Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

bagagem is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [bɐˈgaʒɐ̃j̃]. It means “luggage.” Say "buh-GA-zheng," with the stress on "GA" and the final -gem buzzing into a nasal "zheng."

Say "buh-GA-zheng," with the stress on "GA" and the final -gem buzzing into a nasal "zheng."

bagagem [bɐˈgaʒɐ̃j̃]

Stress falls on the second syllable "ga"; the ending -gem is both nasalized and voiced, producing a sound like the "s" in "measure" followed by a nasal glide, not a hard English "g" or "j."

Listen: bagagem

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Sound it out

ba- Unstressed, reduced toward "buh" rather than a full "bah."

-GA- The stressed syllable, a hard g as in "go" plus a clear "ah," said with emphasis: "GA."

-gem The g before e is soft, like the "s" in "measure" or "j" in French "je," and the whole syllable is nasalized, trailing off through the nose like "zheng."

Hear it in a sentence

A bagagem já está pronta.

The luggage is already ready.

Listen: A bagagem já está pronta.

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"A bagagem já está pronta" uses já ("already") placed before the verb, a common position for temporal adverbs in Portuguese, and pronta agrees in gender with the feminine noun bagagem. Está pronta uses estar because being ready describes a temporary, changeable state.

Where English speakers slip

The -gem ending trips up most English speakers, who tend to say a hard "g" as in "gem" the English word; in Portuguese, g before e or i is always soft, like the "s" in "measure," and here it's additionally nasalized. The result, something like "buh-GA-zheng," sounds quite different from a literal reading, and this nasal, soft-g ending recurs in many common Portuguese words ending in -agem or -igem, so it's worth internalizing early.