Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

aquele is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈke.li/. It means “that (over there).” ah-KEH-lee. The qu is just a k, the u is silent, and the last syllable ends in "ee."

ah-KEH-lee. The qu is just a k, the u is silent, and the last syllable ends in "ee."

aquele /aˈke.li/

The word ends in -e, so the default puts the stress on the second-to-last syllable, "-que-," and nothing needs marking. It's the third member of the demonstrative system: este is near the speaker, esse is near the listener, and aquele is away from both. All three inflect for gender and number, so aquela, aqueles and aquelas follow the same stress pattern.

Listen: aquele

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Sound it out

a An unstressed opening "ah," short but fully pronounced. In rapid speech it often fuses with a preceding word's final vowel and nearly vanishes.

que Before an e the u in qu goes silent, leaving just a k. The vowel is a closed e, the "ay" of "day" with the glide chopped off, and it takes the word's weight.

le A real l, since it opens the syllable rather than closing one — no vocalization to w here. The final unstressed e raises to "ee," giving "lee."

Hear it in a sentence

Aquele lugar é meu.

That spot is mine.

Listen: Aquele lugar é meu.

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"Aquele lugar é meu" links the final "ee" of the demonstrative directly into the l of "lugar," which itself ends in the breathy syllable-final r. So the sentence has a soft, flowing middle with no hard consonant edges anywhere between "aquele" and "é."

Where English speakers slip

Sounding the u gives "ah-KWEH-lee," which is what the spelling suggests to an English or Spanish eye. There's no w: qu before e or i is simply k. The other habitual slip is the ending — "ah-KEH-lay" with a full "ay" — when Brazilians raise it to "ee." Learners also collapse esse and aquele into one word, losing a distinction Portuguese actually uses.