Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

dormir is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [duɾˈmiɾ]. It means “to sleep.” Sounds like "door-MEER" but with the first "door" shortened and both r's kept light — think "dhoor-MEER" with two soft tapped r's.

Sounds like "door-MEER" but with the first "door" shortened and both r's kept light — think "dhoor-MEER" with two soft tapped r's.

dormir [duɾˈmiɾ]

Stress is on the final syllable -mir; the unstressed dor- has its o closing toward "oo", and note this verb has two r's, both light taps, not English r's.

Listen: dormir

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Sound it out

dor Unstressed "o" closes toward "oo"; the r here is a light tongue-tap, not an English r.

m Plain "m" as in English.

ir Stressed, close "ee" sound ending in another light tapped r.

Hear it in a sentence

Durmo oito horas por noite.

I sleep eight hours a night.

Listen: Durmo oito horas por noite.

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"Durmo oito horas por noite" ("I sleep eight hours a night") uses durmo, an irregular first-person form where the stem vowel o changes to u — a stem-changing pattern shared by several -ir verbs. Horas takes no article, and por noite ("per night") uses por to express a rate, similar to English "per". The h in horas is always silent in Portuguese.

Where English speakers slip

Learners frequently mispronounce the silent h in horas by analogy with English "hour", when Portuguese h is always silent in every position. On dormir itself, the two r's are often over-pronounced as strong English r's; both should stay as quick, light taps, and the stressed final -ir should stay short rather than being drawn out.