Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

montanha is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [mõˈta.ɲɐ]. It means “mountain.” Say "mohn-TAH-nyuh", nasalizing the first syllable through your nose and pronouncing "nh" like the "ny" in "canyon".

Say "mohn-TAH-nyuh", nasalizing the first syllable through your nose and pronouncing "nh" like the "ny" in "canyon".

montanha [mõˈta.ɲɐ]

Stress falls on the middle syllable "ta"; the first syllable "mon" is nasalized because of the "n", and "nh" is a single palatal consonant, not a separate "n" plus "h".

Listen: montanha

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Sound it out

mon A nasal "oh" sound, air passing through the nose, similar to French "mon" — not a clear oral "on" as in English "on".

ta A clear, stressed "tah", crisp English-style "t" (dental, not the flapped "t" of American "butter") followed by a full open "a".

nha The "nh" is pronounced like the "ny" in English "canyon" or Spanish "ñ", followed by the reduced final "uh".

Hear it in a sentence

Vamos subir a montanha amanhã.

We're going to climb the mountain tomorrow.

Listen: Vamos subir a montanha amanhã.

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"Vamos subir a montanha amanhã" means "We're going to climb the mountain tomorrow." "Vamos + infinitive" (subir) is the standard near-future construction in Portuguese, equivalent to English "we're going to"; note also "amanhã" itself contains the same nasal "nh" pattern as montanha, good ear practice.

Where English speakers slip

The most common mistake is pronouncing "nh" as two separate sounds, "n" then "h", instead of the single fused "ny" consonant. A second, EU-specific trap is over-nasalizing the stressed "ta" syllable by analogy with the nasal "mon" — only the first syllable is nasal here; "ta" stays a clean, oral vowel.