The Sound of SS –  The Sound of RR

You have already seen in the alphabet post that the s and the r are letters that can be doubled in Portuguese.  When doubled, they are placed in the middle of a word, between two vowels. The sound of SS is soft like in mass, but the sound of RR is hard like the sound of the letter H in English as in the word host.

Examples: massa (mass)  –  carro   (host)

The Sound of LH Pair

When an L is paired with an H, the sound of the LH pair is very similar to the double l in the English word million and the Spanish word calle. However, you need to make sure the tip of your tongue touches the internal part of the top of your front teeth as you finish sounding the syllable that contains the LH pair. 

Example: milho (million)

The Sound of NH Pair

When an N is paired with an H, the sound of the NH pair is exactly the same sound as that of the Ñ in Spanish as in the word niño. 

Example: Ninho (niño)

The Sound of CH Pair

When a C is paired with an H,  you get the pair CH which sounds exactly the same way as the SH sound in English in the word she.

Example: chá (she)

The Sound of Vowels With Accent Marks

In Portuguese, the sound of the vowels change when we use accent marks on them. There are four different kinds of accent marks that can be used on top of the vowels: acute (á, é, ó, ú), circumflex (ê, ô), tilde (ã,õ), and grave accent (à).

The acute accent makes the vowels have an open sound: já (abbey), café (bed), vovó (oh), baú (boo).

The circumflex makes the vowels sound closed: você , vovô (oat)

The tilde makes the vowels sound nasal: mão , limões

The grave accent is used to indicate the contraction of two words represented by word a in a sentence rather than for creating a new sound; the feminine definite article a (the) and the preposition a (to). They become one word and the grave accent is used on it – so a + a = à. So, in this case, the sound of the a does not change. It continues the same as the name of the letter in the alphabet as well as the á as mentioned above.

Example: Vou à casa da Maria. I go to Maria’s home.

The sound of the ç

When the cedilla is used under a c, the hard sound /k/ before an a or an o changes to the soft sound of /s/ as in some.  

Example: laço – lasso

 If you’re just starting on your journey of Portuguese learning, you will probably enjoy making a stop at the Starter Guide.

The post Letter Sounds In Portuguese appeared first on Brazilian Portuguese in a Snap.

Those letters will continue to be used in measurement symbols as km for quilômetro (kilometer), km for quilograma (Kilo), and W for watt;  in foreign words and proper names: show, playboy, playground, windsurf, kun fu, yin, yang, kafkiano, Kafka,  Katia, Kilma, William, Wallace, Yara.

Here is the new Portuguese alphabet and the names of the letters:

Let’s look at some examples of words starting with each letter of the alphabet in Portuguese and compare the sound of each letter to the closest sound found in words in English. The position of the letters in the English word may vary, and the words in English may not necessarily have the same meaning as the words in Portuguese. What we’re trying to do here is to find matching sounds or close sounds in the two languages.

Letter A: água  ~ father – letter a sounds like the a in the word father.

Letter B: bom  ~  base – letter b sounds just like the b in word base.

Letter C:

• centro  ~  center – letter c ifollowed by either an e or an i ,has a soft sound as in center.      
• canto, conta, custo   ~  car  –  letter c followed by either an a, an o or a u has a hard sound as in car, count.
•             

Letter D: dado  ~  dance – letter d always has the sound of the d in the word dance.

Letter E: 

eco ~ echo – letter e at the beginning of a word may be either open as the e in echo, or closed as at the first e in edelweiss. It is also open, no matter the position in the word, whenever it carries the accute stress mark as in café, and closed whenever it carries the circumflex stress mark as in bebê. It can also sound like the name of the letter e in English as at the beginning of e-commerce when following a consonant at the end of a word as in leve or when it is at the beginning of a word, followed by an s as in esmalte.

Letter F: fato ~ fact – letter f sounds exactly as it does in English.

Letter G:

• gato  ~  gun  –  when the g  is followed by an a, an o or a u, it has a hard sound like the g in gun.                
• gente  ~  leisure  –  when the g followed by an e or an i, it sounds like the s in leisure. 

Letter H:  

• hora  ~  hour  – letter h is always silent in Portuguese as it is in word hour. So just ignore it when you see it.

Letter I: idade ~ deed – letter i always sounds like ee as in deed no matter which position it’s located in a word.

Letter J:  

• jato  ~  leisure  –  the j is also always pronounced like the s in leisure no matter which vowel follows it.

Letter K: 

• Katia, kibom  ~  kiwi  –  the k always has a hard sound no matter which vowel follows it.                    

Letter L:  

• lata, mala ~  late  – letter l at the beginning of a word and between vowels always sounds like the l in English as in late.
• mil  ~  view  – the l in the end of the word is going to sound pretty much like a w in English.

Letter M:  

• mala, mama ~  mom – letter m at the beginning of a word and between vowels sounds like the m in English as in the word mom.
• cem ~ cent  – the sound of the m at the end of a word has a sound similar to that of the n in english as in the word cent, but it’s a bit longer.

Letter N:  

• nota, mano ~ note – letter n at the beginning of a word and between vowels sounds like the n in English.

Letter O:  

• olá  ~  awkward – letter o at the beginning of a word and between vowels sounds like the o in English.
• lado ~ doodle – letter o at the end of a word sounds like oo in the word doodle.

letter P:  

• pato  ~  pot – letter p sounds just like it would in English. 

Letter R:  

• roda ~ porta   –  carro   ~  hot.                     

Letter r always sounds like the h in English at the beginning of a word, in the middle of a word when followed by a consonant, and when it’s doubled which always occurs between two vowels.

Letter S:  

• sal  ~  salt  –  the s always has a soft sound as in salt when it is positioned at the beginning of a word no matter which vowel follows it.    
• massa  ~  mass  –  the double ss has a soft sound as ss in mass.
• esporte  ~  sport  –  the s before a consonant sounds soft as in the word sport.
• preciso   ~ precise  –  the s between two vowels sounds like a z as in precise.

Letter T:  

• tato ~ total

 Letter U:  

• uva  ~  juice

Letter V: 

• vela  ~ very

 Letter W: 

• Wilma  ~  vote

 Letter Y:  

• Yara ~  year

Letter Z: 

• zebra  ~ zebra

If you enjoyed this information and you’re just starting on your journey of Portuguese learning, be sure to check out the Starter Guide.

The post The Portuguese Alphabet appeared first on Brazilian Portuguese in a Snap.