Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

ontem is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈõ.tɐ̃j̃]. It means “yesterday.” Say "OHN-tang" but nasal throughout — both syllables are nasal vowels, with no hard "n" consonant sound at the end.

Say "OHN-tang" but nasal throughout — both syllables are nasal vowels, with no hard "n" consonant sound at the end.

ontem [ˈõ.tɐ̃j̃]

Stress is on the first syllable; both "on" and "em" are nasal vowels, and "em" here sounds like a nasal "ang", not "em" as in English "stem".

Listen: ontem

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Sound it out

on A nasal "oh" — say "oh" while letting air pass through your nose, without pronouncing a separate "n".

t A true dental "t", tongue against the back of the upper front teeth, unlike the tapped English "t".

em A nasal diphthong that sounds like "ang" or "ayng", the same nasal ending heard in words like "bem" or "tem".

Hear it in a sentence

Ontem fui ao cinema.

Yesterday I went to the cinema.

Listen: Ontem fui ao cinema.

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"Ontem fui ao cinema" (Yesterday I went to the cinema) uses "fui", the irregular preterite (simple past) form of "ir" (to go), which beginners must memorize since it doesn't follow regular conjugation patterns. "Ontem" anchors the sentence firmly in a completed past action, which is why the simple past tense is required here rather than a compound past.

Where English speakers slip

Learners often pronounce "em" at the end as a plain English "em" (like the letter "M"), when it should be a nasal diphthong closer to "ayng". They also tend to add a hard consonant "n" sound at the end of "on", when the nasality should live entirely in the vowel itself with the mouth staying open.