LESSON 04 –
ADVANCED
ei and éi In the diphthong “ei”, the “e” is
always pronounced closed (veia)
In order to make
the “e” opened, it’s necessary to put an acute accent (idéia)
el and ol When the l becomes a vowel (in fact a semivowel,
sounding like “w”) and is
pronounced together with e and o, these vowels are always opened:
mel (honey); sol (sun). Exceptions: álcool (alcohol) –
it’s the first “o” that makes
the sound closed; solto,
solta (loose, free,
masculine and feminine forms)
– the “o” is pronounced closed to differ from the verbal forms solto (I release, set free,
untie) and solta
(he releases, sets free, unties); gol (goal)
– it’s an English word.
~ui In the word muito
(very, a lot, many, much), as well as in its plural and feminine forms, the diphthong is nasalized: muito, muitos, muita, muitas. It’s an exception, but
it’s important to know it because of the word usage
am At the end of a word, am
sounds like ão: cantam
(they sing)
em At the end of a word, em
sounds like ~ei (nasal e + I): vem (come! he comes)