Portuguese phrasebook Attractions & Activities - The Best Holiday Destinations for 2020
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This article deals with Portuguese as spoken in Europe, Africa and Asia. For Portuguese as spoken in Brazil, see Brazilian Portuguese phrasebook.
Portuguese is the main language of Portugal. The Portuguese we will include in this phrasebook is of the European usage which differs from the Brazilian in sounds and pronunciation. Even though both European and Brazilian speakers will slightly understand each other if they do communicate.
Pronunciation guide
The pronunciation in Portugal differs significantly from that in Brazil. The difference is basically in pronunciation and a few vocabulary differences, which make it tricky even for Brazilians to understand the European Portuguese accent. Now the European uses a lot of those oo's which are not used in Brazilian.
Vowels
- a�
- as the 'a' in "far" [ah] / as the 'a' in "cat"
- e�
- as the 'e' in "get" [eh]
- i�
- as the 'ee' in "week" [ee] / as the 'i' in "hit"
- o�
- as the 'o' in "open" [oh] / as the 'oo' in "book"
- u�
- as the 'oo' in "look"
Other Vowels
- á�
- as the 'a' in "tar" but held longer
- â�
- as the 'a' in "bat" but short
- ã�
- a nasal sound like 'an' in "angry"
- é�
- long sound as the 'e' in "bled"
- ê�
- similar to the 'ea' in "bread"
- êm, em, ém�
- nasal sound like 'en' in "end"
- ó�
- like the 'o' in "hot"
- ô�
- like the 'oa' in "coat"
Consonants
- b�
- as 'b' in "boy"
- c�
- as 'c' in "car" with a,o,u
- c�
- as 's' in "sand" with e,i
- ç�
- as 's' in "sun" with a,o,u
- ch�
- as 'sh' in "shoe"
- d�
- as 'd' in "desk"
- f�
- as 'f' in "fist"
- g�
- as 'g' in "go" with a,o,u
- g�
- as 'su' in "pleasure" with e,i
- gu�
- as 'gee' in "geek" with gui, as 'ge' in "get" with gue
- gua�
- as 'gua' in "agua" [gwah]
- h�
- is a silent letter at the beginning of a word
- lh�
- as 'li' in "million"
- nh�
- as 'ny' in "canyon"
- j�
- as 'su' in "treasure"
- k�
- as 'k' in "kiss" [foreign sounds]
- l�
- as 'l' in "lip"
- m�
- as 'm' in "monkey"
- n�
- as 'n' in "nice"
- p�
- as 'p' in "post"
- q�
- as 'k' in "kite" [especially with 'u']
- r�
- a rolled 'r' as in Spanish or Italian 'r' sound [not guttural like in Brazil]
- s�
- as 's' in "sun" / after a word in the beginning of a word is 'sh' sound eg. Gostaria [goosh-tah-REE-ah]
- s�
- end of a word at times like 'z' in "zoo", also like 'sh' in "shine"
- t�
- as 't' in "tent"
- v�
- as 'v' in "vine"
- x�
- as 'x' in "taxi", as 'sh' in "ship", as 's' in "same"
- z�
- as 'z' in "zest", end of a word 'su' in "pleasure"
Common diphthongs
- au�
- as 'ow'in "cow"
- ia�
- as 'ia' in "Lydia"
- io�
- as 'io' in "frio" also 'ew' sound in "new" [yoo]
- ei�
- as 'ay' in "play"
- oa�
- as 'oa' in "boa"
- oe�
- as 'we' in "wet"
- oi�
- as 'wee' in "weed"
- ou�
- as 'oo' in "took"
- ua�
- as 'wa' in "water"
- ui�
- as 'wee' in "week"
- ue�
- as 'e' in "get"
Triphtongs
- eia�
- as 'ay' in "pay" plus 'a' in "far" [all pronounced together]
- uei�
- as 'ay' in "way"
Stress
As a general guide, stress the penultimate (last-but-one) syllable except where there is an accent, or the word ends with a diphthong (that is, 2 vowels which are pronounced as a single syllable – explained in full later on), or if it ends with any of the following letters: i; l; r; z; im; um; ins; uns – in which case, the stress is on the last syllable.
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