Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "alguns" in Portuguese (Portugal)?

Q: How do you pronounce alguns in Portuguese (Portugal)?

alguns is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aɫˈgũʃ/. It means “some.” Say "ahl-GOONSH", with a dark "l", a nasal "oo" in the middle, and the final "s" hissing like "sh".

Say "ahl-GOONSH", with a dark "l", a nasal "oo" in the middle, and the final "s" hissing like "sh".

alguns /aɫˈgũʃ/

Stress falls on the second syllable, which has a nasal vowel; the word-final "s" is pronounced "sh", the classic European Portuguese marker.

Listen: alguns

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

al A dark, back-of-the-mouth "l" before the consonant "g", unlike the lighter English initial "l".

gun A nasal "oo" sound, air routed through the nose, roughly like French "un" but rounder — not the oral "un" of English "gun".

s Word-final "s" is pronounced like English "sh" in "ship", not a hissing "s" or a "z" sound — a hallmark of European Portuguese.

Hear it in a sentence

Alguns amigos vêm jantar.

Some friends are coming for dinner.

Listen: Alguns amigos vêm jantar.

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Alguns amigos vêm jantar" means "Some friends are coming for dinner", with "alguns" agreeing in gender and number with the masculine plural noun "amigos" — it would change to "algumas" before a feminine plural noun. The verb "vêm" (from "vir", to come) also carries a nasal accent, a small pronunciation detail that pairs naturally with the nasal sounds already present in "alguns".

Where English speakers slip

The final "s" is the classic giveaway: English speakers, and even learners used to Brazilian Portuguese, often pronounce it as a plain "s" ("al-GOONSS"), but European Portuguese consistently turns syllable-final and word-final "s" into a "sh" sound. Getting this one sound right across many words like "alguns" is one of the fastest ways to sound authentically European rather than Brazilian.