Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

nunca is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈnũkɐ]. It means “never.” Say "NOON-kuh" with a nasal "oo" — stress the first syllable, nasalized, and keep the final "a" short.

Say "NOON-kuh" with a nasal "oo" — stress the first syllable, nasalized, and keep the final "a" short.

nunca [ˈnũkɐ]

Stress falls on the first syllable, which is a nasal vowel; the final "a" is unstressed and reduces to a light "uh".

Listen: nunca

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Sound it out

nun A nasal "oo" vowel, air passing through the nose, similar to the "un" in French "un" but closer to "oo".

c Pronounced like English "k" before "a", "o", or "u".

a Unstressed final vowel, reduces to a quick, light "uh" sound.

Hear it in a sentence

Nunca comi sushi.

I've never eaten sushi.

Listen: Nunca comi sushi.

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"Nunca comi sushi" (I've never eaten sushi) uses "nunca" before the verb, which in Portuguese is enough on its own to negate the sentence — no additional "não" is needed when "nunca" precedes the verb, unlike double-negative structures in some other Romance languages when word order differs. "Comi" is the simple past (preterite) of "comer", used because eating sushi is framed as a completed experience up to now.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often pronounce "nun" as a plain oral vowel close to English "noon", forgetting to nasalize it, which changes the vowel quality significantly in EU Portuguese. They may also add a hard "n" consonant sound at the end of that syllable instead of letting the nasality live purely in the vowel before the "c".