Grammar - Portuguese-English dictionary

Grammar

Portuguese alphabetNounsAdjectivesArticlesDefinite articleIndefinite articlePronounsPersonal pronounsReflexive pronounsPossessive pronounsInterrogative pronounsRelative pronounsNegative pronounsDemonstrative pronounsIndefinite pronounsNumeralsCardinal numbersOrdinal numbersFractionsMultiplicityArithmetic operationsTelling the timeVerbsIndicativePresent tensesPast tensesFuture tensesThe subjunctive moodConditional moodImperative moodPast participlePresent participle (Gerund)AdverbsList of irregular verbs

1 Portuguese alphabet

Pronunciation

a	[a]	h	[aga]	o	[o]	v	[ve]
b	[be]	i	[i]	p	[pe]	w	[dabliu]
c	[se]	j	[ʒota]	q	[ke]	x	[ʃiʃ]
d	[de]	k	[kapa]	r	[erre]	y	[ípsilon]
e	[e]	l	[ele]	s	[esse]	z	[ze]
f	[efe]	m	[eme]	t	[te]
g	[ge]	n	[ene]	u	[u]

The letters K, W and Y were recently included in the alphabet, but they are not used at all (the only exceptions are names and loanwords). In addition, the following characters with diacritics are used: á, â, ã, à, ç, í, é, ê, ó, ô, õ, ú.

Pronunciation of the vowels

Portuguese vowels are divided into oral (a, e, i, o, u) and nasal ones (ã, am, an, em, en, im, in, om, on, um, un). Oral vowels are open, closed, or reduced, depending on the degree of openness. Nasal vowels are mostly closed. Their pronunciations depend on the stress position. Vowel sounds in the unstressed syllables tend to be reduced (e.g. o changes into u and almost completely dissapears). Due to this fact, Portuguese seems to be predominated by the consonants.

Pronunciation of the consonants and phonemes

Syllables di, ti, ni are pronounced hard: dizer [dizer], sentir [sentir], ministro [miniʃtru]. Pronunciation of most consonants b, d, f, m, n, p, t is fairly straightforward. Only the consonants r, s, x, z and digraphs ch [ʃ], lh [ʎ] and nh [ɲ] require special attention from English speakers.

c [k], before e, i [s], ch [ʃ]	q [k], in the group que [ke], qui [ki]
ç [s]	s [ʃ], [s] when leading, in the group ss [s]
g [g], before e, i [ʒ]	s [z] between vowels
gu+e [ge], gu+i [gi]	x [ʃ], [ks], [s], [ʒ] (ex + voiced consonant)
h [-] silent (not pronounced)	z [z], [ʃ] when closing
j [ʒ]	r [r], [rr] when leading or after l, n, s

Pronunciation of Brazilian Portuguese

Brazilian Portuguese is quite different from European Portuguese. It has a softer pronunciation. Written sc is pronounced [s], written e in the unstressed position is pronounced [i], a leading r and rr group are pronounced [h]. Groups te, de and ti, di are pronounced [tʃ], [ʒ] in most parts of Brazil (gente [ʒeːntʃi], sociedade [sosiedaːdʒi]). On the other hand, in Southern Brazil (i.e. in the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná) they are pronounced hard, highly reduced ([tə], [də], [ti] a [di] - gente [ʒentə]). In some consonant groups, palatalization of d into [dʒ] occurs (e.g. advogado - [adʒivogaːdu]). Also different pronunciation of the suffix s is possible, it is mostly pronounced [s], but e.g. in Rio it is pronounced [ʃ].