LingoDrop
Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "aqui" in Portuguese (Portugal)?
Say "uh-KEE" — stress the second syllable, and keep the first "a" short and weak.
Stress is on the final syllable "qui"; the initial "a" is unstressed and reduces to a light "uh".
Listen: aqui
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Hear it in a sentence
Podes esperar aqui.
You can wait here.
Listen: Podes esperar aqui.
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"Podes esperar aqui" (You can wait here) uses "podes", the informal second-person singular of "poder" (can/to be able to), typical of everyday spoken European Portuguese when addressing someone as "tu". "Aqui" placed at the end of the sentence simply confirms the location where the waiting should happen.
Where English speakers slip
English speakers sometimes try to pronounce "qu" as "kw", as in English "quick", but before "i" or "e" in Portuguese "qu" is always a plain hard "k" sound with no "w" glide. They may also stress the first syllable out of habit, saying "AH-kee", when European Portuguese firmly stresses the second syllable.