Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

perto is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈpɛɦ.tu/. It means “near / close.” PEH-too. Open first vowel, breathy r, and a final o that raises to "oo."

PEH-too. Open first vowel, breathy r, and a final o that raises to "oo."

perto /ˈpɛɦ.tu/

No mark required: the open e is loud by rule. The open quality of the stressed e is unmarked, as usual, and it's the same open vowel you find in "certo" and "aberto" — a small family of -erto words that all share it, which makes them easier to learn as a group than one at a time.

Listen: perto

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

per Unaspirated p, an open e — jaw down, like "bet" — and an r in coda position, coming out as a faint rasp. This is the stressed syllable, and the r should be almost inaudible inside it.

to A hard t and an ending heard as "oo." Short and quiet, in deliberate contrast to the open, resonant syllable before it.

Hear it in a sentence

O mercado fica perto.

The market is close by.

Listen: O mercado fica perto.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"O mercado fica perto" uses "ficar" for location, which is how Brazilians say where something is. "Mercado" contains a syllable-final r rendered as a rasp, exactly like the one in "perto," so the sentence gives you the same sound twice in three words.

Where English speakers slip

"PER-toh" with an American r and a closed vowel misses both features of the stressed syllable, and the unraised final o makes three. Open the jaw, soften the r, raise the o. There's also a construction to learn: "perto de" for near something, where the "de" is a quick "djee."