Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ali" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

Q: How do you pronounce ali in Portuguese (Brazil)?

ali is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈli/. It means “there (nearby).” ah-LEE, stress on the end. A clean l and a tense high vowel.

ah-LEE, stress on the end. A clean l and a tense high vowel.

ali /aˈli/

End-stressed, as words ending in -i are by rule, so no accent is needed. It's a good demonstration that the l vocalization rule is strictly positional: this l opens a syllable and stays a full l, while the identical letter in "mal" or "legal" closes one and turns into a w.

Listen: ali

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Sound it out

a A short unstressed open "ah" opening the word, with no consonant before it and no glottal catch of the kind English inserts.

li A true l with the tongue tip touching, since it opens the syllable rather than closing one, and then a stressed high "ee." No vocalization to w here — that only happens to an l at the end of a syllable.

Hear it in a sentence

O banheiro fica ali.

The bathroom is right there.

Listen: O banheiro fica ali.

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"O banheiro fica ali" uses "ficar" where English would use "to be" — Brazilians say a place "fica" somewhere rather than "é" somewhere. "Banheiro" contributes a nasal, an nh and a stressed "ei" diphthong, so it's the harder word in the sentence by some distance.

Where English speakers slip

The main risk is the three-way spatial system rather than the sounds: "aqui" is near the speaker, "aí" is near the listener, and "ali" and "lá" are away from both, with "ali" pointing at something visible and "lá" more remote. English collapses all of this into here and there, so learners tend to use "lá" for everything.