Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

escrever is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /is.kɾeˈveh/. It means “to write.” iss-kreh-VEH. Raised initial vowel, tapped r in the cluster, and a final r that fades to nothing.

iss-kreh-VEH. Raised initial vowel, tapped r in the cluster, and a final r that fades to nothing.

escrever /is.kɾeˈveh/

An -er verb with an irregular past participle — "escrito" instead of the predictable "escrevido" — worth flagging early, since that participle turns up on signs and instructions constantly. The infinitive puts its weight on the last syllable.

Listen: escrever

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Sound it out

es Raised to "iss" as always for an unstressed initial e followed by s. The s itself stays a hiss for most Brazilians and becomes "sh" only in Rio.

cre A hard k before the r, then a single tapped r, then a closed e. Keep the k and the tap tight together — inserting a vowel between them is the classic English habit.

ver A crisp v and the stressed closed e. Since the unstressed e before it has exactly the same quality, length and loudness are all that separate the two syllables — the closing r adds only breath.

Hear it in a sentence

Vou escrever um e-mail.

I'm going to write an email.

Listen: Vou escrever um e-mail.

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"Vou escrever um e-mail" links the r of "escrever" straight into the nasal of "um," so it firms up into a tap. Notice that "e-mail" is borrowed whole and Brazilians pronounce it roughly the English way, one of a handful of loanwords that resist the language's normal sound rules.

Where English speakers slip

Both the front and the back of this word attract errors: "ESS-cri-ver" with an unraised first vowel and English stress, plus a curled final r. Fix the vowel to "iss" and push the weight to the end. Spanish speakers face a spelling-driven trap too, since Spanish "escribir" has a b where Portuguese has a v, and the two languages genuinely differ on that consonant.