Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "o que" in Portuguese (Portugal)?

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

o que is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [u kɨ]. It means “what.” Say "oo-kuh" — both words are short and unstressed on their own, though "que" carries the main pitch in a question.

Say "oo-kuh" — both words are short and unstressed on their own, though "que" carries the main pitch in a question.

o que [u kɨ]

Neither word takes strong lexical stress; "o" reduces to a quick "oo" and "que" reduces to a clipped "kuh", though question intonation gives "que" more prominence.

Listen: o que

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Sound it out

o The article-like "o" here reduces to a very short "oo" sound, not a full "oh".

qu Before "e", "qu" is a hard "k" sound, with no "w" glide.

e Unstressed, reduces to a quick, closed "uh"-like vowel, roughly like the final sound in English "sofa".

Hear it in a sentence

O que estás a fazer?

What are you doing?

Listen: O que estás a fazer?

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"O que estás a fazer?" (What are you doing?) uses "o que" as the standard question word for "what" and again shows the "estar a + infinitive" progressive construction ("estás a fazer") that marks European Portuguese, versus Brazilian "o que você está fazendo". "Estás" is the informal "tu" form of "estar", common in everyday EU Portuguese conversation.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often pronounce "que" with a fuller "eh" vowel, as if it were the standalone emphatic "quê", when in the middle of a flowing question it's usually clipped to a quick, closed "kuh" sound. They should also listen for the progressive "a fazer" rather than expecting a Brazilian-style gerund like "fazendo", which simply doesn't appear in this construction in European Portuguese.