Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

pesado is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [pɨ'zadu]. It means “heavy.” Say "puh-ZAH-doo" — the first e is a faint "uh," the s between vowels buzzes like a z, and the d stays a crisp, tongue-on-teeth d.

Say "puh-ZAH-doo" — the first e is a faint "uh," the s between vowels buzzes like a z, and the d stays a crisp, tongue-on-teeth d.

pesado [pɨ'zadu]

Stress falls on SA; the initial unstressed e reduces to a near-schwa [ɨ], and s between two vowels is voiced, sounding like English z.

Listen: pesado

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Sound it out

pe A quick, weak "puh" — the e here is unstressed and swallowed toward a neutral schwa, not the clear "eh" you'd say in isolation.

sa Between vowels, s is voiced and buzzes like English z, so this syllable sounds like "zah," not "sah" — this is the stressed syllable, so keep it strong and clear.

do A true dental d, tongue against the upper teeth, plus the reduced "oo" ending.

Hear it in a sentence

Este saco é pesado.

This bag is heavy.

Listen: Este saco é pesado.

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"Este saco é pesado" (This bag is heavy) follows the same este + é + adjective pattern seen with "largo" and "estreito," useful for building confidence with basic descriptive sentences. Weight, like size, is treated as an inherent trait of the object with "ser," even though in principle a bag's contents could change.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers usually pronounce the s in "pesado" as a plain unvoiced "s," the way it's spelled. But between two vowels in Portuguese, s is always voiced to a z sound — so "pesado" should sound like "peh-ZAH-doo," not "peh-SAH-doo." This voicing rule is easy to miss because English spelling doesn't signal it the way Portuguese pronunciation demands.