Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

perguntar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [pɨɾɡũˈtaɾ]. It means “to ask.” Say "puhr-goo(n)-TAR" — the middle syllable is nasalized toward 'oo', and stress falls on the final -tar.

Say "puhr-goo(n)-TAR" — the middle syllable is nasalized toward 'oo', and stress falls on the final -tar.

perguntar [pɨɾɡũˈtaɾ]

Stress falls on the last syllable -tar; per- is unstressed and reduces to 'uh', while gun- is a nasal vowel closer to a nasalized 'oo' than the English 'uh' in "gun".

Listen: perguntar

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

Sound it out

per- Unstressed: the e reduces to a weak 'uh', with a light tongue-tap r — closer to "puhr" than English "per".

gun- A hard g (as in "go") followed by a nasal vowel resembling a nasalized 'oo', not an English short-u sound — air resonates through the nose here too.

-tar Stressed: a crisp dental t, an open 'ah', and a soft final r.

Hear it in a sentence

Posso perguntar-te uma coisa?

Can I ask you something?

Listen: Posso perguntar-te uma coisa?

Free browser voice. Hear it read by a real native speaker inside the LingoDrop app.

"Posso perguntar-te uma coisa?" ("Can I ask you something?") again shows a pronoun (-te) hyphenated directly onto the infinitive, a hallmark of European Portuguese word order that differs from Brazilian Portuguese, which more often places the pronoun before the verb (te perguntar) in casual speech. Coisa ("thing") is one of the most frequent nouns in everyday conversation.

Where English speakers slip

The most common mix-up is confusing perguntar ("to ask a question") with pedir ("to ask for/request something"), using perguntar where pedir is needed — perguntar always relates to inquiring or questioning, never to requesting an object or favor, and English "ask" covering both meanings is exactly what causes the confusion.