Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

alto is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written ['aɫtu]. It means “tall.” Say "AHL-too," but let the L feel dark and thick in your throat, almost like the L in English "cold," not a light front-of-mouth L.

Say "AHL-too," but let the L feel dark and thick in your throat, almost like the L in English "cold," not a light front-of-mouth L.

alto ['aɫtu]

Stress is on the first syllable, AL; the l before a consonant is a "dark l" (velarized), and the final -o reduces to a short [u].

Listen: alto

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Sound it out

al The a is open like "father," but the l that follows is dark and heavy, pulled back in the throat — think of the L in English "ball," not the crisp L in "love."

to A plain, true dental t (tongue touches the back of the upper teeth) followed by a reduced "oo" vowel, not a full "oh."

Hear it in a sentence

O teu irmão é muito alto.

Your brother is very tall.

Listen: O teu irmão é muito alto.

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"O teu irmão é muito alto" (Your brother is very tall) places "alto" after the verb "é" (is), the standard word order for adjectives describing a permanent trait with "ser." "Muito" here works as an adverb meaning "very," agreeing with nothing since adverbs don't inflect — a useful contrast for learners who might expect it to match "irmão" in gender.

Where English speakers slip

Learners tend to pronounce the l in "alto" the same crisp way as English "love" or "lake." In European Portuguese, l before a consonant is dark and velarized, produced with the back of the tongue raised — closer to the L at the end of English "call" than the L at the start of a word. Skipping this makes the word sound flat and non-native even though the vowels are right.