Portuguese (Portugal) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

à is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written [a]. It means “at.” A clear, open 'ah', like the 'a' in English 'father' — the accent mark signals this is a full, stressed vowel, unlike the article 'a'.

A clear, open 'ah', like the 'a' in English 'father' — the accent mark signals this is a full, stressed vowel, unlike the article 'a'.

à [a]

Stressed and open; the grave accent marks that this is the contraction of the preposition 'a' with the feminine article 'a', pronounced fully rather than reduced.

Listen: à

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

Sound it out

à An open, fully pronounced 'ah', distinct from the swallowed 'uh' of the plain article 'a' — the accent tells you not to reduce it.

(grave accent) The grave accent mark itself is the signal that this is the fused 'a + a' contraction, not the plain article — it doesn't change spelling elsewhere, only tells you to keep the vowel open.

Hear it in a sentence

Chego à uma hora.

I arrive at one o'clock.

Listen: Chego à uma hora.

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

'Chego à uma hora' contracts 'a' (to/at) with 'a' (the, feminine) before 'uma hora' (one o'clock), because clock times use the feminine article in Portuguese ('a uma', 'às duas', etc.). The accent is required in writing to distinguish this contraction from the plain, unstressed article 'a'.

Where English speakers slip

Because 'à' looks almost identical to the everyday article 'a', learners frequently pronounce it the same reduced, swallowed way. The accent mark is a signal to open it up into a full, clear 'ah' — dropping that distinction can make 'à uma hora' sound like a mumbled non-word to a native listener.