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

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

tranquilo is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /tɾɐ̃ˈkwi.lu/. It means “calm / relaxed.” trahn-KWEE-loo. The u after the q really is pronounced here, which is an exception.

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

trahn-KWEE-loo. The u after the q really is pronounced here, which is an exception.

tranquilo /tɾɐ̃ˈkwi.lu/

Put the weight on the middle syllable, which is also the one carrying the irregular "kw." The abolished diaeresis is the real story here: before 2009 the spelling told you the u was pronounced, and now nothing does — so this handful of words simply has to be learned as exceptions.

Listen: tranquilo

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Sound it out

tran A crisp dental t with a tap released the moment it ends, then an a that the n turns nasal. The cluster is tight and the nasality lives in the vowel.

qui This is the exception worth memorizing: qu before an i is normally just a k, but in a small set of words — tranquilo, cinquenta, linguiça — the u is genuinely pronounced, giving "kwi." Portuguese used to mark these with a diaeresis, spelling it "tranqüilo," until the 2009 reform abolished the mark and left no visual clue at all.

lo The l keeps full tongue-tip contact since it opens the syllable, and the closing vowel is heard as "oo."

Hear it in a sentence

Fique tranquilo, vai dar certo.

Relax, it's going to be fine.

Listen: Fique tranquilo, vai dar certo.

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"Fique tranquilo, vai dar certo" uses a formal imperative and then "vai" plus an infinitive for the future. "Fique" has a genuinely silent u — FEE-kee — sitting two words away from the pronounced one in "tranquilo," which is a striking side-by-side contrast.

Where English speakers slip

Silencing the u gives "trahn-KEE-loo," which follows the general rule and gets this particular word wrong. It's one of the exceptions. Learners also give the n full consonant value, and they leave the final o unraised. On usage, "fica tranquilo" is an extremely common reassurance in Brazil, roughly "don't worry about it."