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

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

vermelho is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /veɦˈme.ʎu/. It means “red.” ver-MEH-lyoo — the lh is one squashed "ly" sound, like the middle of "million" said fast.

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

ver-MEH-lyoo — the lh is one squashed "ly" sound, like the middle of "million" said fast.

vermelho /veɦˈme.ʎu/

The word ends in -o, so the default rule puts the stress on the second-to-last syllable, and here that's "-me-." No accent mark is needed. Because the lh belongs to the following syllable, the stressed vowel is genuinely open to the air before the palatal consonant closes it off.

Listen: vermelho

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Sound it out

ver A real v, a closed "eh," and then that syllable-closing r softened to a light breath from the throat. The whole first syllable should feel unstressed and quick.

me The stressed syllable, with a closed e — the "ay" of "day" without the glide. Give it length and volume; everything else in the word is lighter.

lh A single palatal consonant, not an l followed by an h. Press the blade of your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth and voice it — identical to Spanish ll or Italian gli. Saying "l" and "h" in sequence produces nothing like it.

o The final o raises to "oo," giving "lyoo" as the closing syllable. Keep it short — most of the word's energy was already spent on "-me-."

Hear it in a sentence

A maçã é vermelha.

The apple is red.

Listen: A maçã é vermelha.

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"A maçã é vermelha" shows the adjective agreeing with a feminine noun, so it appears as "vermelha" rather than "vermelho" — and the same lh sits in the middle. "Maçã" is worth its own attention: the ç is a plain s, and the final ã is a stressed nasal that gives the word its distinctive ending.

Where English speakers slip

The lh defeats most beginners, who produce "ver-MEL-ho" with a real l and an audible h. It's one fused sound made with the flat of the tongue. English speakers also import their retroflex r into the first syllable, giving "ver" the shape of English "were"; in Brazil that r is just breath. Spanish speakers, meanwhile, may substitute a y-sound for lh, which is closer but still not the firm palatal contact Portuguese wants.