LESSON 05
In this lesson, you’ll see (and hear, as well) some
aspects of the Brazilian Portuguese speech. The rules for giving the
pronunciation key from now on will also be discussed.
The first aspect to be covered here is similar to French
“liaison”. Words that end in s or r, when followed by a word that
starts with a vowel, may have the s or the r pronounced as if
they were between two vowels.
Example with s: Os bons estudantes
aprendem. (The good students learn) – notice the z sound between “bons estudantes”
(the “n” is not pronounced in this case, it only nasalizes the o) and
between “estudantes aprendem”.
Examples with r:
por amor (for
love); o amor é lindo (love is
beautiful); amar é bom (loving is good) – notice
that in all cases the r sounds as if it were between two vowels.
In the case of the
letter s, the “liaison” happens every time, and gives more rhythm to the
speech. In the case of the letter r, the “liaison” is used to avoid
misinterpretation and inconvenient sounds that would appear if the r
were pronounced as a weak h. Anyway, what you have to know is that the s
always suffers that kind of “liaison”. Don’t worry about the r, just
know the “liaison” exists, thus, you’ll be able to understand some sentences
you may hear. Sometimes, in order to avoid this misinterpretation, the r
sound is simply suppressed, i.e. it’s not pronounced.
Words ending in a
single a or e + s or z and stressed in the last syllable always have these vowels
diphthongized with i, i.e., when a word ends in an a or e + an s
or a z and is stressed in the last syllable, you should add a very short
i to its pronunciation. Let’s listen to the example: você (you, singular)
and vocês (you,
plural). The final syllable, cês, sounds exactly the same as the number seis (six). Other
example: paz (peace).
Words like ovo
(egg), corpo (body), jogo (game), morto (dead, noun and participle) and most
words like these, when doing plural have the first o, originally
closed, pronounced opened. Compare: ovo – ovos; corpo – corpos; jogo – jogos; morto – mortos. It may sound funny
if you forget to change the vowel pronunciation in this case. I myself used to
make this mistake when I was a child. There are afew exceptions, like bolo (cake) and tolo (fool). If you
find any other words like these and don’t know how to say its plural, try first
to use the opened vowel, it would sound less ridiculous if wrong. Anyway, this
will be informed for each new word in this course.
When pronouncing
words with pn, ps, dv, dj, add an i between
the two letters. Brazilians don’t pronounce the “pure” sound of the consonants,
they add this i sound between then. Try to understand with the examples:
pneu (tire), advogado (lawyer), adjetivo, psicologia, objetivo.
The letter n
before n doesn’t sound exactly as in English. It has a sound closer to
Spanish ñ. In fact, it’s the only situation in which we can say the ñ
appears in the Brazilian Portuguese, since the nh sounds more like a
short i and acts nasalizing the preceding vowel. Listen to the examples
and try to get it: ninguém
(nobody), animal.
ch – like English sh (not English ch):
chuva (rain)
lh – close to English “million”: filho (son)
nh – originally, it had to be
pronounced like Spanish “ñ”. Actually, it just nasalizes the previous vowel and adds an “i” to
the pronunciation. Listen: banho (pronounced like “bãyw”).
tch – like English ch. Rare to be written.
Actually, it’s the same sound of the t before i in Brazilian Portuguese. Listen: tchau (bye, from
Italian “ciao”)
From the next lesson on, a pronunciation key for the words will be given (sometimes, both sound file and pronunciation key; sometimes, just the pronunciation key).
The pronunciation key will follow the Portuguese rules, not
the English ones. It is not a grammar rule, it’s just a feature for make
learning easier.
a – will be used to represent the oral “a”
ã – for the nasal “a”
ê – for the closed “e”
é – for the opened “e”
~e – for the nasal “e”
i – for the oral “i” (can be an “e” sounding like “i”)
~i – for the nasal “i”
y – for the semivowel “i”, the i when pronounced
weakly in a diphthong (can be an e
sounding like i)
ô – for the closed “o”
ó – for the opened “o”
~o – for the nasal “o”
u – for the oral “u” (can be an “o” sounding like “u”)
~u – for the nasal “u”
w – for the semivowel “u”, the u when pronounced weakly
in a diphthong (can be an o
sounding like u)
b – for the “b”sounds
d – for the “d” sound as in dedo
f – for the “f” sound
g – for the “g” sound as in ganhar
h – for the weak “r” sound as in rato, ganhar
j – for the “j” or the “g” as in gelo
l – for the “l” sound (except when it sounds like “w”)
m – for the “m” sound
n – for the “n” sound
p – for the “p” sound
r – for the “r” as in porém, prato
s – for the “s” sound as in seu; for the “ss”
t – for the “t” sound before “a”, “o” and “u”, and “e” when
it doesn’t sound like “i”: matar, tela, autor, tudo
v – for the “v” sound
z – for the “z” sound
dj – for the “d” sound as in dinheiro, amizade (like
English “j”)
k – for the “c” sound before “a”, “o” and “u”
sh – for the “x”as in xícara and for the
“ch” as in chuva
(English “sh”)
lh – for the “lh” as in velho
tch – for the “t” as in time, sorte (English “ch”)
ks – for the “x” as in táxi
The accents written in the transcription only mark
whether the vowel is opened or closed. The stress will be marked by
capitalizing the stressed syllable.
Examples:
amor aMÔH animal aniMAW dívida DJIvida
cantar kãTAH terra Téha guerra GÉha
para PAra viagem viAg~ei passo PÁsu
carro KAhu tinta TCH~Ita roça HÓsa
táxi TAksi país paIS cinema siN~Ema