Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

manhã is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [mɐˈɲɐ̃]. It means “morning.” Say "muh-NYUNG" (nasal) — stress the final syllable, and pronounce "nh" as one soft "ny" sound.

Say "muh-NYUNG" (nasal) — stress the final syllable, and pronounce "nh" as one soft "ny" sound.

manhã [mɐˈɲɐ̃]

Stress falls on the final syllable, a nasal vowel; "nh" is a single palatal sound like the "ni" in English "onion", never "n" plus "h".

Listen: manhã

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Sound it out

ma Unstressed, reduces to a light "muh".

nh One combined sound, like "ny" in "canyon" or the Spanish "ñ", not two separate letters.

ã A nasal "ah", produced with air through the nose, no hard consonant closing the sound.

Hear it in a sentence

Gosto de correr de manhã.

I like running in the morning.

Listen: Gosto de correr de manhã.

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"Gosto de correr de manhã" (I like running in the morning) uses "gostar de" + infinitive to express liking an activity, a construction that always requires "de" before the following verb — a very common pattern beginners must drill early. "De manhã" is the standard fixed phrase for "in the morning", distinct from other time-of-day expressions like "à tarde" and "à noite" which use a different preposition contraction.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often reduce or skip the nasalization on the final "ã", pronouncing it as a plain "a" and adding an English-style "n" sound, which changes the word noticeably. They also sometimes mispronounce "nh" as separate "n" and "h" sounds instead of the single soft palatal "ny" sound that Portuguese spelling represents.