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

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

simpático is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sĩˈpa.tʃi.ku/. It means “friendly / nice.” seem-PAH-tchee-koo. Nasal first syllable, accent on the second, and a "tchee" in the third.

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

seem-PAH-tchee-koo. Nasal first syllable, accent on the second, and a "tchee" in the third.

simpático /sĩˈpa.tʃi.ku/

Another proparoxytone, stressed three syllables from the end, and like every one of them it must carry a written accent — Portuguese has no default rule that reaches that far back. Compare "último" and "médico," which are marked for exactly the same reason.

Listen: simpático

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Sound it out

sim A hissed s and then an i nasalized by the m. As always, that m is a spelling marker before a p — the lips stay apart and the nose carries the sound.

pá Unaspirated p and the accented, wide-open a. The mark tells you this is the loud syllable, which matters because the word is long enough for the stress to be genuinely ambiguous otherwise.

ti The t meets an i and turns into "tch," even here in a quiet unstressed syllable. Position and stress are irrelevant; the following vowel is all that matters.

co A hard k before the o, and a last vowel heard as "oo." These closing syllables tumble out quickly once the accent has landed.

Hear it in a sentence

Seu amigo é muito simpático.

Your friend is very friendly.

Listen: Seu amigo é muito simpático.

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"Seu amigo é muito simpático" links "seu amigo" across the word boundary so the w-glide of "seu" runs into the a of "amigo." The adjective agrees with the masculine noun, and it would become "simpática" for a woman without the stress moving at all.

Where English speakers slip

The middle t is the Brazilian giveaway: "sim-PAH-tee-koh" keeps it hard and misses the change to "tch." Spanish speakers have "simpático" spelled identically, which makes the transfer nearly irresistible and wrong on that one consonant plus the final vowel. And it's a false friend for English speakers, since it means friendly rather than sympathetic.