Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

a caneta is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a kaˈne.tɐ/. It means “pen.” ah kah-NEH-tah. A closed stressed e and a hard t.

ah kah-NEH-tah. A closed stressed e and a hard t.

a caneta /a kaˈne.tɐ/

Put the weight on the middle syllable, by the -a default. The word is a useful contrast with "sabonete": both have a t in the last syllable, and only one palatalizes, because the deciding factor is whether the vowel after it is an a or a raised e.

Listen: a caneta

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Sound it out

ca A k with no aspiration before the a and an open "ah," unstressed but fully pronounced rather than reduced.

ne An n opening its own syllable, so nothing nasalizes, and a closed e carrying the stress. Keep the vowel tight rather than opening it.

ta A hard dental t, since an a follows rather than an i, and a closing a that softens toward "uh." No palatalization — compare "sabonete," where the ending is -te and the t does change.

Hear it in a sentence

Me empresta uma caneta?

Can you lend me a pen?

Listen: Me empresta uma caneta?

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"Me empresta uma caneta?" puts the pronoun first and uses the present tense as a polite request, both thoroughly Brazilian. "Empresta" opens with a nasal, and "uma caneta" links the article's final "uh" into the noun's "kah" with no break.

Where English speakers slip

Palatalizing the t to "tchah" over-applies the rule, which needs an i-sound to fire and gets an a instead. Opening the stressed e is the second error. Spanish speakers reach for "bolígrafo" or "pluma," so this is a word with no useful cognate to lean on.