Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

cadeira is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [kɐˈdɐj.ɾɐ]. It means “chair.” Say 'kuh-DAY-ruh', with the stress on the middle syllable, which rhymes roughly with English 'day', and a light tapped r near the end.

Say 'kuh-DAY-ruh', with the stress on the middle syllable, which rhymes roughly with English 'day', and a light tapped r near the end.

cadeira [kɐˈdɐj.ɾɐ]

Stress falls on the second syllable dei; both a's are unstressed and reduce to a soft 'uh', while ei forms a single diphthong close to the vowel in English 'day'.

Listen: cadeira

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Sound it out

ca Unstressed, so a light, quick 'kuh' rather than a full 'kah'.

dei The stressed syllable: d stays a true dental sound (never like English 'j'), followed by the diphthong ei, close to the vowel in English 'day'.

ra A light tapped r followed by an unstressed, reduced 'uh'.

Hear it in a sentence

Senta-te nesta cadeira.

Sit in this chair.

Listen: Senta-te nesta cadeira.

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Senta-te nesta cadeira is a reflexive imperative from sentar-se (to sit down), with the reflexive pronoun te attached directly to the verb with a hyphen — a very Portuguese construction with no direct English equivalent, since English just says 'sit'. Nesta again fuses em + esta to agree with the feminine cadeira.

Where English speakers slip

Because the syllable de is followed by an i-sound, English speakers who have picked up some Brazilian Portuguese may reflexively soften the d into a 'j'-like affricate (as in Brazilian 'dia' sounding like 'jia'). In genuine European Portuguese, d before this sound always stays a true, crisp dental d — cadeira should never sound like 'ca-JAY-ra'.