Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

feriado is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /fɨɾiˈadu/. It means “holiday.” Say "fuh-ree-AH-doo", with the first syllable swallowed to "fuh" and the stress landing clearly on the third syllable "AH".

Say "fuh-ree-AH-doo", with the first syllable swallowed to "fuh" and the stress landing clearly on the third syllable "AH".

feriado /fɨɾiˈadu/

Stress falls on the third syllable, a full open "a"; the initial "fe" reduces to "fuh", and the final "o" closes to "oo" as always.

Listen: feriado

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Sound it out

fe Unstressed "e" reduces to a brief "uh" sound, giving "fuh" rather than a clear "feh".

ri A light, tapped "r" plus a clear "ee" vowel, similar to the "ri" in Spanish "río" but with a lighter tap.

a The stressed syllable, a full, open "ah" vowel standing out clearly against the reduced syllables around it.

do Unstressed final "o" closes to a short "oo", following the regular pattern, with a dental "d" (true "d", never a "j"/"dj" sound).

Hear it in a sentence

Amanhã é feriado.

Tomorrow is a holiday.

Listen: Amanhã é feriado.

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"Amanhã é feriado" means "Tomorrow is a holiday", using "feriado" as a masculine noun referring specifically to a public/national holiday, distinct from "férias" (vacation/time off) — a common vocabulary confusion for beginners since the words look related. The sentence structure is a simple "subject + é + noun" pattern, one of the most basic and frequent sentence shapes in Portuguese.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often stress the second syllable by analogy with the English-feeling rhythm of the word, saying "fe-RI-a-do", when the correct stress is on the third syllable, "fe-ri-A-do". They also sometimes confuse "feriado" (a holiday/day off) with "férias" (vacation period) since both derive from the same root — remembering that "feriado" refers to one specific day helps keep them straight.