Portuguese/Contents/Complete Pronunciation

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Note: This page contains IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA in Unicode.

Portuguese alphabet, like in other Romance languages has a natural evolution from Latin and so it is not strictly phonetic and has some features inherited from its history. Although, compared to English or even French it is easy to read and not so hard to write.

[edit] Letters

The sounds are better explained in the next chapters.

Letter	Name of the Letter	Sound (IPA)	Sound (compared to English)	Example
A	á	a	a as in english father	árvore	tree
B	bê	b	b as in bee	beber	to drink
C	cê	k	c like in account (no aspiration)	coisa	thing
		s	c like in since	cedo	early
D	dê	d	d as in dozen	dois	two
E	é	e	é as in French fiancée or e in Spanish negro	besta	beast
		ɛ	ai as in french Palais or e as in English bed	fera	wild animal
F	efe	f	f as in fine	folha	sheet
G	gê	g	g as in ago	gordo	fat
		ʒ	s as in pleasure or j as in French Jean	gelo	ice
H	agá	soundless		homem	man
I	i	i	ee as in bee but shorter or i as in spanish mina	mito	myth
J	jota	ʒ	s as in pleasure or j as in French Jean	jarra	vase
L	ele	l	l as in lamb, never as in jungle	lema	motto
M	eme	m	m as in mother	mar	sea
N	ene	n	n as in never	nada	nothing
O	ó	o	o as in French mot or o as in Spanish no	dono	owner
		ɔ	a as in ball or aw as in law	lorde	lord
P	pê	p	p as in people (no aspiration)	pato	duck
Q	quê	k	c like in account (no aspiration)	querer	to want
R	erre	ɾ	dd as in ladder	caro	expensive
		h	h as in house	carro	car
S	esse	s	s as in since	selva	jungle
		z	z as in zoo	casa	house
		ʒ	s as in pleasure (When s occurs before d, g, j, l, m, n r, this sound is common in Portugal and some Brazilian States, like Rio de Janeiro, Pernambuco, Amazonas, which had great portuguese influence)	asma	asthma
T	tê	t	t as in tongue (no aspiration)	teto/tecto	roof
U	u	u	oo as in boot, but shorter or ou as in French fou	último	last
V	vê	v	v as in victory	vitória	victory
X	xis	ʃ	sh as in she	xadrez	chess
		ks	x as in oxyde	táxi	taxi
		s	s as in since	trouxe	brought
		z	z as in Brazil	exato/exacto	exact
		soundless	(Brazilian Portuguese only)	exceção/excepção	exception
Z	zê	z	z as in Brazil	azul	blue

Note: the letter q is always followed by a u.

[edit] Digraphs

Digraphs is a pair of letters used to sign one sound.

Digraph	Sound (IPA)	Sound (compared to English)	Example
CH	ʃ	sh as in she	achar	to find
LH	ʎ	aprox. ll as in million or gli as in Italian figlio	filho	son
NH	ɲ	aprox. ny as in canyon or ñ as in Spanish mañana	vinho	wine
QU	k	c like in account	questão	question
RR	h	h as in house	carro	car
SS	s	s as in since	passo	step

[edit] Diacritics

In Portuguese, a letter with or without Diacritics is considered the same.

Letter with diacritic	Name	Sound (IPA)	Sound (compared to English)	Example
á	a com acento agudo	stressed a	a as in english father	cálice	calix
à	a com acento grave (Crase)	a	a as in english father	Fui à cidade.	I went to the city
ã	a com til	ã	a as in german kann	não	no
ç	ce cedilha	s	s as in since	moça	girl
é	e com acento agudo	stressed ɛ	ai as in french Palais or e as in English bed	patético	pathetic
ê	e com acento circunflexo	stressed e	é as in French fiancée or e in Spanish negro	bêbado	drunk
í	i com acento agudo	stressed i	ee as in bee or i as in French midi	Líbano	Lebanon
ó	o com acento agudo	stressed ɔ	a as in ball or aw as in law	próprio	proper
ô	o com acento circunflexo	stressed o	o as in French mot or o as in Spanish no	avô	grandfather
õ	o com til	õ	aprox. on as in French bon	canções	songs
ú	u com acento agudo	stressed u	oo as in boot, but shorter or ou as in French fou	múltiplo	multiple