Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

How do you pronounce "o nome" in Portuguese (Brazil)?

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

o nome is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u ˈno.mi/. It means “name.” oo NOH-mee. Closed stressed o, and the final e comes out as "ee."

oo NOH-mee. Closed stressed o, and the final e comes out as "ee."

o nome /u ˈno.mi/

The ordinary rule lands on the first syllable, so nothing is written. The word is a good test of the nasalization rule: it contains an n and an m, and neither nasalizes anything, because each one opens its own syllable rather than closing one. Move either consonant a position later and the vowels would hum.

Listen: o nome

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Sound it out

no An n opening the word, so nothing nasalizes, and a closed "oh" with rounded lips. This is the stressed syllable.

me An m and then the unstressed final e heard as "ee." An m isn't altered by a following i-sound, so the ending is simply "mee" with no palatalization.

Hear it in a sentence

Qual é o seu nome?

What's your name?

Listen: Qual é o seu nome?

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"Qual é o seu nome?" is the standard question, and Portuguese uses "qual" rather than "que" here — "que é o seu nome" sounds wrong to Brazilian ears. "Qual" ends in a vocalized l, so the question opens on a glide and closes on a raised "ee."

Where English speakers slip

Leaving the final e as "may" is the reflexive reading and it sounds bookish. Raise it to "ee." Learners also nasalize the vowels by association with words like "nome"'s neighbours in a vocabulary list, when both are fully oral. And the "qual" versus "que" choice is a small grammar point worth fixing early.