Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

vinho is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈvi.ɲu]. It means “wine.” Say 'VEE-nyoo', stressing the first syllable, with 'nho' collapsing to a soft, y-colored 'nyoo'.

Say 'VEE-nyoo', stressing the first syllable, with 'nho' collapsing to a soft, y-colored 'nyoo'.

vinho [ˈvi.ɲu]

Stress is on the first syllable vi; the digraph nh is a single consonant sound (like Spanish ñ), and the final o is pronounced as a short 'oo', not 'oh'.

Listen: vinho

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Sound it out

vi Like English 'vee' in 'veer', clear and stressed.

nh A single palatal nasal sound, the same as Spanish ñ or the 'ny' in English 'canyon' — never pronounce n and h separately.

o An unstressed final o in Portuguese always sounds like a short English 'oo' (as in 'book'), never like 'oh'.

Hear it in a sentence

O vinho português é excelente.

Portuguese wine is excellent.

Listen: O vinho português é excelente.

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O vinho português é excelente uses the linking verb é (is) from ser, appropriate here because it's describing an inherent, general quality of Portuguese wine rather than a temporary state. Português functions as an adjective after the noun, following the normal Portuguese word order of noun-then-adjective, and it agrees in gender and number with the masculine singular vinho.

Where English speakers slip

The nh combination trips up English speakers who try to pronounce the n and h as separate letters or turn it into an English 'n' sound. It should come out as one soft palatal glide, identical in both European and Brazilian Portuguese — the real EU-specific trap is the ending: don't pronounce final -o as 'oh' the way English or Spanish speakers instinctively want to.