Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

sim is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /sĩ/. It means “yes.” A nasalized "seeng" where the ng is never actually finished — the vowel just hums through your nose and stops.

A nasalized "seeng" where the ng is never actually finished — the vowel just hums through your nose and stops.

sim /sĩ/

A single syllable carries the stress by default, and Portuguese doesn't mark one-syllable words with accents unless they need distinguishing from a homograph. "Sim" is a strong, emphatic little word in speech — Brazilians often lengthen the nasal hum for emphasis, drawing it out rather than clipping it.

Listen: sim

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Sound it out

s A clean hissed s at the front of the word, identical to English. It stays s here in every Brazilian dialect, including Rio, since the sh-shift only affects s at the end of a syllable.

im The m is a spelling device, not a consonant to pronounce. Say "ee" and simultaneously drop the back of your soft palate so air flows out through the nose; your lips must stay apart the entire time.

Hear it in a sentence

Sim, eu falo português.

Yes, I speak Portuguese.

Listen: Sim, eu falo português.

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"Sim, eu falo português" gives you the nasal three separate times if you listen: in "sim," in the "-guês" ending, and lightly in "eu" as it links to what follows. The final -ês of "português" is a closed "ay" plus an s, and that s is the stressed syllable of a word whose weight sits entirely at the end.

Where English speakers slip

The near-universal error is finishing the m — saying "seem" with the lips closing, or "sing" with a real velar consonant. Neither happens. The nasal is inside the vowel itself, running at the same time as it, not tacked on after. Spanish speakers have an easier time of it than English speakers but still tend to add a full n at the end, importing the shape of Spanish "sí" plus a consonant.