Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

homem is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈɔ.mɐ̃j̃]. It means “man.” Say "AW-mayng" but push the ending through your nose instead of saying a hard "ng" — the h is completely silent.

Say "AW-mayng" but push the ending through your nose instead of saying a hard "ng" — the h is completely silent.

homem [ˈɔ.mɐ̃j̃]

Stress falls on the first syllable; the word-final "-em" is a nasal diphthong, not a plain "em" like in English "them".

Listen: homem

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Sound it out

h Always silent in Portuguese — never pronounce it, as if the word simply started with 'o'.

o Stressed, open like the "aw" in "law", not the "oh" of English "home".

em A nasal diphthong: let the vowel drift toward "ãy" while air flows out through your nose, like a nasalized version of "ayng" without fully closing into an English -ng.

Hear it in a sentence

Aquele homem é o meu vizinho.

That man is my neighbor.

Listen: Aquele homem é o meu vizinho.

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"Aquele homem é o meu vizinho" uses "aquele" (that, masculine, at a distance) rather than "esse", signaling the man is not close to the speaker. "É" is the third-person singular of "ser", used here because being someone's neighbor is treated as a lasting identity, not a temporary state. Note the word order: subject, verb, then the predicate noun phrase, just like English.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often pronounce the h, saying something like "HO-mem" with a puffed initial consonant; it must be totally dropped. They also tend to say the ending as a crisp English "-em" instead of letting it nasalize — in both European and Brazilian Portuguese the nasal is required, but European speakers keep the vowel more centralized and clipped rather than the fuller Brazilian "ãO-jee"-ish glide.