SpeekuHow to say

How to say saudade in European Portuguese

What people say, and how it sounds.

The answer
the noun, usually in the pluralsaudade/sɐwˈdadɨ/

The short answer

Saudade is the feeling of missing someone or something, with the love still in it: a person, a place, a summer. English needs a sentence for it; Portuguese has a noun, and it is the word fado is made of.

In speech it is nearly always plural and built with ter: tenho saudades tuas, I miss you.

sau-DA-d

Three syllables in Portugal, sau-DA-d, with the final e swallowed. The au is like the ow in now, and the stress is on da.

Hear it in a sentence

Every line is one the course teaches, with its European Portuguese audio.

saudade/sɐwˈdadɨ/

longing, missing (someone or something); nostalgia

Tenho muitas saudades tuas.

I miss you so much. (informal)

Que saudades do verão!

I really miss the summer!

Tenho saudades dos meus.

I miss my family.

People also ask

How do I say I miss you?

Tenho saudades tuas to someone you call tu; tenho saudades suas otherwise.

Is saudade really untranslatable?

The feeling is universal; the single word is not. Longing, missing and nostalgia each cover a part of it.

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