Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

o inverno is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u ĩˈvɛɦ.nu/. It means “winter.” oo een-VEH-noo. Nasal first vowel, a wide-open stressed e, and a rasped r.

oo een-VEH-noo. Nasal first vowel, a wide-open stressed e, and a rasped r.

o inverno /u ĩˈvɛɦ.nu/

Three syllables, and the middle one is loud. The word is a tidy demonstration of positional n: the first one closes a syllable and nasalizes the vowel before it, the second opens a syllable and leaves everything oral. Same letter, opposite effects, two syllables apart.

Listen: o inverno

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Sound it out

in A high "ee" that the n turns nasal. Hum it through your nose; the tongue stays clear of the roof of the mouth and no separate n is produced.

ver A real v, an open e — jaw dropped, like "bet" — and an r closing the syllable as a light throat rasp. This is the stressed syllable.

no An n opening its own syllable, nasalizing nothing, closing on an "oo" rather than the "oh" the spelling promises. So the word has two n's doing entirely different jobs.

Hear it in a sentence

No inverno faz muito frio.

In winter it's very cold.

Listen: No inverno faz muito frio.

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"No inverno faz muito frio" uses "faz" impersonally for weather, which is the standard Portuguese construction. "Frio" is two syllables with a stressed i and a standalone o, and "muito" carries its unwritten nasal — so the sentence hums three separate times.

Where English speakers slip

Articulating the first n fully gives "in-VER-noh" with a clatter where Portuguese has a hum, plus an English r in the middle and an unraised ending. Closing the stressed e is a fourth error. Spanish speakers have "invierno," whose diphthong adds a glide Portuguese doesn't have.