peep.)

The verb form is piar, and pipiar and piolar mean the same thing.

To trill or warble in your throat, whether you’re a human or a bird, is trinar, gorjear or gorgoritar.

Then, of course, there’s the activity that provides meaning to the lives of all, human and fowl alike: cantar (to sing).

5. gallo (rooster) — quiquiriquí, kikirikí

If you ever find yourself running dry for conversation in an international business mixer, youth hostel or airport, just ask your fellow world travelers what sound they think a rooster makes. It’s hard to top cock-a-doodle-do for aural silliness, but the Spanish quiquiriquí comes close.

The verb in Spanish is cacarear, and when you hear it used with a human as the subject it means to boast about something. For example:

Cacarea el dinero que ha gañado. (She’s bragging about the money she earned.)

6. gallina (hen) — coc co co coc

The verb cacarear is also used for hens, even though their sounds (and the onomatopoeia for them) are quite different.

7. gato (cat) — miau

Cats can maullar or mayar (to meow), bufar (to hiss; for humans it means to seethe), fufar (also to hiss), ronronear (to purr) and marramizar (to howl, caterwaul).

8. vaca (cow) — mu

Spanish has the same onomatopoeia for cow noises as English—their phonetic spelling of it is simply superior.

Spanish verbs for the beasts’ communication are also better. Cows can mugir (to moo), remudiar (to moo back and forth between calf and cow) and bramar (to moo loudly/angrily).

9. lobo (wolf) — aúúú

Wolves’ speech is described with aullar (to howl) and also, as in English, una persona aulla de dolor (a person howls in pain). Otilar and guarrear are additional verb options for wolf howls.

10. tigre (tiger) — grgrgrgr

Los tigres rugen (the tigers roar) employs the verb rugir (to roar). Angry humans and even the heavens can be said to roar using this verb as well, for example:

La tempestad ruge. (The storm is roaring.)

11. paloma (dove) — cu-curru-cu-cú, cucurrucucú

You know the dove’s sound in Spanish already if you have any taste in music or movies. My favorite is the Caetano Veloso version of this song, as used in the film “Hable con ella” (“Talk to Her”).

If you’re not done crying, check out the Lila Downs version too.

Fittingly, the verb for describing doves’ noises, arrullar, means to talk softly and/or lovingly, as with the English “to coo.”

12. mono (monkey) — i-i-i

Los monos chillan (monkeys screech). The verb chillar is very common in Spanish for describing human shouting, shrieking and yelling too:

Le chillé para que se callara. (I screamed at her so that she would shut up.)

13. pavo (turkey) — gluglú

As with English, Spanish has a ridiculous-sounding verb for this ridiculous animal’s ridiculous noises: gluglutear (to gobble).

14. oveja (sheep), cabra (goat) — bee, mee

Ovejas y cabras balan (sheep and goats bleat) using the verb balar (to bleat).

15. cerdo (pig) — oinc-oinc

Los cerdos gruñen (pigs grunt/oink) using the verb gruñir, which also means to complain, mutter and whine.

So Spanish porkers are seen as complainers, but then, maybe they’re tired of seeing their brethren’s cured legs (jamón ibérico) hanging in every home, café, and bar.

16. cuclillo (cuckoo) — cucú

Cuclillo is a cuckoo in Spanish; when used to describe a human it means a cuckold.

17. cuervo (crow) — cruaaac-cruaac

Los cuervos graznan (crows caw). You’ll notice that in spite of their very different sounds, they’ve been assigned the same verb as ducks (graznar).

18. abeja (bee) — bzzzz

Las abejas zumban (bees buzz). The verb zumbar also means to hit, slap, thump or whack someone. Thus, in the video below, la abeja no zumba in any sense, but rather, Burns zumba a la abeja:

19. búhos (owl) — uu uu

Los búhos ululan (owls hoot). The wind, in Spanish, doesn’t howl—it also hoots: El viento ulula.

20. burro (donkey) — iii-ahh

I’ve never met a language that treated donkeys with any respect. In Spanish, los burros rebuznan (the donkeys bray) and rebuznar means to loudly insult or complain, usually for no good reason.

Ser burro means to be incredibly dumb.

I know that these sounds will prove useful for you on the farms and fields of Spanish-speaking lands.

But of course, you’ll have to hear and not just read these sounds. So if you don’t have a Spanish speaker around to coach you on your animal vocalizations, you can opt for Spanish audio or videos. You can find them in many places online or included with language learning programs like FluentU, which equips Spanish video and audio clips with interactive tools so you can practice listening, reading and speaking skills altogether.

I hope that the way they’re heard and the verbs that describe them will also give you plenty of interesting ways to express yourself when and if you decide to return to speaking with humans.