Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

a mesa is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a ˈme.zɐ/. It means “table.” ah MEH-zah. The s in the middle buzzes as a z, because it sits between two vowels.

ah MEH-zah. The s in the middle buzzes as a z, because it sits between two vowels.

a mesa /a ˈme.zɐ/

The default lands on "me-," as it does for any word ending in -a. The word makes a clean minimal contrast with "messa"-type spellings: had Portuguese wanted an unvoiced s here it would have had to double the letter, exactly as it does in "pessoa" and "assim."

Listen: a mesa

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

Sound it out

a Feminine article, open and light, running straight into the m.

me An m opening a syllable — nothing nasalizes — and a closed e, the tight "ay" of "they" without its glide. This is the stressed syllable.

sa A single s between two vowels always voices to a z in Portuguese, so this is "zah" and never "sah." The final a lightens toward "uh" without vanishing.

Hear it in a sentence

A mesa da cozinha é grande.

The kitchen table is big.

Listen: A mesa da cozinha é grande.

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

"A mesa da cozinha é grande" uses "da," the fused de-plus-article. "Cozinha" is the harder word: an intervocalic z, a nasal i, and an nh, all in three syllables — so the sentence gives you two buzzing sibilants and a palatal nasal.

Where English speakers slip

Saying "MEH-sah" with a hiss is the reading error, and it's especially persistent for Spanish speakers, whose "mesa" is spelled identically and keeps an unvoiced s. In Portuguese an s between vowels buzzes without exception. The closed stressed e is the second point, since an open "eh" shifts the vowel noticeably.