Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

mulher is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [muˈʎɛɾ]. It means “woman.” Say "moo-LYEHR" with a light tapped r at the end, like a very soft American "d" sound, not an English "r".

Say "moo-LYEHR" with a light tapped r at the end, like a very soft American "d" sound, not an English "r".

mulher [muˈʎɛɾ]

Stress falls on the final syllable, which also carries the tricky "lh" and a tapped final r typical of European Portuguese.

Listen: mulher

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Sound it out

mu Unstressed, said quickly as "moo" — short and light, leaning into the next syllable.

lh A single palatal sound like the "lli" in English "million" or Spanish "ll" — the tongue spreads flat against the roof of the mouth, not a plain English "l".

er Open "eh" followed by a light single tap of the tongue, similar to the American "tt" in "butter" — never the American r-color, and in careful Lisbon speech it can be barely audible.

Hear it in a sentence

A mulher está a ler um livro.

The woman is reading a book.

Listen: A mulher está a ler um livro.

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"A mulher está a ler um livro" shows the European Portuguese continuous construction "estar a + infinitive" (is reading), which replaces the Brazilian "estar + gerúndio" (está lendo). "Um livro" uses the indefinite article since it's just "a book", not a specific one already mentioned. This progressive construction with "a" is one of the clearest grammatical markers of European over Brazilian Portuguese.

Where English speakers slip

Learners coming from Spanish or English often turn "lh" into a plain "l" ("mul-YEHR" becomes "mool-air"), losing the palatal quality entirely. The final r is also commonly overpronounced as an American r-sound; in Lisbon Portuguese it should be a quick, light tap or nearly swallowed, never a Brazilian-style breathy [x]/[h] sound that some southern Brazilian accents use.