Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation

The sounds an English speaker needs, each with what it is like in English, examples to hear, and the usual mistake. The letter names are on the Portuguese alphabet page.

The Portuguese r is two different sounds, and which one you need depends on where it is in the word. Getting them the right way round matters: caro (expensive) and carro (car) differ only in their r.

The strong r is a breathy h made at the back of the throat, like a soft version of the ch in Scottish “loch”. The weak r is a single quick tap of the tongue behind the teeth, the sound in the middle of American “butter” or “water”.

Regions differ most at the end of a syllable. Rio uses an h there, and many Cariocas make it rougher. São Paulo city uses the tap, and the interior of São Paulo uses an English-like r (the “r caipira”). All are correct; this page uses the h, which is understood everywhere.

A nasal vowel is said with air coming out of the nose and the mouth together. English has them too, just never on purpose: say “uh-huh” with your mouth closed, then open it and keep the hum.

In Portuguese they change words: pão (bread) and pau (stick), mão (hand) and mau (bad). They are spelled with a tilde (ã, õ) or with m or n closing the syllable (bom, sim, campo), and that m or n is not said as a consonant.

Tip: The trick for English speakers: stop before the n. Start to say “sing”, freeze before the ng and hold the vowel: that is sim. Pinch your nose and the sound should change; if it does not, the air is not going through it yet.

Every Portuguese word of more than one syllable has one stressed syllable, and the spelling always tells you which. If there is an accent (á, ê, ã…), that syllable is stressed. If not, two rules cover almost everything:

1. Words ending in a, e or o (or those plus s), and in am, em or ens, stress the second-to-last syllable: CA-sa, NO-mee, FA-lown.
2. Words ending in anything else (r, l, z, i, u, im, um, ns…) stress the last syllable: fa-LAH, bra-ZEEW, a-KEE.

That is why accents matter. These three words differ only in their stress:

Each pair differs by one sound. Play one, pick the word you heard, and see how both sound. Nothing is saved.

Spelled the same, said differently

Only the open or closed vowel tells these apart, and the spelling does not show it. A computer voice cannot either, so learn them by reading.

• sede SAY-djee · thirstsede SEH-djee · headquarters
• gosto GOHS-too · tastegosto GAWS-too · I like
• jogo ZHOH-goo · gamejogo ZHAW-goo · I play

Brazilian children learn these to get their mouths around the hard sounds. Start slowly, with the turtle, then speed up.

• O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma.

  The rat gnawed the king of Rome's clothes.

  Trains the strong r

• Três pratos de trigo para três tigres tristes.

  Three plates of wheat for three sad tigers.

  Trains the tap r after t and p

• O sabiá não sabia que o sábio sabia que o sabiá não sabia assobiar.

  The thrush didn't know that the wise man knew that the thrush didn't know how to whistle.

  Trains stress: sabiá, sabia, sábio

• A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha.

  The spider scratches the frog. The frog scratches the spider.

  Trains nh, and the tap r against rr

• O tempo perguntou ao tempo quanto tempo o tempo tem.

  Time asked time how much time time has.

  Trains nasal em and an

• O peito do pé de Pedro é preto.

  The top of Pedro's foot is black.

  Trains open é, and p with the tap r

• Caixa de graxa grossa de graça.

  A box of thick grease for free.

  Trains x as sh, and gr

• Bagre branco, branco bagre.

  White catfish, catfish white.

  Trains br and gr, and the nasal an

• Num ninho de mafagafos, cinco mafagafinhos há.

  In a nest of mafagafos, there are five little mafagafos (they're made up).

  Trains nh and nasal vowels

• João zhoo-OWN

  The ão is nasal, and the o before it is a short oo: two syllables, stress on the second.

• José zhoh-ZEH

  The s between vowels is a z, and the é is open.

• Jorge ZHAWR-zhee

  The j is the s of “measure”, and the final e is ee, which turns the g into the same sound.

• Rio de Janeiro HEE-oo djee zha-NAY-roo

  Rio starts with the strong r (h); de is “djee”.

• Brasil bra-ZEEW

  The s is a z and the l is a w.

• São Paulo SOWN POW-loo

  São is nasal; the l in Paulo is an ordinary l, because a vowel follows it.

• saudade sow-DA-djee

  Three syllables: sau-da-de. The d before the final e becomes dj.

• obrigado oh-bree-GA-doo

  Men say obrigado and women obrigada: it agrees with the speaker. In the glossary

• Brazilian Portuguese keeps its vowels: every syllable is heard. European Portuguese swallows the unstressed ones, so “telefone” can sound like “tl-FON”.
• In Brazil, d and t before an i sound become dj and tch (dia, leite). In Portugal they stay hard.
• At the end of a syllable, s is s in most of Brazil and sh in Portugal and Rio: “os amigos” against “ush amigush”.
• Final l is w in Brazil (Brasil = bra-ZEEW) and a dark l in Portugal.
• Brazilian is usually considered easier to understand: slower, with fuller vowels. This page teaches Brazilian.

Listening comes first: you can only say the sounds you can hear. Do the pairs above until you hear the difference every time.

Then shadow: play a sentence, and say it along with the speaker, a fraction behind, copying the rhythm and the melody, not just the sounds. Reading along while you listen helps, because you see where the sounds come from.

Short and often beats long and rare: ten minutes a day of shadowing does more than an hour once a week.