Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

olho is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈo.ʎu]. It means “eye.” Say "OH-lyoo", where "lh" sounds like the "lli" in English "million".

Say "OH-lyoo", where "lh" sounds like the "lli" in English "million".

olho [ˈo.ʎu]

Stress is on the first syllable "o"; "lh" is a single palatal consonant, and the final unstressed "o" is pronounced like a short "oo".

Listen: olho

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Sound it out

o A clear, stressed, closed "oh" as in English "go", but cut shorter, without the English glide into "w".

lh A single palatal "l" sound, like the "lli" in "million" or the "gli" in Italian "figlio" — never a plain "l" followed by "h".

o Unstressed final "o" is pronounced like a short "oo" (as in "book"), not "oh".

Hear it in a sentence

O meu olho está vermelho.

My eye is red.

Listen: O meu olho está vermelho.

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"O meu olho está vermelho" means "My eye is red." Note the near-rhyme and shared "lh" sound between olho and vermelho — good pronunciation practice — and again "está" signals a temporary condition (the eye being red right now) rather than a permanent trait.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers usually pronounce "lh" as a plain "l" followed by a breathy "h", producing something like "OL-ho". The correct sound is a single palatalized consonant made with the tongue flattened against the roof of the mouth, much closer to the "y" quality in "million" than to any combination of "l" and "h".