Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

a galinha is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a gaˈlĩ.ɲɐ/. It means “hen / chicken.” ah gah-LEEN-yah. Hard g, a nasal stressed vowel, and nh as one palatal sound.

ah gah-LEEN-yah. Hard g, a nasal stressed vowel, and nh as one palatal sound.

a galinha /a gaˈlĩ.ɲɐ/

Stress goes to the middle syllable, by the -a default. The nasalization is the structurally interesting part: it comes from the nh in the third syllable spreading leftward onto the stressed vowel, which is why the word hums where the spelling gives no direct warning.

Listen: a galinha

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Sound it out

ga Hard g, because an a follows — before an e or i the same letter would be a soft "zh." The vowel is open and unstressed.

li The l keeps full tongue-tip contact since it opens the syllable, and the high "ee" behind it is nasalized by the nh that follows. Nasality spreads backward in Portuguese.

nha A single fused palatal, made by flattening the middle of the tongue against the hard palate. It also nasalizes the vowel in front of it, and the a behind it fades to "uh."

Hear it in a sentence

A galinha põe um ovo.

The hen lays an egg.

Listen: A galinha põe um ovo.

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"A galinha põe um ovo" contains "põe," one of the harder short words in the language — a nasal diphthong written with a tilde over the o, gliding toward a nasalized y. "Um ovo" then links the nasal into the vowel, so the sentence hums three times.

Where English speakers slip

Splitting the nh gives "gah-LEEN-hah," the classic error, and missing the backward nasalization gives a flat "lee." Both need attention. Learners also confuse "galinha" with "frango": the first is a hen and the second is the chicken you eat, and Brazilians keep them distinct on a menu.