Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

feliz is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /feˈlis/. It means “happy.” feh-LEESS. Stress on the second syllable, and the final z is pronounced as an s.

feh-LEESS. Stress on the second syllable, and the final z is pronounced as an s.

feliz /feˈlis/

Words ending in z are stressed on the final syllable, so "-liz" takes it and no accent is written. This is the same rule that governs "rapaz," "arroz" and "luz," and it's part of the broader pattern: words ending in consonants other than the plural s are generally end-stressed in Portuguese.

Listen: feliz

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

fe An f and a closed e, unstressed and quick. The vowel keeps its shape rather than reducing, which is what stops the word sounding English.

li The l keeps its tongue-tip contact and the "ee" is tense and high. This is the loud syllable, so give the vowel real length.

z A word-final z is devoiced to a plain s. It comes back to a real z only when a vowel follows in the next word, so "feliz aniversário" runs as "feh-lee-zah-nee-ver-SAH-ryoo."

Hear it in a sentence

Estou feliz hoje.

I'm happy today.

Listen: Estou feliz hoje.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Estou feliz hoje" would usually be spoken as "tô feliz hoje," with "estou" clipped. Because "hoje" begins with a silent h, the z of "feliz" is effectively followed by a vowel and voices into a real z — so you hear "feh-lee-ZOH-zhee," the two words fused.

Where English speakers slip

Voicing the final z in isolation — "feh-LEEZZ" with a buzz — is the standard error and it comes straight from reading the letter. Devoice it unless a vowel follows. Front-stressing to "FEH-lees" is the other habit. And note that Portuguese uses "feliz" for both happy and lucky in some expressions, so "que felizardo" carries a slightly different flavour than a straight translation suggests.