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

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

preocupado is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /pɾe.o.kuˈpa.du/. It means “worried.” preh-oh-koo-PAH-doo. Five syllables — the e and o stay apart — with a tap in the opening cluster.

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

preh-oh-koo-PAH-doo. Five syllables — the e and o stay apart — with a tap in the opening cluster.

preocupado /pɾe.o.kuˈpa.du/

Weight sits on the fourth of five syllables, by the -o default. The word's difficulty is entirely rhythmic rather than segmental: no nasals, no palatalization, no vocalized l, just five beats that all have to be given their time, with only the fourth carrying weight.

Listen: preocupado

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

Sound it out

pre A p released without aspiration with a quick tap on its heels, then a closed e standing as its own syllable. The cluster must be tight, but the vowel afterwards does not glide.

o A closed "oh" taking its own separate beat. Portuguese builds diphthongs around an unstressed i or u, so an e followed by an o can't fuse — this hiatus is obligatory.

cu A hard k before the u and a rounded "oo," unstressed but fully rounded. Portuguese doesn't hollow this vowel out.

pa A second unaspirated p and the wide-open stressed a — the loud beat after three quiet ones.

do A hard d and a last vowel lifted to "oo."

Hear it in a sentence

Estou preocupado com a prova.

I'm worried about the test.

Listen: Estou preocupado com a prova.

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

"Estou preocupado com a prova" uses "preocupado com," the fixed preposition. "Prova" has a tapped r in its cluster, so the sentence contains two taps and, once "estou" clips to "tô," about five spoken beats for six written words.

Where English speakers slip

Squashing "pre-o" into one syllable is the standard error and costs a beat. Breaking the pr cluster with an inserted vowel is the opposite mistake, adding one back in the wrong place. The adjective agrees, so a woman says "preocupada," and the preposition is "com" rather than "de" or "por."