Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

o filho is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u ˈfi.ʎu/. It means “son.” oo FEE-lyoo. The lh is one palatal sound, made with the flat of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.

oo FEE-lyoo. The lh is one palatal sound, made with the flat of the tongue against the roof of the mouth.

o filho /u ˈfi.ʎu/

The first syllable is loud, unmarked. Because lh counts as one indivisible consonant for syllabification, the split is fi-lho rather than fil-ho, which means the stressed vowel sits in an open syllable and can be held. That structural fact is what stops the l from vocalizing to w — it never closes a syllable.

Listen: o filho

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Sound it out

o The raised "oo" of an unstressed article, leaning on the noun and taking no weight of its own.

fi An f and a stressed high "ee." Short and tense — this is where the word's weight sits, even though the syllable is brief.

lho The lh is a single palatal consonant, identical to Spanish ll or Italian gli. There is no separate l and no h. The o behind it raises to "oo," so the ending is "lyoo."

Hear it in a sentence

Meu filho está na escola.

My son is at school.

Listen: Meu filho está na escola.

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"Meu filho está na escola" would reduce "está" to "tá" in speech. "Escola" raises its initial e to "iss" and has an open stressed o, so the sentence ends on a wide vowel after the tight palatal of "filho."

Where English speakers slip

"FEEL-ho" with an audible l and h is the standard beginner rendering, and it's the single most recognizable lh error. Go straight to the palatal position with no l-release. Spanish speakers substitute a y-sound, which is closer but lacks the firm tongue contact Portuguese wants. The unraised final o is the quieter third error.