Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

antes is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈɐ̃.tʃis/. It means “before.” AHN-tcheess. Nasal first vowel, and the ending is "tcheess" rather than "tess."

AHN-tcheess. Nasal first vowel, and the ending is "tcheess" rather than "tess."

antes /ˈɐ̃.tʃis/

Weight on "an-," as -es words take by default. That final s isn't a plural marker at all here — it's simply part of the word, the same way it is in "lápis" and "ônibus," and it doesn't change the stress rule.

Listen: antes

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

Sound it out

an A stressed a with nasal airflow. Its quality shifts as a result — higher and more central than a plain oral a would be.

tes The unstressed e raises to i, pulling the t into "tch," and then the plural-looking s closes it with a hiss. The result is "tcheess," which surprises learners who expect a hard t.

Hear it in a sentence

Chegue antes das oito.

Arrive before eight.

Listen: Chegue antes das oito.

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

"Chegue antes das oito" uses a formal imperative with a silent u keeping the g hard — "SHEH-ghee" — and then "das" as the fused de-plus-article. That s runs into the vowel of "oito" and voices to a z, giving "da-ZOY-too."

Where English speakers slip

The palatalized ending is missed by nearly everyone at first: "AN-tess" with a hard t is what the spelling suggests. It's "tcheess." The nasal is the second issue. And the construction matters too — "antes de" plus an infinitive is how you say before doing something, so "antes de sair" rather than "antes sair."