Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "mais tarde" in Portuguese (Portugal)?

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

mais tarde is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [majʃ ˈtaɾdɨ]. It means “later.” Say "mysh TAR-duh" — two words, with the stress on "tar" in the second word and a soft, fading final "e".

Say "mysh TAR-duh" — two words, with the stress on "tar" in the second word and a soft, fading final "e".

mais tarde [majʃ ˈtaɾdɨ]

Stress lands on "tar" in "tarde"; "mais" keeps its own soft "sh" ending, and this phrase functions as a single adverbial unit meaning "later".

Listen: mais tarde

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Sound it out

mais Same as standalone "mais": a diphthong like English "my" plus a soft final "sh".

tar Stressed syllable with a rolled-free tapped "r" and an open "ah" vowel.

de Unstressed final syllable, the "e" reduces to a faint, almost silent "uh".

Hear it in a sentence

Falamos mais tarde.

We'll talk later.

Listen: Falamos mais tarde.

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"Falamos mais tarde" (We'll talk later) uses the present tense "falamos" (we talk) to express a near-future intention, a common informal way to talk about the near future without using a dedicated future tense. "Mais tarde" here functions adverbially, modifying when the talking will happen, and is one of the most common ways to postpone something politely.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often merge the two words together or drop the "sh" sound at the end of "mais", saying something like "my-TARde" instead of clearly separating "mysh" and "TARduh". They should also avoid over-pronouncing the final "e" of "tarde" as a full "eh", since in Lisbon speech it nearly disappears.