Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "ainda" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

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

ainda is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /aˈĩ.dɐ/. It means “still / yet.” ah-EEN-dah. Three syllables — the a and i don't merge — and the middle one is nasal.

ah-EEN-dah. Three syllables — the a and i don't merge — and the middle one is nasal.

ainda /aˈĩ.dɐ/

Three beats, with the middle one loudest — and that only works because the a and i are separate syllables rather than a diphthong. Portuguese keeps a stressed i apart from a preceding vowel as a matter of course, which is why "ainda" is three beats while "mais" and "pai" are one.

Listen: ainda

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Sound it out

a An unstressed open "ah" standing as its own complete syllable. It does not glide into what follows, which is the single most important thing about this word.

in A stressed i with the nose open. Hum a high "ee"; the tongue stays low and clear of the palate.

da Hard d, since an a follows rather than an i, arriving out of the nasal resonance. The final a lightens toward "uh" but stays audible.

Hear it in a sentence

Ainda estou no trabalho.

I'm still at work.

Listen: Ainda estou no trabalho.

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"Ainda estou no trabalho" would be spoken "ainda tô no trabalho." The final "ah" of "ainda" runs into the reduced verb, and "no" is em fused with the article, so a five-word written sentence comes out as about three spoken chunks.

Where English speakers slip

Squashing the opening into a diphthong gives "AYN-dah," two syllables, which is the standard error and sounds noticeably clipped. Give the a its own beat. The nasal is the second problem, with English speakers producing a full n. And note the meaning split: "ainda" covers both still and yet, so "ainda não" means not yet.