Portuguese L

Hello friends! How are you? In today’s Dica we are going to understand the Portuguese L and its different sounds.

Portuguese L sounds

When the letter L begins a word or a syllable, we pronounce it I’m the normal way. Let’s hear:

Lápis	Pencil
Lembrar	Remember
Lenço	Handkerchief
Língua	Tongue
Lagoa	Lagoon
Leite	Milk
Aluno	Student
Aula	Class

However, when the letter L is at the end of a syllable or a word, something very special happens. The sound of L in Portuguese changes into the same sound as the letter U. 

Sound of the final L

So, when the Portuguese L comes at the end of the word, its sound changes. When you have the letter L at the end of a syllable we change the sound of the L to the sound of the letter U. Our friend Moisés will explain further, don’t forget that you can activate the subtitles in English:

Don’t forget to go to our Youtube channel and watch more Dicas like this one. 

If you want to practice your pronunciation, you can do private classes with us and we’ll teach what you want and need. 

You listened to some words in our video in which the letter L comes at the end of the syllable. Here they are:

Selma	Selma
Silvia	Silvia
Calma	Calm
Papel	Paper
Alma	Soul
Réptil	Reptile
Final	Final
Azul	Blue
Total	Total
Sinal	Sign

How to pronounce LH in Portuguese

There is another variation of the Portuguese L. When we put the letters LH together, the sound is a little bit different. Pay attention and try to repeat, it’s very common that some foreign students find this difficult to pronounce. Let’s listen:

Filho	Son
Galho	Branch
Caralho	Dick / Wow
Mulher	Woman
Falha	Failure
Orelha	Ear
Colher	Spoon
Trabalho	Work

Cool?
Now we know the sound the Portuguese L. Can you pronounce all of them? Of course yes!

Exercise for the Portuguese L pronunciation

Here you have a list of 10 words with the Portuguese L, and below you have 3 examples with each type of L pronunciation. Connect the words, according to their correct pronunciation, compared to the example words underneath.

Connect the words with the examples.

1. Lembrar
2. Filho
3. Alma
4. Colher
5. Aula
6. Caralho
7. Lagoa
8. Papel
9. Total
10. Aluno

 

1. Língua
2. Calma
3. Falha

See you next time!
A huge hug to all of you!

         
Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
Plural of the words ending in L
Sounds of the vowels in Portuguese
How to pronounce the R in Portuguese
The sounds of the letter X

Exercise about Portuguese L pronunciation: answers

1. (a)
2. (c)
3. (b)
4. (c)
5. (a)
6. (c)
7. (a)
8. (b)
9. (b)
10. (a)