Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

pensar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /pẽˈsah/. It means “to think.” peng-SAH. The first vowel is nasal with no real n, and the stress sits on the second syllable.

peng-SAH. The first vowel is nasal with no real n, and the stress sits on the second syllable.

pensar /pẽˈsah/

Here the nasal vowel is the quiet one, tucked into the unstressed first syllable while the weight lands on "-sar." That's the reverse of "branco" or "vinte," and it's worth hearing: Portuguese nasality is entirely independent of stress, and learners who only practise loud nasals overplay them everywhere.

Listen: pensar

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Sound it out

pen A p with none of the English puff and a nasalized closed e. The n exists to mark the nasality — your tongue should not rise to form a separate consonant before the s.

sar A hissed s launches the loud vowel, wide open and fully oral after the nasal that came before it. The r closing the word is a soft exhale and no more.

Hear it in a sentence

No que você está pensando?

What are you thinking about?

Listen: No que você está pensando?

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"No que você está pensando?" uses the gerund, which stacks another nasal onto the word: "pen-SAHN-doo," with both the first and third syllables nasalized. The question opens with "no que," a contraction of em plus o, and Brazilians say the whole thing quickly with the "que" nearly swallowed.

Where English speakers slip

Saying a hard n — "PEN-sar" with the tongue touching — is the standard English rendering and it flattens the nasal vowel into an ordinary one. Let the nose do it. There's also a preposition point: "pensar em" is to think about something, while "pensar de" means to have an opinion of it, and learners routinely pick the wrong one.