The most popular greetings in Brazil are “tudo bem” and “tudo bom”. Learn how to say it like a Brazilian! Learn the Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation of the letter M when it is at the end of the word or at the end of a syllable, as in “também”.
This video lesson is part of the Street Smart Brazil Portuguese Starter Kit. In this series we give you important Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation tips to improve your pronunciation whether you are just starting out with Portuguese or want to improve your advanced language skills.
Some of the examples I use in the lesson come from the following Brazilian songs:
- Ao Meu Redor, by Brazilian singer Marisa Monte, one of my favorites
- Águas de Março, by Elis Regina
Here is the video for this lesson:
Brazilian pronunciation of the letter M at the end of a word
Let me start with two very common words that are not in the songs:
- Bem = well
- Bom = good
The pronunciation trick here is that we do not close our lips to pronounce this M at the end of a word.
Regarding vocabulary, remember that bem = well and bom = good. I see fluent speakers of Portuguese using these words incorrectly. But it is easy to remember:
- bem and well have the letter E
- bom and good have the letter O
Let’s see a couple of examples. I can say:
- She sings well. = Ela canta bem.
- The concert was good. = O show foi bom.
The only situation in which we can use bem and bom interchangeably is in greetings. I can say:
- Tudo bem?
Or
- Tudo bom?
Learn more about bem and bom! I have a lesson specifically on these words. Visit my lesson to avoid common mistakes.
Continuing with the pronunciation of the letter M, from the song Ao Meu Redor:
- A garagem = garage
- O som = sound
From the song Águas de Março:
- O fim = the end
- Um = one; a
- O campo = camp
- O campo de futebol = soccer field
- O tombo = fall (noun from the verb to fall)
I encourage you to learn with songs. For great tips and strategies to learn language using music and other media resources, check out Susanna Zaraysky’s book Language is Music. It is available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on Amazon.com.
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