Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

verão is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [vɨˈɾɐ̃w̃]. It means “summer.” Say "vuh-ROWNG" with the last part nasal, like you're pushing the sound out through your nose instead of finishing it with a hard "ng".

Say "vuh-ROWNG" with the last part nasal, like you're pushing the sound out through your nose instead of finishing it with a hard "ng".

verão [vɨˈɾɐ̃w̃]

Stress falls on the final syllable, which carries the nasal diphthong spelled -ão; the first e is unstressed and collapses to a quick "uh".

Listen: verão

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

Sound it out

ve- The unstressed e is almost swallowed — more like the "uh" in "sofa" than a full English "eh".

r A single r between vowels is a quick tongue-tap, like the tt in American "butter", never an English or Brazilian rolled/retroflex r.

-ão A nasal diphthong: round toward "ow" as in "cow" but let the air escape through your nose the whole time, like a French bon without the n consonant.

Hear it in a sentence

Adoro o verão em Portugal.

I love summer in Portugal.

Listen: Adoro o verão em Portugal.

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

"Adoro o verão em Portugal" uses adorar (to adore) rather than the weaker gostar de, which is a natural way for European Portuguese speakers to express strong enthusiasm about seasons or activities. Note that o verão takes the definite article even though English says just "summer" with no article. The preposition em ("in") combines with a country name here without a further article, since Portugal takes none.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers tend to say the -ão ending as a plain "ow" without the nasal quality, which in Lisbon speech sounds noticeably foreign and can even shift the meaning-adjacent word verã (not a real word) or just sound unclear. Push more air through the nose on that final syllable, and don't let it drift toward the open, de-nasalized "ão" often heard in some Brazilian dialects.