Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

cinco is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈsĩku]. It means “five.” Say "SEEN-koo," but nasalize the first vowel as if you were about to say it through your nose — the "n" itself barely sounds.

Say "SEEN-koo," but nasalize the first vowel as if you were about to say it through your nose — the "n" itself barely sounds.

cinco [ˈsĩku]

Stress is on the first syllable; the "in" is a nasal vowel, not a vowel followed by a clear consonant "n," and the final "o" reduces to "oo."

Listen: cinco

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Sound it out

ci The "c" before "i" sounds like English "s," as in "cent" — never like "k" or "ch."

n Doesn't get pronounced as a separate consonant here; instead it nasalizes the vowel before it, like the "n" in French "vin."

co The "c" before "o" is a hard "k" sound, and the final "o" shrinks toward "oo" since it's unstressed.

Hear it in a sentence

Compro cinco maçãs.

I buy five apples.

Listen: Compro cinco maçãs.

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"Compro cinco maçãs" means "I buy five apples." Note that "maçãs" (apples) is itself a nasal plural noun, so this sentence gives good practice hearing two different nasal sounds close together. "Compro" is the first-person present of "comprar" (to buy), a fully regular -ar verb.

Where English speakers slip

The most common mistake is pronouncing "in" as a clear vowel-plus-consonant, like the English "in" in "sink." In European Portuguese it should be one nasalized vowel sound with no real tongue contact for the "n" — the nasality lives in the vowel itself, a subtlety that's easy to under-produce if you're not used to nasal vowels from French or Brazilian Portuguese either.