Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

cem is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sẽj̃/. It means “one hundred.” SAYNG — one nasal syllable. The c is soft, and the -em ending is a nasal diphthong, not a plain "em."

SAYNG — one nasal syllable. The c is soft, and the -em ending is a nasal diphthong, not a plain "em."

cem /sẽj̃/

One syllable, so stress is automatic, and no accent is written. Worth noting for later: words ending in -em or -ens follow the second-to-last-syllable rule when they're longer, which is why "jovem" is stressed on the first syllable while "também" needs an accent to override that default.

Listen: cem

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Sound it out

c Soft, because it precedes an e — pronounce it as a straightforward s. Portuguese uses the same soft-c convention English does in "cent," which happens to be this word's distant cousin.

em A word-final -em is not "em" but a nasal diphthong, roughly "ayng": the closed e glides toward a nasalized y while air runs out through the nose. Your lips never close, so no m is actually produced.

Hear it in a sentence

Custa cem reais.

It costs a hundred reais.

Listen: Custa cem reais.

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"Custa cem reais" gives you the nasal ending running straight into an r-initial word. That r at the start of "reais" is the harsh throat-h, so you hear "sayng-heh-AISS." And "reais" itself ends in a diphthong plus s — the plural of the currency, real, made irregularly.

Where English speakers slip

The obvious error is "sem" with the lips closing on an m, which also collides confusingly with the actual word "sem" meaning "without" — though that one is pronounced "sayng" too, so context carries the load. The bigger issue is reading the c as a k: "kem" is not a word. Keep it soft, keep the nasal open.