Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

onze is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [ˈõzɨ]. It means “eleven.” Say "OHN-zuh" through your nose — nasalize the first vowel, and let the final "e" fade to almost nothing.

Say "OHN-zuh" through your nose — nasalize the first vowel, and let the final "e" fade to almost nothing.

onze [ˈõzɨ]

Stress is on the first syllable, which is a nasal vowel (not vowel-plus-consonant "n"); the final "e" reduces to a faint schwa.

Listen: onze

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Sound it out

on A single nasalized vowel, similar to French "on" — the "n" doesn't get its own separate consonant sound.

z A regular voiced "z" sound here, as in English "zoo," since it's not at the end of the word.

e This final unstressed "e" shrinks to a light "uh," nearly disappearing in fast speech.

Hear it in a sentence

O filme começa às onze.

The movie starts at eleven.

Listen: O filme começa às onze.

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"O filme começa às onze" means "The film starts at eleven." "Começa" comes from "começar" (to start/begin), a common -ar verb with a spelling change (c becomes ç before a/o) to keep the "s" sound consistent — worth noticing since it recurs across many Portuguese verbs.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers often pronounce "on" as a vowel followed by a clear "n" consonant, as in the English word "on." In European Portuguese it should be one smooth nasal vowel with no tongue contact for an "n" — under-nasalizing this is a very common and noticeable error, and it's just as easy to get wrong coming from Brazilian Portuguese as from English, since the nasal vowel itself needs deliberate practice either way.