Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

o olho is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u ˈo.ʎu/. It means “eye.” oo OH-lyoo. Article and noun both start on rounded vowels, and the lh is one palatal sound.

oo OH-lyoo. Article and noun both start on rounded vowels, and the lh is one palatal sound.

o olho /u ˈo.ʎu/

Stress goes to the opening syllable, unwritten. What makes the word tricky is that it contains three o-spellings across the article and noun, producing "oo," "oh" and "oo" in sequence — the middle one loud, the outer two raised. Hearing that pattern is worth more than memorizing the rule.

Listen: o olho

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Sound it out

o The article, raised to "oo." Because the noun also opens on an o, the two run together as a rounded glide — "oo-OH" — with nothing between them.

o A closed "oh" carrying the stress, distinct from the article's raised "oo." Same letter, two different heights, decided purely by stress.

lho One palatal consonant, the tongue blade flat against the roof of the mouth — Spanish ll, Italian gli. The vowel behind it is heard as "oo," so the ending is "lyoo" and never "l-ho."

Hear it in a sentence

Meus olhos estão cansados.

My eyes are tired.

Listen: Meus olhos estão cansados.

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"Meus olhos estão cansados" puts everything in the plural, and "olhos estão" links the plural s into the following vowel so it voices to a z: "OH-lyoo-zish-TOWNG." "Estão" then ends on the nasal diphthong -ão.

Where English speakers slip

"OL-ho" with an audible l and h is the standard lh error. Go straight to the palatal position with no l-release. Learners also pronounce the article and the noun's first vowel identically, when one is raised and one isn't. And note that "olho" is also the verb form meaning I look — same spelling, same sound.