Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

outono is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [oˈtonu]. It means “autumn.” Say "oh-TOH-noo" — the initial ou is one pure, closed "oh" sound (not a glide toward "oo"), and the final o clips to a short "oo".

Say "oh-TOH-noo" — the initial ou is one pure, closed "oh" sound (not a glide toward "oo"), and the final o clips to a short "oo".

outono [oˈtonu]

Stress is on the second syllable TO; the ou spelling represents a single closed [o] vowel in European Portuguese, not a diphthong.

Listen: outono

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Sound it out

ou- Despite looking like two vowels, ou is pronounced as one steady closed "oh" sound, similar to the vowel in English "go" but shorter and without the glide into "oo".

-TO- The stressed syllable, a clean open "toh" — this is where nearly all the word's emphasis and length go.

-no Final unstressed o reduces to a clipped "oo", much quicker and less rounded than an English speaker's instinct.

Hear it in a sentence

As folhas caem no outono.

Leaves fall in autumn.

Listen: As folhas caem no outono.

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"As folhas caem no outono" uses cair (to fall) in its third-person plural caem for the leaves, and no outono again shows the em + o = no contraction pattern seen with seasons. Note that outono, like all four seasons, is treated as a regular masculine noun taking o/no rather than any special seasonal grammar.

Where English speakers slip

Learners frequently pronounce ou as a rising diphthong the way it might look in English spelling instincts, or as two separate vowels; in European Portuguese it is one flat, closed "oh" with no glide, and the final -o must stay short and clipped rather than fully rounded as in careful Brazilian speech.