Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

o pão is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /u ˈpɐ̃w̃/. It means “bread.” oo POWNG. One syllable — the vowel of "pow" hummed entirely through the nose.

oo POWNG. One syllable — the vowel of "pow" hummed entirely through the nose.

o pão /u ˈpɐ̃w̃/

A monosyllable ending in a nasal diphthong, so the stress is automatic and the tilde marks nasality alone. The plural is the interesting part: "pães," with a completely different nasal glide, where "irmão" gives "irmãos" and "coração" gives "corações." The -ão family has three plural patterns and no rule connects them — they're learned word by word.

Listen: o pão

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Sound it out

o "oo," unstressed and short, immediately followed by the noun's single nasal beat.

p A crisp, breathless p with no puff of air behind it. Portuguese consonants are drier than English ones, and the difference is audible even in a one-syllable word.

ão The nasal diphthong: a nasalized central a gliding into a nasalized w, all in one beat. Both halves are nasal throughout, and nothing closes the sound at the end.

Hear it in a sentence

Passe o pão, por favor.

Pass the bread, please.

Listen: Passe o pão, por favor.

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"Passe o pão, por favor" uses a formal imperative and links "passe o" so the raised final e of the verb runs into the article's "oo." "Por favor" then closes on two breathy r's, so the sentence moves from a nasal into two soft rasps.

Where English speakers slip

Closing the sound with an audible g gives "powng" with a hard ending, and breaking it into two syllables gives "pah-ohng." Neither is right — it's one fused nasal beat that simply stops. The plural is the other reliable stumbling block, since "pãos" feels natural and "pães" is what Portuguese actually uses.