Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

sete is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈsɛ.tʃi/. It means “seven.” SEH-tchee. The first e is wide open like "bed," and the ending is "tchee," not "teh."

SEH-tchee. The first e is wide open like "bed," and the ending is "tchee," not "teh."

sete /ˈsɛ.tʃi/

Ending in -e means the default rule stresses the second-to-last syllable, so "se-" takes the weight and nothing needs marking. That leaves the final syllable unstressed, which is precisely the condition that raises its e to i and triggers the t-palatalization — the stress rule and the sound change are directly linked.

Listen: sete

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Sound it out

se An s and then an open e — the vowel of "set," jaw dropped, quite unlike the tight closed e of "três." This openness isn't marked with an accent; you simply have to learn it word by word.

te The quiet e at the end lands as "i," and that i drags the t into "tch" — the sound at the start of "cheese." It's the single most Brazilian thing about the word.

Hear it in a sentence

A semana tem sete dias.

There are seven days in a week.

Listen: A semana tem sete dias.

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"A semana tem sete dias" gives you the palatalization twice: "sete" ends in "tchee" and "dias" begins with "djee." Between them sits "tem," a nasal "teyng" — and notice its t stays hard, because the vowel after it is a nasal e, not an i. The contrast in one short sentence is a good ear-training exercise.

Where English speakers slip

Beginners say "SET-eh" or "SEH-tay," keeping a hard t and a full e at the end. Both are wrong for Brazil: it's "SEH-tchee." The open first vowel also gets missed — English speakers tend to substitute a closed "ay" and produce "SAY-tchee," which shifts it toward a different vowel quality than natives use.