How to pronounce “ão” (pão, não, coração)

The sound that tells everyone you're speaking Portuguese. Three steps to get close, and the three plurals it hides.

Three steps

1. Say “ow” as in now, but start it with a shorter, more closed vowel (like the u in but). 2. Now say it through your nose, as if you had a cold. 3. Don't close it with an n or m: the sound just fades out.

At the end of verbs, -am has the same nasal sound, just unstressed: falam, comeram. The stress is what separates falaram (they spoke) from falarão (they will speak).

Three plurals

Words in -ão have three possible plurals, and you learn them one by one: -ões (limão → limões, the most common), -ães (pão → pães, cão → cães) and -ãos (mão → mãos, irmão → irmãos).