Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

longe is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written ['lõʒɨ]. It means “far.” Say "LOHN-zhuh," with the first syllable nasalized through the nose and the g pronounced as a soft "zh," like the s in "pleasure."

Say "LOHN-zhuh," with the first syllable nasalized through the nose and the g pronounced as a soft "zh," like the s in "pleasure."

longe ['lõʒɨ]

Stress is on the first syllable, which is a nasal vowel; g before e is always soft ("zh"), and the final e reduces to a near-silent [ɨ].

Listen: longe

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Sound it out

lon A nasalized "oh," said with air escaping through the nose, similar to French "long" — not a plain oral "lon" as in English "long."

ge Before e or i, Portuguese g is always soft, sounding like "zh" (as in "pleasure"), never a hard g like in English "get"; the following e is barely voiced, trailing off almost silently.

Hear it in a sentence

A praia fica longe daqui.

The beach is far from here.

Listen: A praia fica longe daqui.

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"A praia fica longe daqui" (The beach is far from here) uses "fica" (from "ficar," to be located/to stay) instead of "ser" or "estar" — a very common and idiomatic way to talk about where something is situated. This is worth flagging for learners since "ficar" for location is extremely frequent in everyday Portuguese but often skipped in early grammar lessons that focus only on ser/estar.

Where English speakers slip

Two mistakes stack up here: pronouncing "lon" as a plain oral vowel instead of a nasal one, and pronouncing the g as a hard English g instead of a soft "zh." Getting the nasal right — letting the vowel resonate through the nose rather than stopping cleanly on an n — is what most distinguishes an accurate "longe" from an anglicized one.