How to Pronounce 'A Semana': Portuguese (Brazil) Pronunciation Guide

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

a semana is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /a seˈmɐ.nɐ/. It means “week.” ah seh-MAH-nah. Three syllables in the noun, stress in the middle, and no nasalization anywhere.

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

ah seh-MAH-nah. Three syllables in the noun, stress in the middle, and no nasalization anywhere.

a semana /a seˈmɐ.nɐ/

Second-to-last syllable, delivered by the -a default with no accent. The word is a good stress test because it's long enough for the placement to matter: three syllables with the weight in the middle gives a light-heavy-light shape that's very common in Portuguese nouns.

Listen: a semana

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Sound it out

a A quick open vowel leaning forward. It neither raises nor reduces: unstressed a in Brazil keeps its identity, unlike unstressed o.

se A hissed s and a closed e, unstressed. The s stays unvoiced because it opens the word rather than sitting between vowels.

ma An m opening its own syllable, so nothing before it nasalizes, and then the stressed wide-open a. This is the loud centre of the word.

na An n opening a syllable for the same reason, followed by a last a easing toward "uh." Two nasal consonants in the word and not a single nasal vowel.

Hear it in a sentence

Esta semana está corrida.

This week is busy.

Listen: Esta semana está corrida.

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"Esta semana está corrida" would clip "está" to "tá" in speech. "Corrida" contains a double rr pronounced as a throaty h, so the sentence goes from two clean nasal consonants into a guttural — and "corrida" here means busy or hectic rather than its literal sense of a race.

Where English speakers slip

Nasalizing either vowel by association with other m and n words is the standard trap; both syllables here are fully oral. English speakers also reduce the unstressed vowels into schwas, giving "suh-MAH-nuh," when Portuguese keeps them clear. And "semana" is feminine despite ending in a way that feels neutral, so it's "a semana" and "esta semana."