Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "algo" in Portuguese (Portugal)?

Q: How do you pronounce algo in Portuguese (Portugal)?

algo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈaɫgu/. It means “something.” Say "AHL-goo", with a dark, thick "l" (like the "l" in English "cold") and the final "o" closing to "oo".

Say "AHL-goo", with a dark, thick "l" (like the "l" in English "cold") and the final "o" closing to "oo".

algo /ˈaɫgu/

Stress is on the first syllable; the "l" before a consonant is velarized (a dark "l"), and the unstressed final "o" always closes to "oo", not "oh".

Listen: algo

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Sound it out

al The "l" here is a dark, back-of-the-mouth sound like the "l" in English "milk" or "cold", not the light "l" of "love".

g A hard English "g" as in "go", since it's followed by "o" — Portuguese "g" is only soft before "e" and "i".

o Unstressed final "o" always collapses to a short "oo" sound in European Portuguese speech, quite different from the fuller "oh" Brazilian speakers often use.

Hear it in a sentence

Preciso de te dizer algo.

I need to tell you something.

Listen: Preciso de te dizer algo.

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"Preciso de te dizer algo" means "I need to tell you something", with "algo" functioning as an indefinite pronoun just like English "something". Notice the construction "preciso de + infinitive" ("need to") requires the preposition "de", which English doesn't need before its infinitive — a small but frequent trap when building similar sentences from scratch.

Where English speakers slip

The final "o" is the main pitfall: English speakers often pronounce it as a full "oh" sound (as in "go"), but European Portuguese consistently shortens and closes unstressed final "o" to "oo", almost swallowed. This is one of the clearest audible differences from Brazilian Portuguese, where that final "o" tends to stay fuller and more open.