Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

verdade is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [vɨɾˈda.dɨ]. It means “truth.” Say "vrr-DAH-duh", almost swallowing the first syllable, with the stress landing hard on the middle "DAH".

Say "vrr-DAH-duh", almost swallowing the first syllable, with the stress landing hard on the middle "DAH".

verdade [vɨɾˈda.dɨ]

Stress is on the middle syllable "da"; both the first "ver" and the final "de" contain reduced vowels that shrink toward a faint central "uh", a hallmark of European Portuguese rhythm.

Listen: verdade

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Sound it out

ver Unstressed "e" before "r" reduces to a very light, almost swallowed central vowel, so this syllable sounds closer to "vrr" than a full "vair".

da A clear, stressed, full open "ah" as in "father", with a true dental "d".

de The final unstressed "e" collapses to a faint, barely-voiced central sound, almost dropped in casual speech.

Hear it in a sentence

Diz-me a verdade.

Tell me the truth.

Listen: Diz-me a verdade.

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"Diz-me a verdade" means "Tell me the truth." This is an imperative form of dizer (to say/tell) with the object pronoun "me" attached after a hyphen, the standard European word order for affirmative commands — Brazilian Portuguese would often put the pronoun before the verb instead ("me diz a verdade").

Where English speakers slip

Learners frequently give the first syllable "ver" its full value, as if it were the unrelated verb "ver" (to see), producing something like "VAIR-dah-jee". In European Portuguese that first syllable is unstressed and heavily reduced, almost disappearing, and the final "de" stays a true dental "d" plus a faint vowel — never the "jee" sound Brazilian Portuguese gives it.