Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

ou is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [o]. It means “or.” A single, pure 'oh' sound — European Portuguese pronounces this as one steady vowel, not the two-part 'oh-oo' glide you'd expect from the spelling.

A single, pure 'oh' sound — European Portuguese pronounces this as one steady vowel, not the two-part 'oh-oo' glide you'd expect from the spelling.

ou [o]

Single syllable, stressed by default; the digraph 'ou' is a pure monophthong [o] in European Portuguese, unlike the glide many learners expect.

Listen: ou

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Sound it out

ou Said as one clean, closed 'oh' vowel (like the o in French 'beau'), with no glide into a 'w' or 'oo' sound at the end.

(whole word) Both letters together spell a single sound, not two — resist the urge to pronounce 'o' and 'u' as separate parts.

Hear it in a sentence

Queres chá ou café?

Do you want tea or coffee?

Listen: Queres chá ou café?

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

'Queres chá ou café?' uses 'ou' to offer a choice, just like English 'or'. This kind of yes/no-alternative question is a natural way to practice the word — try building your own with other drink or food pairs.

Where English speakers slip

The biggest trap is importing the Brazilian Portuguese (and English-influenced) habit of pronouncing 'ou' as a diphthong, gliding from 'oh' into a 'w'/'oo' finish. Lisbon-standard EP flattens it into one pure, static 'oh' vowel — holding the glide makes it sound distinctly Brazilian or foreign.