Portuguese Alphabet

May 31, 2013

What’s up! You ok? Do you know the Portuguese alphabet pronunciation? We’ll learn it today and we’re also going to learn the Portuguese alphabet sounds.

The Portuguese Alphabet

To begin with, let’s take a look at the Alphabet in Portuguese and we have an example each with a word! Check it out:

A/a	Amor	Love
B/b	Bola	Ball
C/c	Casa	House
D/d	Dado	Dice
E/e	Escova	Brush
F/f	Faca	Knife
G/g	Garfo	Fork
H/h	Hospital	Hospital
I/i	Igreja	Church
J/j	Jornal	Newspaper
L/l	Livros	Books
M/m	Mala	Suitcase
N/n	Navio	Ship
O/o	Óculos	Glasses
P/p	Peixe	Fish
Q/q	Queijo	Cheese
R/r	Rato	Mouse
S/s	Sapato	Shoe
T/t	Tomate	Tomato
U/u	Uva	Grape
V/v	Vassoura	Broom
X/x	Xícara	Cup
Z/z	Zebra	Zebra

Special Cases with C

Letter C has two different sounds that people use in Portuguese. With A, O and U, it has the /k/ sound, but when it is combined with E and I, we pronounce the /s/ sound. Let’s and understand the differences between them, take a look.

Examples

Casa	House
Corpo	Body
Cultura	Culture
Cerveja	Beer
Cidade	City
Cem	One hundred

The usage of Ç

This form is known as C-cedilha. When this form is combined with A, O, and U, it sounds like /s/ instead of /k/ originally. Let’s take a look at the examples and see how it works.

Examples

Cabeça	Head
Preço	Price
Açúcar	Sugar

Special cases with G

This is another letter that has two possible sounds. When it is combined with A, O, U it has the original /g/ sound, but when it is combined with E and I, it has a /j/ sound, just like the letter J. Check out the examples.

Examples

Garfo	Fork
Gostoso	Tasteful
Gelo	Ice
Gilberto	Gilbert

Special Cases with K,W and Y

Well, the letters K, W and Y didn’t use to be part of the Portuguese language alphabet, they were used only for people’s name, words with an English origin, or acronyms. But they were officially included into our alphabet due to the frequency that people use them. Let’s see some examples with these letters:

Examples

Karla
Rock
William
Wilson
Yury
Yago

Different pronunciations of R

The letter R is more complex in Portuguese, because we have a lot of ways to saying it. It depends on where the letter is located in the word. To learn all its pronunciations, click here.

The usage of L

The letter L is not that hard, but depending on where it is in the syllable or word, its sound can change. Take a look.

Different pronunciations of X

This is tricky. Pronouncing the letter X correctly is an art. Want to master this art? Learn all the different pronunciations of the letter X.

The pronunciation of S

The letter S also has different ways of being pronounced. Let’s see the differences between them and how to pronounce each one.

Pronouncing the vowels in Portuguese

Now you know everything you need about the Portuguese alphabet sounds and some consonants. But did you know some vowels in Portuguese have more than one sound? Come learn all about it in our Dica about vowels!

Our friend Moisés is going to help us out in the video below, to practice the Portuguese alphabet pronunciation .