How to Pronounce 'Perguntar': Portuguese (Brazil) Pronunciation Guide

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

perguntar is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /peɦ.gũˈtah/. It means “to ask.” peh-goon-TAH. Four sounds to watch: a breathy r in the middle, a nasal u, and a final r that disappears.

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

peh-goon-TAH. Four sounds to watch: a breathy r in the middle, a nasal u, and a final r that disappears.

perguntar /peɦ.gũˈtah/

Three of this word's four vowel positions are unstressed and not one of them collapses; the nasal u in particular keeps humming at full resonance while carrying no weight whatsoever. Portuguese tolerates long unstressed runs like this and then lands hard on the final syllable, which is where an r ending always puts the stress.

Listen: perguntar

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Sound it out

per A closed e and then a syllable-closing r that becomes a soft throat-h — so this opens as "peh" with a slight rasp, not "per" with an American r.

gun A hard g as in "go," then a u nasalized by the n. The nose does the work; the tongue never rises to make a separate n consonant.

tar Dental t plus the word's one loud vowel, jaw wide. The r behind it is an afterthought of breath, which is striking given how much weight the syllable carries.

Hear it in a sentence

Posso perguntar uma coisa?

Can I ask something?

Listen: Posso perguntar uma coisa?

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"Posso perguntar uma coisa?" links the final r of "perguntar" straight into the vowel of "uma," which strengthens it into a tap: "per-goon-TAH-roo-muh." That's a good illustration of how the same final r is silent before a consonant and audible before a vowel.

Where English speakers slip

The first r is where learners stumble hardest, importing an English "per" that sounds like the start of "person." In Brazil that r is barely more than a breath. Beginners also fully articulate the n in "gun," giving a clunky four-consonant word. And note the grammar: you "perguntar" a question but "pedir" a favour — Portuguese splits asking into two verbs where English uses one.