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Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "mãe" in Portuguese (Portugal)?
One syllable: say "mah-ee" fast and squeeze it all through your nose, so it comes out closer to a nasalized "mah-yn".
The whole word is a single stressed syllable containing a nasal diphthong, so there's no separate stress placement to worry about — just get the nasal quality right.
Listen: mãe
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Sound it out
Hear it in a sentence
A minha mãe faz um bolo delicioso.
My mother makes a delicious cake.
Listen: A minha mãe faz um bolo delicioso.
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"A minha mãe faz um bolo delicioso" places the adjective "delicioso" after the noun "bolo", the normal Portuguese word order (opposite of English "delicious cake"). "Faz" is the irregular present-tense form of "fazer" (to make/do). "A minha mãe" again keeps the definite article before the possessive, required in Portuguese even though English drops "the" before "my mother".
Where English speakers slip
English speakers frequently pronounce "mãe" as two clear syllables, "MAH-eh", or forget the nasalization entirely, saying a plain oral "my". It must stay a single nasal syllable. This word is nearly identical in European and Brazilian Portuguese, so the main risk is purely about the nasal vowel, not regional contrast — don't let the vowel become oral.