Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

novo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈno.vu/. It means “new.” NOH-voo. The stressed o is closed and the final one raises to "oo" — two o's, two different sounds.

NOH-voo. The stressed o is closed and the final one raises to "oo" — two o's, two different sounds.

novo /ˈno.vu/

Ending in -o sends the stress to the second-to-last syllable, unmarked. There's a hidden alternation here worth knowing: the singular "novo" has a closed stressed o, but the plural "novos" opens it to a wider "aw" sound. Portuguese does this silently to a small set of adjectives and nouns, and the spelling gives you no warning at all.

Listen: novo

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Sound it out

no An n opening the word and a closed "oh" with the lips rounded. This is the stressed syllable, and the closed quality matters — the plural opens it up, which is a genuine sound change.

vo A real v, then "oo" — the same letter that was "oh" one syllable earlier. Put the two side by side and you have the whole raising rule in a single word.

Hear it in a sentence

Preciso de um casaco novo.

I need a new coat.

Listen: Preciso de um casaco novo.

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"Preciso de um casaco novo" places the adjective after the noun and uses "precisar de," so the "de" is a quick "djee" merging into the nasal of "um." "Casaco" has an intervocalic s voiced to a z, giving "kah-ZAH-koo," and its final o raises just like the one in "novo."

Where English speakers slip

Leaving the final o as a full "oh" gives "NOH-voh," which sounds bookish. Raise it. The plural alternation catches nearly everyone: "novos" with a closed o sounds subtly wrong to Brazilian ears even though it's hard to explain why. And placement changes meaning — "um novo carro" is another car, "um carro novo" is a brand-new one.