Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

procurar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /pɾo.kuˈɾah/. It means “to look for.” proh-koo-RAH. Two tapped r's and a final r that isn't really there, all spelled with the same letter.

proh-koo-RAH. Two tapped r's and a final r that isn't really there, all spelled with the same letter.

procurar /pɾo.kuˈɾah/

The final syllable takes the stress, as always with an r ending, and no accent is written. This word is unusually good practice for r-position: two of its three r's are taps because they sit inside a cluster or between vowels, while the third closes the word and therefore evaporates. Position, not spelling, decides everything.

Listen: procurar

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Sound it out

pro A clean p, a single tapped r inside the cluster, and a closed "oh." The tap is quick enough that the syllable barely feels like it has two consonants.

cu A hard k before the u, then a rounded "oo." Unstressed but fully pronounced — this vowel doesn't reduce.

rar A third r, this one a tap between vowels, then the loud wide vowel, then a fourth-position r that is only breath. Same letter, opposite treatments, one syllable apart.

Hear it in a sentence

Estou procurando meu celular.

I'm looking for my phone.

Listen: Estou procurando meu celular.

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"Estou procurando meu celular" uses the present continuous, which Brazilians build with "estar" plus a gerund — Portugal would use "a procurar" instead. "Celular" ends in yet another breathy r, and its initial c is soft before the e, so it's "seh-loo-LAH."

Where English speakers slip

Learners either roll every r Spanish-style or curl every r English-style, and both flatten the word's internal variety. The other error is the second vowel: "proh-kyoo-RAR" with an English y-glide before the "oo," which Portuguese never has. And "procurar" means to look for, not to procure, which is a false friend that trips up English speakers regularly.