Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "a cama" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

Q: How do you pronounce a cama in Portuguese (Brazil)?

a cama is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a ˈkɐ.mɐ/. It means “bed.” ah KAH-mah, with the stressed a slightly coloured by the m that follows.

ah KAH-mah, with the stressed a slightly coloured by the m that follows.

a cama /a ˈkɐ.mɐ/

Second-to-last syllable, by the -a default. The word illustrates something the rules don't quite capture: Portuguese draws a hard line between nasal vowels and oral ones, but a stressed a before an m sits in between — audibly raised, faintly nasal, and yet not what anyone would transcribe with a tilde.

Listen: a cama

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Sound it out

ca Hard k and a stressed a — but not the widest possible one. In Brazil an a before an m or n picks up a raised, slightly nasal colouring even when the consonant belongs to the next syllable, so this sits a touch higher than the a in "casa."

ma A real m with the lips closing, opening its own syllable, then a final a lightening toward "uh." Both a's here are unstressed-or-stressed variants of the same vowel and neither is a full nasal.

Hear it in a sentence

A cama é confortável.

The bed is comfortable.

Listen: A cama é confortável.

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"A cama é confortável" ends on a word with an accent overriding the l-final default: "confortável" would otherwise be end-stressed, so the acute holds the weight in the middle, and its final l vocalizes to a w. Its first syllable is also nasal.

Where English speakers slip

English speakers say a flat "KAM-uh" with a reduced second vowel and no colouring on the first. Keep both a's audible and let the stressed one lean slightly toward the nose. Spanish speakers have "cama" spelled identically with a fully oral, wide a, so the difference is subtle enough to be missed entirely.