Saudade Meaning, Pronunciation and Sentence Examples

Saudade is a Portuguese noun for the feeling of missing or longing for someone or something absent. In English, the best wording may be longing, yearning, missing someone or nostalgia, depending on context.

Saudade in a sentence: “The familiar song brought saudade—a longing for evenings at my grandparents’ home.” The sentence explains the borrowed word for a reader who may not know it.

Meaning · Sentence examples · Pronunciation · Three-question quiz

What does saudade mean?

Imagine finding a photo from a place you once called home. You feel affection for the memory and wish you could be there again. Saudade can express that longing. It can also concern a person you expect to see again: absence need not be permanent.

The word is often described as “untranslatable.” A more helpful explanation for learners is that no single English word fits every use. The feeling can still be explained or translated in a sentence.

How to pronounce saudade

A rough guide for a common Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation is sow-DAH-jee, with sow rhyming with cow. Stress the middle syllable. The spelling guide is approximate; the final sound varies across Portuguese-speaking regions.

Do not treat this Brazilian guide as the only Portuguese pronunciation. The Cambridge Portuguese–English entry provides a phonetic transcription for comparison.

Saudade in a sentence: English examples

• The sound of the old train filled me with saudade for the town where I grew up.
• She used the word saudade to describe how much she missed her brother.
• Looking through our school photographs brought a gentle sense of saudade.
• He explained that his saudade was a longing for home, not a wish to change his new life.

These examples use a Portuguese word in English writing. If your readers may not know it, explain it on first use: “I felt saudade—a longing for the home I had left.” Then use the word naturally without repeating the definition.

How to use saudade in an English sentence

Use saudade as a noun, naming the feeling. Useful patterns are feel saudade for, be filled with saudade and a sense of saudade. Name the person, place or time being missed so the meaning is clear.

• Missing a person: I felt saudade for my sister when I heard our favourite song.
• Missing a place: The scent of rain filled him with saudade for his childhood village.
• Remembering a time: The photographs gave her a sense of saudade for summer evenings with her cousins.

Avoid using it as an adjective: write “I felt saudade,” rather than “I was saudade.” In everyday English, “I missed my sister” or “I longed for home” may communicate the feeling more directly.

Saudade, saudades and related English words

In Portuguese, saudade is a feminine noun and saudades is the plural. The phrase Tenho saudades de ti can be translated as “I miss you.” A literal word-for-word translation may sound less natural than expressing the intended feeling.

Nostalgia often looks back to an earlier time. Longing expresses a strong desire for someone or something. Homesickness is specifically about missing home. Each can help explain a particular use of saudade; none is a universal replacement.

The word comes from Portuguese. Avoid presenting every Portuguese-speaking person’s experience as identical, or treating related words from other languages as exact equivalents.

Check your understanding

Try each question before opening its answer.

Question 1

Must saudade concern someone or something lost forever?

Question 2

Which syllable is stressed in the guide sow-DAH-jee?

Question 3

Write an English sentence using saudade and explain the feeling for a new reader.

Reference: Cambridge Dictionary: saudade. English examples and practice questions are original to English Skill Studio.

Compare another word whose translation depends on context: Swedish mysa meaning and pronunciation.

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