Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

Say "OHN-duh" with a nasal first syllable — stress the first syllable and let the final "e" almost disappear.

onde [ˈõdɨ]

Stress falls on the first syllable, a nasal vowel; the final "e" reduces to a faint "uh", nearly silent.

Listen: onde

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Sound it out

on A nasal "oh", air passing through the nose rather than closing into a hard "n".

d A crisp true dental "d".

e Unstressed final vowel, reduced almost to nothing.

Hear it in a sentence

Onde ficas hoje?

Where are you staying today?

Listen: Onde ficas hoje?

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"Onde ficas hoje?" (Where are you staying today?) uses "ficar" here in the sense of "to stay/be located", a common everyday use distinct from its other meaning "to become". "Ficas" is the informal "tu" conjugation, reinforcing how frequently the informal register appears in casual EU Portuguese questions.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often pronounce "on" as an oral vowel followed by a clear "n" consonant, similar to the English word "on", instead of a true nasal vowel with no consonant closure. They also tend to over-pronounce the final "e" as a clear "eh", when it should fade to almost nothing in natural Lisbon speech.