Portuguese S - A Dica do Dia made by Rio & Learn.

Hello everyone! Welcome to one more Dica! Ready to learn Portuguese? Today we are going to teach you how to pronounce the Portuguese S!

Pronounce S in Portuguese

Many students get really crazy when they listen to different pronunciations of the Portuguese S. So in order to make things easier for learners, we decided to show you how to pronounce a few words with S in Portuguese.

Check out this video to learn more. Don’t forget to activate the subtitles.

The pronunciation of the letter S can vary according to where you are in Brazil. Since we are in Rio de Janeiro, our pronunciation will be like this:

How to pronounce S in Portuguese

The S will be pronounced with the [ssss] at the beginning of a word and when a word appears with double S. Example:

Sorte	Luck
Impossível	Impossible

The letter S will be pronounced with the [shhhh] sound at the end of a syllable and at the end of a word. Example:

Gosto	Taste
Estranhos	Weird

The letter S will be pronounced with the [zzzzz] sound when it appears between vowels and when a word ends with S and the following word begins with a vowel. Example:

Música	Music
Olhos Azuis	Blue Eyes

Pay attention, in olhos azuis we have two words. If we say olhos alone the final S would be pronounced as [shhh], but as we join the words when speaking the s becomes positioned between two vowels (the o from olhos and the a from azuis) and because of that the correct pronunciation will be [zzzzz].

Now let’s see these words in a conversation and let’s see how they are pronouncing S in Portuguese:

Pronouncing S in Portuguese

Luana: Tá tudo bem, Igor? Você tá estranho.
Igor: Ah, sei lá, cara. Acho que não tô com sorte. Eu conheci uma menina de olhos azuis, linda-linda, mas ela não quer ficar comigo porque, de acordo com ela, eu tenho uns gostos estranhos pra música.
Luana: Mas, Igor, você sempre escolhe pessoas complicadas!
Igor: Pois é! E pra piorar, ela mora no Canadá!
Luana: Ah, então fica impossível ter um relacionamento com casas distantes uma da outra.
Igor: Eu sei. Acho que vou desistir dela e procurar outra no Facebook!
Luana: Só você mesmo, Igor.

Translation

Luana: Are you ok Igor? You look weird.
Igor: I don’t know man. I think I don’t have much luck. I’ve met a girl with blue eyes, so beautiful, but she doesn’t want to be with me because, according to her, I have a weird taste in music.
Luana: But Igor, you just chose fussy people!
Igor: I know! And and to top that off she lives in Canada!
Luana: Then it is impossible to have a relationship living in places so far away from each others!
Igor: I know. I think I’ll give up on her and I’ll look for another girl on Facebook!
Luana: This is so you Igor.

If you want more specific classes about pronunciation, you can always have private classes with us!

Now it’s your turn!

Let’s practice once more before you leave. Here you have a list of 10 words with the Portuguese S. And below that, you’ll see three options of how the S can be pronounced. You have to match the sound of the S in each words with one of the three examples below. Ready?