Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

bastante is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [bɐʃˈtɐ̃tɨ]. It means “very.” Say "bush-TUN-tuh" — stress the middle syllable, which has a nasal "un" sound, and let the final "e" almost disappear.

Say "bush-TUN-tuh" — stress the middle syllable, which has a nasal "un" sound, and let the final "e" almost disappear.

bastante [bɐʃˈtɐ̃tɨ]

Stress is on the second syllable "tan"; note the nasal vowel there and the barely-audible final "e".

Listen: bastante

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

Sound it out

bas Unstressed, the "a" flattens toward "uh" and the "s" softens to "sh", giving "bush".

tan Stressed and nasal — say it through the nose, similar to the "un" in French "un" or English "uhn" said nasally.

te Unstressed final syllable; the "e" reduces almost to nothing, a faint "tuh".

Hear it in a sentence

Estou bastante cansado.

I am very tired.

Listen: Estou bastante cansado.

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

"Estou bastante cansado" (I am very tired) shows "bastante" as an intensifying adverb before an adjective, similar to "muito" but slightly more formal or measured in tone. "Cansado" must agree in gender with the subject, so a woman would say "cansada".

Where English speakers slip

Learners often stress the first syllable, saying "BAS-tante", by analogy with English word stress patterns, but European Portuguese firmly stresses the second syllable "TAN". They also frequently forget to nasalize that syllable, saying a plain oral "a" instead of the nasal vowel required by the "n" before "t".