Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

longe is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈlõ.ʒi/. It means “far.” LONG-zhee. Nasal first vowel, soft "zh" for the g, and the final e raises to "ee."

LONG-zhee. Nasal first vowel, soft "zh" for the g, and the final e raises to "ee."

longe /ˈlõ.ʒi/

Loud on the nasal, unmarked. The word is worth comparing with "longo": same opening, same nasal, but one ends in -e and the other in -o, and the g behaves completely differently — soft before the e, hard before the o. One letter changes the consonant as well as the meaning.

Listen: longe

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Sound it out

lon A true l and a closed o with the nose open. Lips rounded, air escaping upward, and no tongue contact for the n.

ge Before an e, g is the soft "zh" of "measure" rather than the hard g of "go." The e behind it then raises to "ee," so the ending is "zhee."

Hear it in a sentence

O aeroporto é muito longe.

The airport is very far.

Listen: O aeroporto é muito longe.

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"O aeroporto é muito longe" gives you "aeroporto," a five-syllable word with a hiatus at the front, a tapped r in the middle and a syllable-final r later on. The sentence then closes on the nasal-plus-"zhee" of "longe," which is quite a different texture from anything before it.

Where English speakers slip

The hard g is the standard error, producing "LON-gay" with an English g and a full "ay" ending. Both are wrong: soft "zh" and a raised "ee." The nasal is a third issue. There's also a construction to learn — "longe de" for far from, where the "de" is a quick "djee."