Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

baixo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈbaj.ʃu/. It means “short / low.” BYE-shoo. The x here is a "sh" sound, and the ai is the diphthong in "eye."

BYE-shoo. The x here is a "sh" sound, and the ai is the diphthong in "eye."

baixo /ˈbaj.ʃu/

The diphthong takes the weight, since "ai" counts as one syllable. No accent needed. Compare "país," where an accent is required precisely because the i there does not merge with the vowel before it.

Listen: baixo

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Sound it out

bai A b made with the lips fully closing, then "ai" — an open a gliding to a y, exactly the vowel in "high." One syllable, and the stressed one.

x Here the letter x is a "sh." That's only one of its four possible values in Portuguese: it can also be "ks" as in táxi, "z" as in exame, and "s" as in próximo. There's no rule — you learn each word.

o The final unstressed o raises to "oo," so the word closes on "shoo." Quick and quiet after the diphthong that carries the stress.

Hear it in a sentence

A mesa é muito baixa.

The table is very low.

Listen: A mesa é muito baixa.

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"A mesa é muito baixa" shows the adjective agreeing with a feminine noun, and the x stays "sh" regardless. "Mesa" has an intervocalic s voiced to a z — MEH-zah — so the sentence contains an s that buzzes and an x that hisses, a useful pairing.

Where English speakers slip

Reading x as "ks" gives "BAKE-so," which is the instinctive English approach and completely wrong here. It's "sh." The other issue is semantic: "baixo" covers both short in height and low in position or volume, so "fala baixo" means speak quietly. For short in length you need "curto" instead.