Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "como estás" in Portuguese (Portugal)?

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

como estás is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈkomu (ɨ)ʃˈtaʃ]. It means “how are you.” KOH-moo shtash — 'como' stresses the first syllable with a light final 'oo'; 'estás' almost drops its first vowel, sounding close to 'shtash', with both 's' sounds as 'sh'.

KOH-moo shtash — 'como' stresses the first syllable with a light final 'oo'; 'estás' almost drops its first vowel, sounding close to 'shtash', with both 's' sounds as 'sh'.

como estás [ˈkomu (ɨ)ʃˈtaʃ]

'Como' stresses its first syllable; 'estás' stresses its final syllable (marked by the accent), and its initial 'e' is so reduced it's often barely heard, making the word start almost like 'shtash'.

Listen: como estás

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

Sound it out

co-mo Stressed 'co' with a closed 'oh' vowel like in 'cold'; unstressed final 'mo' shrinks to a light 'moo'.

es The unstressed 'e' reduces almost to nothing, and the 's' before the following consonant becomes 'sh' — the whole syllable often sounds like just a quick 'sh'.

tás Stressed syllable: a true dental 't', open 'ah', and the word-final 's' pronounced 'sh' — together, 'tash'.

Hear it in a sentence

Olá, como estás hoje?

Hi, how are you today?

Listen: Olá, como estás hoje?

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

"Como estás?" is the informal ('tu') form for asking how someone is doing, used with friends, family, and peers. The formal equivalent, "Como está?", swaps in the formal 'você'-aligned verb form for strangers or professional settings.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often pronounce "estás" with a clear, full "es-" opening ("es-TAHS"); in natural EP speech that first vowel nearly vanishes and the word can sound like it starts with "sht-". This heavy unstressed-vowel reduction, much lighter in Brazilian Portuguese (which pronounces "estás"/"está" with a clearer initial vowel), is a main giveaway of an EP accent.