Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

a praça is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a ˈpɾa.sɐ/. It means “square (in a town).” ah PRAH-sah. A tapped r in the cluster, and the ç is simply an s.

ah PRAH-sah. A tapped r in the cluster, and the ç is simply an s.

a praça /a ˈpɾa.sɐ/

The -a ending puts the weight on "pra-," unmarked. The cedilla is worth understanding structurally: it appears only before a, o and u, because before e and i the letter c is already soft. That's why the plural "praças" keeps its hook while a hypothetical "pracé" would drop it.

Listen: a praça

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Sound it out

pr A tight p with a tap flicked straight after. English speakers habitually let a small vowel leak in between; keep them glued together.

a Wide open, jaw down, and stressed. It's the longest sound in the word.

ça The hook under the c overrides the default: before an a, a bare c would be a k, so the cedilla is what makes this an s. The vowel behind it fades toward "uh."

Hear it in a sentence

Vamos nos encontrar na praça.

Let's meet in the square.

Listen: Vamos nos encontrar na praça.

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"Vamos nos encontrar na praça" uses the reflexive "nos" before the infinitive, the Brazilian placement. "Encontrar" carries two nasal vowels and both kinds of r — a tap in the cluster and breath at the end — so the sentence is a good workout before the simple "praça" lands.

Where English speakers slip

Reading the ç as a k undoes its whole purpose, and breaking the pr cluster with an inserted vowel gives three syllables where there are two. Spanish speakers reach for "plaza," which swaps the r for an l — a real cognate difference between the two languages, not a slip.