Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

nosso is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈnɔ.su]. It means “our.” Say 'NAW-soo', with an open 'aw' vowel on the stressed syllable and a short 'oo' at the end.

Say 'NAW-soo', with an open 'aw' vowel on the stressed syllable and a short 'oo' at the end.

nosso [ˈnɔ.su]

Stress on the first syllable, which takes the open vowel [ɔ] (like English 'off'); the final 'o' reduces to a short [u], and the double 's' is a plain, crisp 's' sound (not 'sh', since it's between vowels rather than at a syllable edge).

Listen: nosso

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Sound it out

o Stressed and open, like the o in English 'off' — not the closed 'oh' the single letter might suggest.

ss A plain, sharp 's' sound because it sits between two vowels — double 's' in Portuguese spelling exists specifically to keep this a clear 's' rather than the 'z' sound a single intervocalic 's' would produce.

o Unstressed final 'o' reduces to a short 'oo' [u].

Hear it in a sentence

Este é o nosso carro.

This is our car.

Listen: Este é o nosso carro.

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'Este é o nosso carro' places 'nosso' (our) after the required article 'o', same pattern as 'meu' and 'teu'. 'Nosso' agrees with the possessed noun's gender and number, becoming 'nossa/nossos/nossas' as needed — 'carro' being masculine keeps it as 'nosso'.

Where English speakers slip

Learners sometimes turn the medial 'ss' into a 'sh' sound by over-applying the syllable-final s-to-sh rule, but that rule only applies to a single 's' at a syllable boundary or word end — double 's' between vowels always stays a plain, hissing 's'. The stressed vowel should also stay open ('aw'), not closed to 'oh'.