Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

a cozinha is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a koˈzĩ.ɲɐ/. It means “kitchen.” ah koh-ZEEN-yah. The z buzzes, the middle vowel is nasal, and nh is one palatal sound.

ah koh-ZEEN-yah. The z buzzes, the middle vowel is nasal, and nh is one palatal sound.

a cozinha /a koˈzĩ.ɲɐ/

Second-to-last syllable, by the -a default. The word is a compact drill in three separate Brazilian features — a buzzing z, a nasal vowel and a palatal nasal — arriving in that order across three syllables, which makes it a good diagnostic for how far your pronunciation has come.

Listen: a cozinha

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Sound it out

co An unaspirated hard k before the o and a closed "oh," unstressed. The vowel stays "oh" — the raising rule touches a word-final unstressed o, not every one.

zi A genuinely voiced z with the cords vibrating, then an i that the following nh turns nasal. This is the loud syllable and the buzzing heart of the word.

nha One palatal consonant, the middle of the tongue flat against the roof of the mouth — Spanish ñ. The final a then lightens toward "uh." There is no separate n and no h.

Hear it in a sentence

Minha cozinha é pequena.

My kitchen is small.

Listen: Minha cozinha é pequena.

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"Minha cozinha é pequena" puts two nh sounds close together, in "minha" and "cozinha," which is excellent ear training. "Pequena" then has a silent u after the q, so the sentence contains a pronounced u nowhere and a silent one at the end.

Where English speakers slip

Splitting the nh into "n" plus "h" gives "ko-ZEEN-hah," the classic error. It's one fused sound. Devoicing the z is the second problem, and giving the nasal vowel a full n consonant is the third. Spanish speakers have "cocina," which shares neither the z nor the palatal.