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Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "menos" in Portuguese (Portugal)?
Say "MEH-noosh" — stress the first syllable, and let the final "os" fade into a soft "oosh".
Stress falls on the first syllable; the unstressed final "os" reduces to a short "oo" plus the EU "sh" ending.
Listen: menos
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
Preciso de menos açúcar.
I need less sugar.
Listen: Preciso de menos açúcar.
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"Preciso de menos açúcar" (I need less sugar) uses the construction "precisar de" + noun, a very common way to express needing something, where beginners often forget the required "de". "Menos" here functions as a quantity adverb modifying "açúcar", parallel to how "mais" would work in a similar sentence.
Where English speakers slip
English speakers tend to fully pronounce the final "o" as "oh" and skip softening the "s", producing something like "MEH-nohss". In authentic Lisbon pronunciation, that final syllable is clipped and hissy: "-nuʃ", much shorter and softer than the spelling suggests.