To pronounce ão, start with the "ow" of English "how," then let air flow through your nose as well as your mouth, without closing into an n. The same trick covers ã, õe, ãe and any vowel followed by m or n at the end of a syllable: the m or n colors the vowel instead of being pronounced.
English has vowels that get a little nasal before n or m, as in "can't" or "song," but it always finishes the consonant: the tongue touches the roof of the mouth for n, the lips close for m. Portuguese stops just before that. In sim (yes), the lips never close; if they do, you have said the English word "seem." In bom (good), the sound fades out through the nose with the lips still open, so it should never sound like "bomb."
A quick test: pinch your nose and say lá (there), then lã (wool). For lá nothing changes. For lã the sound should go muffled or buzzy, because air is trying to get out through your nose. If both sound the same while pinched, the second one is not nasal yet.
A tilde always marks one, but most nasal vowels are written with a plain vowel plus m or n. The rule: m or n followed by a consonant, or at the very end of a word, is not a consonant at all. It is a signal to nasalize the vowel before it.
| Spelling | Examples | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ã, am, an | lã, manhã, campo, branco | wool, morning, field, white |
| em, en | tempo, sempre, dente | time, always, tooth |
| im, in | sim, fim, cinco | yes, end, five |
| om, on | bom, ponte, onde | good, bridge, where |
| um, un | um, mundo, nunca | one or a, world, never |
The spelling is tidy: Portuguese writes m before p and b (campo, sempre, também) and n before other consonants (branco, cinco, mundo). Words that end in m switch to n in the plural, and that n is silent too: bom becomes bons, homem becomes homens, jardim becomes jardins.
When a vowel follows, m and n are normal consonants again: ano, uma, cama. In Brazil, though, a stressed vowel right before m, n or nh in the next syllable picks up some nasal color as well, so cama and banana sound a little nasal there. In Lisbon that effect is less noticeable.
| Sound | Examples | Rough guide from English |
|---|---|---|
| ão | não, pão, mão, então | "ow" as in how, through the nose |
| ãe | mãe, pães, cães | "eye" or "my," through the nose |
| õe | põe, limões, lições | "oy" as in boy, through the nose |
| final em | bem, também, ninguém, homem | Brazil: "ay" through the nose. Lisbon: closer to the ãe sound |
| ui in muito | muito | "wee" through the nose, despite no tilde |
The last two lines need a comment. Final em is one of the clearest accent markers: in Rio bem sounds like a nasal "bay," while in Lisbon it sounds much closer to the ending of mãe. Pick the version of the place you are learning for. And muito is the famous exception: no tilde, no m or n after the vowels, yet everyone pronounces the first part nasal. Saying it with a clean oral "mwee-too" is one of the surest signs of a foreign accent.
Nasality is not decoration. It separates real words, and getting it wrong can change your meaning.
| Oral | Meaning | Nasal | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| pau | stick | pão | bread |
| mau | bad | mão | hand |
| lá | there | lã | wool |
| mudo | mute | mundo | world |
| se | if | sem | without |
| vi | I saw | vim | I came |
The bakery pair is the one to get right first. Asking for um pão with a flat "pow" can be heard as pau, and in Brazil pau also has a vulgar slang meaning. Context usually rescues you at a bakery counter, but the nasal version is what people expect.
Words ending in -ão form their plurals three different ways, and you have to learn each word's plural with it:
Verbs add a reading trap. The third-person plural ending -am is not pronounced like English "am" or "ham." It sounds like an unstressed ão: falam (they speak) ends in the same nasal "ow" as falarão (they will speak). The difference between them is stress. Falam is stressed on the first syllable, FA-lam; falarão is stressed on the last, fa-la-RÃO. The same goes for falavam, foram and cantam: all end in a soft nasal "ow," never a hard m.
Nasal vowels improve fastest when someone hears you and tells you right away whether the sound was there. Say the drill words out loud with a tutor, or at a real bakery counter, until um pão, por favor comes out without a second thought.
It starts close to the ow in how, but air goes through the nose as well as the mouth, and the end drifts slightly toward oo. Without the nasal part, pão can be heard as pau.
Say ow as in how, with your nose open, and do not close into an n or m at the end. Pinch your nose while saying it: if the sound turns muffled, you are nasalizing correctly.
Muito is a well-known exception. Nothing in the spelling marks it, but speakers in both Brazil and Portugal nasalize the first part. It is worth practicing on its own because it is so common.
No. A final m only signals that the vowel before it is nasal. Your lips should stay open, so sim does not sound like the English seem and bom does not sound like bomb.
