Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

esperar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /is.peˈɾah/. It means “to wait / to hope.” iss-peh-RAH. That initial e sounds like an i, and the middle r is a single tap.

iss-peh-RAH. That initial e sounds like an i, and the middle r is a single tap.

esperar /is.peˈɾah/

Two light, quick syllables and then a heavy landing. That long approach to a final stress is characteristic of Portuguese -ar infinitives of three syllables or more, and it's the rhythm to copy: iss-peh-RAH rather than three flat beats.

Listen: esperar

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Sound it out

es Brazilians raise a word-initial unstressed e toward "i," so this opens "iss" rather than "ess." It's the same shift you get in estar, escola and escrever — a small habit that covers a lot of vocabulary.

pe A p released without aspiration and a closed e. Unstressed and quick, but the vowel keeps its shape rather than blurring into a schwa.

rar The first r is a single tap between vowels, the tongue tip flicking once; the second, closing the word, is a puff of breath. Two r's, one syllable, two completely different sounds.

Hear it in a sentence

Espere um minuto.

Wait a minute.

Listen: Espere um minuto.

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"Espere um minuto" uses the imperative, where the stress moves to the middle: "iss-PEH-ree." That final e raises to i, though the r before it isn't affected by palatalization the way a t or d would be. The word then links into "um," whose nasality colours the end of the verb.

Where English speakers slip

The initial vowel is the first thing to fix — "ess-peh-RAR" with a full "eh" is what the spelling suggests and not what Brazilians say. The two r's are the second: learners give both the same treatment, usually an English curl. And semantically the verb covers both waiting and hoping, so "espero que sim" means "I hope so," which has nothing to do with waiting.