Portuguese (Brazil) · Pronunciation Guide

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

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

vinte is pronounced with the stress described below. In IPA it is written /ˈvĩ.tʃi/. It means “twenty.” VEEN-tchee, first vowel nasal, ending in the "tch" of "cheese" plus "ee."

VEEN-tchee, first vowel nasal, ending in the "tch" of "cheese" plus "ee."

vinte /ˈvĩ.tʃi/

"Vinte" ends in -e, so the default rule places the stress on the second-to-last syllable, "vin-," with no accent required. That stressed syllable is the nasal one, which is typical: Portuguese nasals tend to sit where the weight is, giving them plenty of room to resonate.

Listen: vinte

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Sound it out

vi A genuine v, then an i that nasalizes because of the following n. Hum the "ee" through your nose rather than closing off the sound with a consonant.

n Not a separate beat — it exists to mark the nasal vowel and to lead into the t. You should feel resonance in your nose, not your tongue hitting the roof of your mouth.

te The closing e is heard as "i," which turns the t into "tch." Same ending as sete, noite and gente: learn the pattern once and it covers dozens of words.

Hear it in a sentence

Ele tem vinte anos.

He is twenty years old.

Listen: Ele tem vinte anos.

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"Ele tem vinte anos" links "vinte" to "anos" so tightly that the final "ee" of vinte glides straight into the "ah" of anos. Notice "tem" too — a nasal "teyng" that keeps a hard t, since its vowel is a nasal e rather than an i. Three nasals in five words is very ordinary for Portuguese.

Where English speakers slip

The predictable rendering is "VIN-tay," with a fully-pronounced n and a hard t. Brazilians nasalize the vowel and palatalize the t: "VEEN-tchee." Spanish speakers face a different pull, since Spanish "veinte" has a diphthong in the first syllable — Portuguese has a plain nasal i there, no "ay" glide.