Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

pequeno is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /peˈke.nu/. It means “small.” peh-KEH-noo. The qu is a plain k with a silent u, and the final o becomes "oo."

peh-KEH-noo. The qu is a plain k with a silent u, and the final o becomes "oo."

pequeno /peˈke.nu/

The word ends in -o, so the default puts the stress on the second-to-last syllable and no accent is needed. It's a nice symmetric shape: light, heavy, light, with the two unstressed vowels flanking the stressed one. The feminine "pequena" keeps the stress in exactly the same place.

Listen: pequeno

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Sound it out

pe A p with none of the English puff and a closed e, unstressed and quick. Portuguese p has no puff of air after it, which makes it sound tighter than the English one.

que The u is silent before an e, so this is simply "keh" with a closed vowel — and it's the stressed syllable, carrying the word's weight.

no An n opening its own syllable, so nothing nasalizes, and a closing "oo." The word ends softly on "noo."

Hear it in a sentence

Tenho um apartamento pequeno.

I have a small apartment.

Listen: Tenho um apartamento pequeno.

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"Tenho um apartamento pequeno" places the adjective after the noun, which is standard. "Apartamento" is five syllables with a nasal near the end and a raised final o, and "pequeno" then repeats that raised o — so the sentence ends on two identical unstressed "oo" sounds a few syllables apart.

Where English speakers slip

Letting the u be heard produces "peh-KWEH-noh," which adds a glide that isn't there and leaves the final o unraised. Both need fixing. Spanish speakers bring "pequeño" with its ñ, and may substitute a palatal "ny" for the plain n — Portuguese would need an nh for that, and this word doesn't have one.