Chapter One - Portuguese Pronunciation
Pronunciation in Portuguese is very consistent. Unlike English, each letter usually only makes one sound, and rarely strays from the rules. The following chart gives a letter(s) a phonetic example of the sound it makes, and a close approximation in English. This is followed by and example of common usage in Portuguese. Keep in mind that these are approximations, and your understanding of pronunciation will grow as you gain experience speaking.
| Letter(s) | Phonetic | English Approximation | Portuguese Usage |
| a | ah | call | casa |
| b | b | big | bolo |
| c (before "e" or "i") | ss | circle | certo |
| c (any other time) | k | cake | calor |
| ch | sh | champagne | chegar |
| ç | ss | NA | praça |
| d (before a terminal "e" or any "i") | j | cage | verdade |
| d (any other time) | d | dog | dor |
| e | eh | egg | levar |
| f | f | front | frente |
| g (before "e" or "i") | zh | mirage | ginga |
| g (any other time) | g | guess | golpe |
| h (as the first letter in a word) | (no sound) | NA | hoje |
| i | ee | sing | sim |
| j | zh | azure | jantar |
| l | l | low | lavar |
| lh (l y) | ya | million | mulher |
| m | m | middle | meio |
| n | n | never | nunca |
| o | oh | open | obrigado |
| p | p | point | pronto |
| qu | k | kick | quente |
| r (at the beginning of a word) | h | hat | roda |
| r (between two vowels) | d | steady | capoeira |
| r (in any other case) | r | read | chutar |
| rr | h | mayhem | ferro |
| s (between two vowels) | z | please | mesa |
| s (in any other case) | ss | some | sentar |
| t (before a terminal "e" or any "i") | ch | branch | bate |
| t (any other case) | t | take | ter |
| u | oo | blue | mudar |
| v | v | very | vento |
| x | sh | dish | mexer |
| z | z | zebra | zangado |
| ão | oun | (nasal) sound | ratão |
There are a few more important cases you should memorize. If a word ends with an "m" or "n" that is preceded by a vowel, the last letter is not pronounced and the vowel is nasalized. It sounds very similar to the "ão" in the list above. As you continue to learn Portuguese you will see that there are a few more pronunciations you will need to be familiar with. There are also several cases when you stray from the rules. But, even the exceptions to the rules are better governed by rules themselves than English.
In Portuguese words with more than one syllable, the second to last syllable (penultimate syllable) carries the emphasis. For example, the word "anda" means "walk" and is pronounced "AHN-dah" with emphasis on the penultimate syllable.
There are two exceptions to this rule. If the word has an accent mark, the syllable with the accent mark is emphasized. If the word ends with the letters "l","z", or "r", or the last vowel in the word is "u" or "i" then the last syllable is emphasized. This means that the word "andar" is pronounced more like "ahn-DAH" moving the emphasis to the last syllable. This second exception is often referred to as the "luzir" (loser) rule, and is a good way to help yourself remember how it works.
In Portuguese there are two genders. All nouns are either masculine (o) or feminine (a). We'll talk more about this in Chapter two, but for now all nouns in the vocabulary lists will be written with their definite article (the) to show the gender. As you study your vocabulary, see if you can notice any patterns that help indicate the gender of the object.
Let's put these rules to work in our first vocabulary lesson.
Body Parts and Counting to Ten
| a cabeça | the head |
| o pescoço | the neck |
| o peito | the chest |
| o braço | the arm |
| a mão | the hand |
| o cotovelo | the elbow |
| a cintura | the waist |
| a perna | the leg |
| o joelho | the knee |
| o pé | the foot |
| a canela | the shin |
| o pulso | the wrist |
| a coxa | the thigh |
| o tornozelo | the ankle |
| o dedo | the finger |
| o dedo do pé | the toe |
| a junta | the joint |
| um (uma) | one |
| dois (duas) | two |
| três | three |
| quatro | four |
| cinco | five |
| seis | six |
| sete | seven |
| oito | eight |
| nove | nine |
| dez | ten |
Read through this lesson several times, and then make sure you memorize all of the vocabulary given. When you feel like you're ready to go on try the workbook section of this chapter.
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