Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

depois is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /dʒiˈpojs/. It means “after / later.” djee-POYSS. The opening d becomes a "dj," and the ending rhymes with English "voice."

djee-POYSS. The opening d becomes a "dj," and the ending rhymes with English "voice."

depois /dʒiˈpojs/

End-stressed, and no accent is required because words ending in the s of a diphthong take final stress by rule. Like "demais," this is a fused compound where the original stress of the second element survived the merger — Portuguese welds prepositions onto words freely and the rhythm rarely shifts.

Listen: depois

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Sound it out

de The unstressed e raises to i, dragging the d into "dj." It's the little preposition "de" welded onto the front of another word, and it keeps its usual pronunciation intact.

pois Unaspirated p, then "oi" as the diphthong in "boy," then a closing s. This is the stressed syllable and it carries the whole word.

Hear it in a sentence

Falamos depois.

We'll talk later.

Listen: Falamos depois.

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"Falamos depois" ends on the s of "depois" with nothing after it, so it stays a clean hiss. Add another word beginning with a vowel and it would buzz into a z instead — "depois eu ligo" gives you "de-POY-zew." The verb "falamos" meanwhile ends in the raised "oos" of an -os plural.

Where English speakers slip

"day-POYS" or "deh-POYS" both miss the palatalization at the front. Say "djee." Learners also confuse "depois" with "depois de": the bare adverb means afterwards, while "depois de" plus a noun or infinitive means after something specific, and dropping the "de" changes the grammar.