Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

alguém is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aɫˈgɐ̃j̃/. It means “someone.” Say "ahl-GAYNG", with a dark "l" in the first syllable and a nasal, humming "GAYNG" carrying the stress.

Say "ahl-GAYNG", with a dark "l" in the first syllable and a nasal, humming "GAYNG" carrying the stress.

alguém /aɫˈgɐ̃j̃/

Stress falls on the final syllable, a nasal diphthong that glides from open "a" toward a faint "y", both sounded through the nose.

Listen: alguém

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Sound it out

al A dark "l" before the consonant "g", pronounced further back in the mouth than an English initial "l".

gu "Gu" before "é" is a hard "g" sound (the "u" is silent here, just marking the hard pronunciation), like the "g" in "guess".

ém A nasal diphthong, air routed through the nose, similar to the vowel sound in English "bang" but without a firm lip closure on the "m".

Hear it in a sentence

Alguém está à porta.

Someone is at the door.

Listen: Alguém está à porta.

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"Alguém está à porta" means "Someone is at the door", with "alguém" as the subject, functioning exactly like English "someone" or "somebody". Note "à" here is a contraction of the preposition "a" with the feminine article "a", meaning literally "at the door" — a small but very frequent contraction worth recognizing on sight.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often under-nasalize the final syllable, saying something closer to "al-GEM" with a plain English "em" ending, when it should have a distinctly nasal, slightly diphthongized quality gliding toward a faint "y". Also watch the "l": English speakers tend to use a light, front-of-mouth "l", while European Portuguese wants a darker, back-of-mouth version before a consonant.