How to Pronounce 'Possível': Portuguese (Brazil) Pronunciation Guide

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

possível is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /poˈsi.vew/. It means “possible.” poh-SEE-veh-oo. The double s is one plain s, and the final l becomes a w.

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

poh-SEE-veh-oo. The double s is one plain s, and the final l becomes a w.

possível /poˈsi.vew/

The accent is overriding a rule. Words ending in l are normally end-stressed — azul, legal, gentil — so without that mark you would read this as pos-si-VEL. The acute holds the weight in the middle instead, and the plural "possíveis" keeps the accent for exactly the same reason.

Listen: possível

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Sound it out

po Unaspirated p and a closed "oh," unstressed. Portuguese p has no puff of air behind it, which makes it drier than the English one.

ss Doubled purely to keep the sound unvoiced between vowels — a single s there would buzz into a z. Portuguese has no long consonants, so this is a spelling device and not an instruction to hold the sound.

í The accent marks this as the loud syllable and gives a tense, high "ee." Everything after it should be markedly quieter.

vel A firm v, a closed e, and an l that vocalizes to w because it closes the syllable. So the word ends "veh-oo," with no l sound anywhere in it.

Hear it in a sentence

Isso não é possível.

That's not possible.

Listen: Isso não é possível.

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"Isso não é possível" ends on the vocalized l with nothing following, so the w-glide simply fades. "Isso" uses the same unvoiced double s as "possível" itself, and "não" contributes its nasal diphthong, giving the sentence a nasal in the middle and two hissed s's around it.

Where English speakers slip

The final l draws a real l from English and Spanish speakers alike, producing "po-SEE-vel." Brazilians say "veh-oo." The doubled s tempts learners into lengthening it, which Portuguese never does. And ignoring the accent shifts the stress to the end, which changes the word's shape completely.