The letters “a,” “u,” “o,” “e,” and “i” are the vowel letters in Portuguese. There are two types of vowels in Portuguese: oral vowels and nasal vowels. Both oral and nasal vowels can have a combination of vowel letters.
1. Oral Vowels
The five vowel letters in Portuguese have a slightly different pronunciation in Portuguese than in English. Notice that we use different symbols from the standard International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) for simplicity.
Let us start with the main five vowels in Portuguese:
| a /a/ | “falar” /fa-la/ (to speak) | always sounds like “a” in “father” |
| u /oo/ | “muro” /moo-ro/ (wall) | always sounds like “oo” in “food” |
| i /ee/ | “girafa” /jee-ra-fa/ (giraffe) | like “ee” in “see” or “i” in “marine” |
| e /e/, /i/ | “cego” /se-go/ (blind) – open “seda” /se-da” (silk) – closed “noite” /noy-chi/ (night) – at word-end | 1. open: like “e” in “bed” 2. closed (stressed or unstressed): like “ay” in “say” but without the final “y” sound 3. Like “i” in “kid” when it is unstressed at word-end |
| o /o/ | “sobra” /sob-ra/ (leftover) – open “cor” /kor/ (color) – closed (stressed) “pato” / pa-to/ (duck) – closed (unstressed) | 1. open: like “o” in “cop” but shorter 2. closed (stressed): like “o” in “go” but without the final “w” sound 3. closed (unstressed): like the weak “o” in “into” |
The Vowel Letter “e”
The letter “e” can have one of three sounds:
- An open “e” sounds similar to the “e” in “bed” or “set.” Examples include:
| cego | /se-go/ | blind |
| fé | /fe/ | faith |
2. A closed “e” sounds similar to the “ay” sound in “say” but without the final “y” sound. Examples include:
| seda | /se-da/ | silk |
| você | /vo-se/ | you (singular) |
3. Like “i” in “kid” when it is unstressed at the end of a word. Examples include:
| mole | /mo-li/ | soft |
| noite | /noy-chi/ | night |
If the “e” has a circumflex, that is “ê,” it is pronounced like a closed “e.” If the “e” has an acute accent, that is “é,” it is pronounced like an open “e.”
If the “e” has no circumflex or acute accent, which is often the case, knowing whether to use a closed or open sound is not always clear and it requires some practice and a good dictionary.
The Vowel Letter “o”
The letter “o” can have one of three sounds:
- An open “o” sounds similar to the “o” in “cop” but shorter. Examples include:
| rocha | /ho-sha/ | rock |
| pó | /po/ | dust or powder |
2. A closed stressed “o” sounds similar to the “o” sound in “go” but without the final “w” sound. Examples include:
| boca | /bo-ka/ | mouth |
| avô | /a-vo/ | grandfather |
3. A closed unstressed “o” sounds similar to the weak “o” in “into.” Examples include:
| cego | /se-go/ | blind |
| sapato | /sa-pa-to/ | shoe |
If the “o” has a circumflex, that is “ô,” it is pronounced like a closed “o.” If the “o” has an acute accent, that is “ó,” it is pronounced like an open “o.”
If the “o” has no circumflex or acute accent, which is often the case, knowing whether to use a closed or open sound is not always clear and requires some practice and a good dictionary.
In addition to the main six vowels, there are 13 diphthong vowels. These are summarized as follows:
| ai /ay/ | “pai” /pay/ (father) “mais” /mays / (more) | Pronounced like the English word “eye” |
| au, al /aw/ | “saudar” /saw-da/ (to salute) “mal” /maw/ (badly) | Pronounced like “ow” in the English word “now” |
| ei /ey/ | “lei” /ley/ (law) “rei” /hey / (king) | Pronounced like “ay” in the English word “day” |
| éi /ey/ | “anéis” /a-neys/ (rings) “hotéis” /o-teys/ (hotels) | Pronounced like “e” in “set” followed by “y” sound |
| eu /ew/ | “teu” /tew/ (your) “pneu” /pnew/ (tire) | Pronounced like “ay” in “day” followed by “w” sound instead of the “y” sound |
| éu /ew/ | “véu” /vew/ (veil) “chapéu” /sha-pew/ (hat) | Pronounced like “e” in “set” followed by “w” sound |
| iu, il /eew/ | “partiu” /par-teew/ (he left) “útil” /oo-teew/ (useful) | Pronounced like “ee” in “feed” followed by “w” sound |
| oi /oy/ | “noite” /noy-chi/ (night) “foi” /foy/ (he was/went) | Pronounced like “o” in “old” followed by “y” sound |
| ói /oy/ | “sóis” /soys/ (suns) “herói” /e-roy/ (hero) | Pronounced like “o” in “cop” followed by “y” sound |
| ou /ow/ | “sou” /sow/ (I am) “vou” /vow/ (I go) | Pronounced like “o” in “old” followed by “w” sound |
| ol /ow/ | “sol” /soy/ (sun) “farol” /fa-roy/ (lighthouse) | Pronounced like “o” in “cop” followed by “w” sound |
| ui /ooy/ | “fluido” /flooy-do/ (fluid) “fui” /fooy/ (I was/went) | Pronounced like “oo” in “food” followed by “y” sound |
| ul /oow/ | “sul” /soow/ (south) “azul” /a-zoow/ (blue) | Pronounced like “oo” in “food” followed by “w” sound |
There are also four triphthongs:
| uai /way/ | “quais” /kways/ (which ones) | This triphthong sounds like the English interrogative “Why?” |
| ual /waw/ | “qual” /kwaw/ (which one) | This triphthong sounds like the English exclamation “Wow!” |
| uei /wey/ | “continuei” /cõ-teen-wey/ (I continued) | Sounds like the English word “way.” Exceptionally, the “u” (and the “w” sound) is mute if preceded by “q” or “g,” e.g., “joguei” /jo-gey/ (I played) |
| uou /wow/ | “atuou” /at-wow/ (he acted) | This triphthong sounds like the English exclamation “Whoa!” |
2. Nasal Vowels
One main challenge in Portuguese is mastering the nasal vowel sounds.
A nasal pronunciation occurs in Portuguese in one of two cases:
1. When an “n” or “m” preceded by a vowel is at the end of a word or anywhere else in the word but followed by a consonant:
| at word end | vowel + “n” or “m” | nasal |
| anywhere else in a word | vowel + “n” or “m” + consonant | nasal |
| vowel + “n” or “m” + vowel | not nasal |
Notice that the “m” or “n” is not actually pronounced but is instead assimilated in the nasal vowel. If a vowel follows the “m” or “n,” the nasalization often does not occur and the “m” or “n” is pronounced, e.g., “ano” (year), “como” (how), “cama” (bed), “amar” (to love), etc.
2. When the vowel “a” or “o” is marked by a tilde, that is, “ã” or “õ,” e.g., “alemã” (German).
Nasal Sounds
The five nasal vowel sounds in Portuguese are: nasal “a,” nasal “e,” nasal “i,” nasal “o,” and nasal “u.” We refer to these five sounds throughout the book using the symbols: “ã,” “ẽ,” “ĩ,” “õ,” and “ũ.”
The five nasal sounds occur in the following cases:
| ã, am, an /ã/ | “ímã” /ee-mã/ (magnet) “ambos” /ã-bos/ (both) “antes” /ã-chis/ (before) | Similar to “an” in the English word “ant” but with a stronger nasal sound |
| em, en /ẽ/ | “tempo” /tẽ-po/ (time) “vento” /vẽ-to/ (wind) | Similar to “ai” in the English word “paint” but with a stronger nasal sound |
| im, in /ĩ/ | “sim” /sĩ/ (without) “lindo” /lĩ-do/ (beautiful) | Similar to “ea” in the English word “means” but with a stronger nasal sound |
| om, on /õ/ | “bom” /bõ / (good) “onde” /õ-ji/ (where) | Similar to “o” in the English word “don’t” but with a stronger nasal sound |
| um, un /ũ/ | “um” /ũ/ (a/an) “uns” /ũs/ (some) | Similar to “oo” in the English word “moons” but with a stronger nasal sound |
In addition to the main five nasal vowels, there are five diphthong vowels. These are summarized as follows:
| ãe, ãi /ãy/ | “mãe” /mãy/ (mother) | Similar to “an” in the English word “ant,” but with a stronger nasal sound, followed by a “y” sound |
| ão /ãw/ | “mão” /mãw/ (hand) | Similar to “an” in the English word “ant,” but with a stronger nasal sound, followed by a “w” sound |
| em /ẽy/ | “trem” /trẽy/ (train) | Similar to “ai” in the English word “paint,” but with a stronger nasal sound, followed by a “y” sound |
| õe /õy/ | “põe” /põy/ (he/she puts) | Similar to “o” in the English word “don’t,” but with a stronger nasal sound, followed by a “y” sound |
| ui /ũy/ | “muito” /mũy-to/ (very) | Similar to “oo” in the English word “moons,” but with a stronger nasal sound, followed by a “y” sound |
It is important to notice the following:
- The “em” combination results in the diphthong nasal sound /ẽy/only when “em” is at the end of a word, e.g., “bem” /bẽy/ (well). If “em” is not at a word end, it is pronounced like a simple nasal sound /ẽ/, e.g., “tempo” /tẽ-po/ (time).
- The “ui” combination results in the diphthong nasal sound /ũy/only in the word “muito” /mũy-to/ (very, much). In all other cases, “ui” is pronounced as an oral diphthong vowel /ooy/, e.g., “fui” /fooy/ (he was/went).
Finally, there are also two less-common triphthong vowels that only occur before “g” or “q”:
| uão /wãw/ | “saguão” /sag-wãw/ (lobby) | “w” sound + diphthong “ão” /ãw/ |
| uõe /wõy/ | “saguões” /sag-wõys/ (lobbies) | “w” sound + diphthong “õe” /õy/ |
Next: Similarities & Differences – Portuguese & English
Other Lessons in Level I:
Level I – Basic
2. Similarities to English & Particularities of The Portuguese Language
2.3. Punctuation & Written Accents
