Hi! I’m having trouble with the pronunciation difference between saying três (3) and treze (13). Does anyone have any recommendations or audio/video clips that could help me hear/practice the difference? Thanks!
A good start for this kind of question is always to type the words into Deepl and get them spoken back to you. In this particular case you will find that treze sounds distinct from três or very similar to it, depending on what word follows. For a more subtle explanation of the sounds I am sure Joseph or another one of the crew will be along shortly.
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@jessie We have a Learning Note with audio examples for many numbers, including 3 and 13: Introduction to Numbers in Portuguese | Practice Portuguese
Três should end with a SH sound, while treze will end with a ZZ sound. When followed by some vowel sounds (mostly A, E and O, and especially if the following syllable is stressed), many people will connect the vowels with distinct sounds, e.g. “três anos” = trê[zz]anos vs. “treze anos” = trê[zee]anos. This is particularly true for the Lisbon region accent demonstrated at Practice Portuguese, with exceptions for other regions.
When followed by I (ee) or other unstressed vowel sounds, they might end up being almost indistinguishable. In these cases, we often articulate the words with more separation and put extra emphasis on the last syllable of treze.
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