Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

feio is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written ˈfɐj.u. It means “ugly.” Say "FAY-oo" but with the first part closer to English "buy" than "day" — think "FYE-oo".

Say "FAY-oo" but with the first part closer to English "buy" than "day" — think "FYE-oo".

feio ˈfɐj.u

Stress is on the first syllable "fei", whose diphthong leans toward an "ay-ish/eye-ish" sound rather than a pure "ay", a distinctly European Portuguese quality.

Listen: feio

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Sound it out

f As in English "fun".

ei In European Portuguese this diphthong is pulled toward a central vowel plus "y" glide, closer to the vowel in English "but" plus "y" than to a clean "ay" as in "day" — quite different from a plain Brazilian-style "ay".

o A short, tight final "oo".

Hear it in a sentence

Achei o quadro um pouco feio.

I found the painting a bit ugly.

Listen: Achei o quadro um pouco feio.

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"Achei o quadro um pouco feio" uses "achei" (I found/thought, from "achar") to express an opinion, softened by "um pouco" (a bit), a common hedging strategy in Portuguese to sound less blunt. "Feio" agrees with the masculine "quadro" (painting). This is a useful pattern for giving gentle, indirect opinions.

Where English speakers slip

The single biggest EP pronunciation trap is the "ei" diphthong: English speakers (and those trained on Brazilian audio) tend to say a clean "ay" as in "day", but Lisbon speech pulls that first vowel toward a more central, almost "uh/eye"-like quality. Listening to native Lisbon speakers saying "feio" or "seis" makes this shift much clearer than deriving it from spelling.