Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

seis is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈsejs/. It means “six.” SAYSS — one syllable, like English "say" with an s stuck on the end.

SAYSS — one syllable, like English "say" with an s stuck on the end.

seis /ˈsejs/

A monosyllable, so the vowel takes the stress automatically and no accent is required. What's more interesting is the word's practical fate: because "seis" and "três" sound alike over a bad phone line, Brazilians routinely say "meia" — short for "meia dúzia," half a dozen — when reading out numbers.

Listen: seis

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Sound it out

s A clean initial s. Word-initial s is never affected by the Rio sh-shift, which only touches s at the end of a syllable, so this one is s for every Brazilian.

ei A closed "eh" gliding to a y — the vowel of "eight." In much of Brazil this diphthong flattens toward a plain "eh" before an s, so "sess" is a common casual variant.

s The closing s stays a hiss in standard Brazilian speech. Because two s-sounds bracket the word, phone operators and market vendors often substitute "meia" for six to avoid confusion with "três."

Hear it in a sentence

Volto às seis.

I'll be back at six.

Listen: Volto às seis.

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"Volto às seis" uses the contraction "às," which is the preposition a merged with the feminine article as, marked by a grave accent. It's pronounced simply "ahs," and it links straight into "seis" so the two s-sounds nearly fuse: "VOW-too ahs-SAYSS." Note also "volto" has the vocalized l — "VOW-too," not "VOL-toh."

Where English speakers slip

English speakers reach for "sees" or "sighs," both of which pick the wrong vowel. The diphthong is "ay" as in "weigh." A separate hazard is number confusion in real life: if a Brazilian says "meia" while giving you a phone number or a price, they mean six, and learners who only know "seis" get lost.