Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

precisar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [pɾɨsiˈzaɾ]. It means “to need.” Say "pruh-see-ZAR" — the first e all but disappears, and the c in the middle is pronounced like a soft 's', not a 'k'.

Say "pruh-see-ZAR" — the first e all but disappears, and the c in the middle is pronounced like a soft 's', not a 'k'.

precisar [pɾɨsiˈzaɾ]

Stress lands on the final -sar; the opening pre- is unstressed and its e reduces to a very short, almost silent 'uh' squeezed between the p and r.

Listen: precisar

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Sound it out

pre- The r is a light single tap of the tongue (like the tt in American "butter"), and the e reduces to almost nothing — more "pruh" than "preh".

ci- Before i, c is always a soft 's' sound in Portuguese, giving "see", never a 'k' or 'ch' sound.

-sar Stressed syllable: because this s sits between vowels (the i before it and the a after), it buzzes like a 'z', so this syllable actually sounds like "zar", not "sar".

Hear it in a sentence

Preciso de um copo de água.

I need a glass of water.

Listen: Preciso de um copo de água.

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"Preciso de um copo de água" ("I need a glass of water") illustrates that precisar always takes the preposition de before its object — you can't say precisar um copo directly, unlike English "need a glass". This de + noun pattern is essential and trips up beginners who drop the preposition by analogy with English.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often pronounce the middle c as a hard 'k' (like in "disc"), saying something like "pre-KEE-zar", instead of the correct soft 's' sound that Portuguese c always takes before i or e. This is a spelling-based mistake rather than a European/Brazilian difference — both varieties use the soft c here.