Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "o espelho" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

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

o espelho is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u isˈpe.ʎu/. It means “mirror.” oo iss-PEH-lyoo. Raised initial e, and the lh is one palatal sound.

oo iss-PEH-lyoo. Raised initial e, and the lh is one palatal sound.

o espelho /u isˈpe.ʎu/

Three beats, with the middle one loudest. Because lh counts as a single indivisible consonant, the split is es-pe-lho rather than es-pel-ho, which keeps the stressed vowel in an open syllable and stops the l from ever closing one.

Listen: o espelho

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Sound it out

es Brazilians raise an unstressed initial e toward "i," so this opens "iss" rather than "ess" — the same habit that reshapes escola, estar and esporte.

pe A dry p and a closed e carrying the stress. Keep the vowel tight rather than opening it toward "eh."

lho One palatal consonant, the tongue blade flat against the roof of the mouth. The vowel behind it is heard as "oo," so the ending is "lyoo" with no l-release anywhere in it.

Hear it in a sentence

Ela se olha no espelho.

She looks at herself in the mirror.

Listen: Ela se olha no espelho.

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"Ela se olha no espelho" uses the reflexive "se" before the verb, the Brazilian placement, and "olha" contains its own lh. Two lh sounds in one sentence, with "no" as the em-plus-article contraction sitting between them.

Where English speakers slip

"ess-PEL-ho" gets the initial vowel wrong and splits the lh — the two errors most learners make together. It's "iss" and one fused palatal. Spanish speakers have "espejo," whose j is a throat sound rather than a palatal l, so the resemblance is misleading.