Portuguese alphabet

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The Portuguese alphabet consists of the 26 letters of the ISO basic atin
alphabet!
"a#uscule Forms $also called uppercase or capital letters%
& ' ( ) * F + , I - ./
" 0 O P 1 2 S T 3 4 W/
5 6/ 7
"inuscule Forms $also called lo8ercase or small letters%
a b c d e f g h i # k/ l
m n o p 9 r s t u : 8/
; y/ <
0ote!
The letters ., W and 6 8ere included in the alphabet used in 'ra<il, *ast
Timor, "acau, Portugal and =:e countries in &frica 8hen the >??@ Portuguese
anguage Orthographic &greement 8ent into legal eAect, since -anuary >,
2@@?BC>D ,o8e:er, they 8ere used before >?>> $see the article on spelling
reform in Portugal%B
In addition, the follo8ing characters 8ith diacritics are used! EF, GH, IJ, KL,
MN, OP, QR, ST, UV, WX, YZ, [\B These are not, ho8e:er, treated as independent
letters in collation, nor do they ha:e entries of their o8n in Portuguese
dictionariesB When t8o 8ords diAer only in the presence or absence of a
diacritic, the one 8ithout it is collated =rstB The trema on ] 8as used in
'ra<ilian Portuguese up to )ecember ^>, 2@@_B With the >??@ Portuguese
anguage Orthographic &greement that 8ent into eAect in 'ra<il on -anuary
>, 2@@?, the diaeresis may only appear in borro8ed 8ords, in personal
names, and in 8ords deri:ed from themB
This article contains IP& phonetic symbolsB Without proper rendering
support, you may see 9uestion marks, bo;es, or other symbols instead of
3nicode charactersB
(ontents ChideD
> etter names and pronunciations
>B> 0otes
2 (onsonants
2B> )iacritics and basic digraphs
2B2 Silent letters
^ 4o8els
^B> )iacritics
^B2 )iphthongs
^B^ 0asali<ation
^B` Personal names
` See also
a 2eferences
aB> 0otes
aB2 'ibliography
6 *;ternal links
etter names and pronunciationsCeditD
Only the most fre9uent sounds are gi:en belo8, since a listing of all cases
and e;ceptions 8ould be too cumbersomeB Portuguese is a pluricentric
language, and the pronunciation of some of the letters is diAerent in
*uropean Portuguese $*P% and 'ra<ilian Portuguese $'P%B &part from these
:ariations, the pronunciation of most consonants is fairly straightfor8ard, and
similar to French or (atalan pronunciationB Only the consonants r, s, ;, <, the
digraphs ch, lh, nh, rr, and the :o8els may re9uire special attention from
*nglish speakersB
&lthough many letters ha:e more than one pronunciation, their phonetic
:alue is often predictable from their position 8ithin a 8ordb this is normally
the case for the consonants $e;cept ;%B Since only =:e letters are a:ailable to
8rite the fourteen :o8el sounds of Portuguese, the orthography of the :o8els
is more comple;, but e:en in this case pronunciation is predictable to a
degreeB .no8ing the main incectional paradigms of Portuguese can be
helpful in this regardB
In the follo8ing table and in the remainder of this article, the phrase dat the
end of a syllabled can be understood as dbefore a consonant, or at the end of
a 8orddB For the letter r, dat the start of a syllabled means dat the beginning of
a 8ord, or after l, n, sdB For letters 8ith more than one common
pronunciation, their most common phonetic :alues are gi:en on the left side
of the semicolonb sounds to the right of it occur only in a limited number of
positions 8ithin a 8ordB Sounds separated by ded are allophones or dialectal
:ariantsB
The names of the letters are masculineB
etter 0ame Phonetic
:alues
Spelling Pronunciation
&a F faf faf, fgf nb ^
'b bR fbef fbf
(c cR fsef fkfb fsf nb >
)d dR fdef fdf e CdhD nb 2
*e P $'2 or *P% or R $some dialects of 'P only% fif, fef fef, fif, fif nb ^,
fjf, fgf, fgif
Ff Pfe fki=f $'P%, fkifjf $*P% fff
+g gR $'P or *P% or guR $*P only% flef, fmef $*P% fmfb flf nb >
,h agF fgknaf nati:ely silent, fof in loan8ords nb `
Ii i fif fif nb ^
-# #ota fklptgf flf
.k cF $'P% or capa $*P% fkaf, fkkapgf nb a
l Ple fkilif $'P%, fkiljf $*P% flf e Cq e 8D nb 6
"m Pme fkrmif $'P%, fkimjf $*P% fmf nb s
0n Pne fkrnif $'P%, fkinjf $*P% fnf nb s
Oo V $*P or 'P% or X $some dialects of 'P only% fpf, fof fof, fpf, fuf nb ^
Pp pR fpef fpf
19 9uR fkef fkf
2r Prre $*P and 'P% or rR $mostly *P% fkioif $'P%, fkiojf, fkoef $*P% ftf, fof
nb _
Ss Psse fkisif $'P%, fkisjf $*P% fsf, f<f nb ?, fuf, flf
Tt tR ftef ftf e CtvD nb 2
3u u fuf fuf nb ^
4: :R f:ef f:f
W8 dFblio $'P% or dHblio $*P% f duplo :R fkdawxuf $'P%, fkdgwl#uf $*P%
nb a
5; ;is $'P% or chis $*P%fuiu e uisf fuf, fksf, f<f, fsf, fSf
6y Tpsilon $'P or *P% or i grego $*P% fkipsilZf $'P%, fkipsjlpnf $*P%nb a
7< <R f<ef f<fb fSf
Portuguese &lphabet
"*03@!@@
isten to the alphabet recited by a nati:e speaker from 'ra<ilB 0ote! The
alphabet is spoken in a 'ra<ilian dialect 8here the y*y is pronounced as yOy
Problems playing this =lez See media helpB
0otesCeditD
{ 'efore the letters e, i, y, or 8ith the cedillaB
{ &llophonically aAricated before the sound fif $spelled i, or sometimes e%, in
'PB
{ "ay become an appro;imant as a form of :o8el reduction 8hen unstressed
before or after another :o8elB Words such as bVia and proa are pronounced
Ckbp#B#gD and Ckpto8B8gDBC2D
{ Silent at the start or at the end of a 8ordB &lso part of the digraphs ch, lh,
nhB See belo8B
{ 0ot part of the o|cial alphabet before 2@@? $see abo:e%B 3sed only in
foreign 8ords, personal names, and hybrid 8ords deri:ed from themB
{ 4elari<ed to CqD in *P and conser:ati:e registers of southern 'PB 4ocali<ed to
Cu} D, C~} D, or seldom Co} D $as incuence from Spanish or -apanese%, at the end of
syllables in most of 'ra<ilB
{ 3sually silent or :oiceless at the end of syllables $8ord=nal n is fully
pronounced by some speakers in a fe8 learned 8ords%B See also the section
on 0asali<ation, belo8B
{ &t the start of syllables $in all dialects% or at the end of syllables $in some
dialects of 'P%, a single r is pronounced fof $see the notes on the (onsonants
belo8, for :ariants of this sound%B *lse8here, it is pronounced ftfB Word =nal
rhotics may also be silent 8hen the last syllables is stressed, in casual and
:ernacular speech, especially in 'ra<il $per:asi:e nation8ide, though not in
educated and some collo9uial registers% and some &frican and &sian
countriesB
{ & single s is pronounced :oiced f<f bet8een :o8elsB
(onsonantsCeditD
The phoneme transcribed here as fof has :arious dialectal :ariantsB It may
include an al:eolar trill CrD in Portugal, southern 'ra<il and in fe8 *uropean
descended communities or by ,ispanic &merican immigrants else8here in
'ra<il, any kind of u:ular pronunciation $including :oiced and :oiceless trills
and fricati:es% in Portugal, and any kind of possible :elar or guttural fricati:e
or trill in 'ra<il, including glottal transitions ChD and CD $presumably by the
incuence of the speech by nati:es of non*uropean languages% and the
u:ular trill in areas of greater Portuguese, Francophone or continental
+ermanic incuence $e;cluding phenomena related to southern migration to
&ma<on, as far north as 2io de -aneiro, *spTrito Santo and Federal )istrict%,
depending entirely on indi:idual and regional :ariation, though the most
common is still :oiceless :elar C;DB For further information, see +uttural r!
PortugueseB
The opposition bet8een the four sibilants fsf, f<f, fuf, flf is neutrali<ed at the
end of syllables, often branded as fSfB In that position, they are al:eolar in
parts of 'ra<il! CsD occurs before :oiceless consonants or at the end of an
utterance, 8hile C<D occurs before :oiced consonants! eBgB PFscoa fkpask8gf,
mesmo fkme<mufB In most of Portugal, &frica, &sia and in the educated
sociolect used in and around the cities of 2io de -aneiro and FlorianVpolis,
syllable=nal sibilants are postal:eolar! :oiceless postal:eolar fricati:es Cu e v
e s D occurs before a :oiceless consonant or at the end of an utterance, 8hile
:oiced postal:eolar fricati:es Cl e h e < D occurs before a :oiced consonant!
PFscoa Ckpauk8gD, mesmo CkmelmuDBC^DC`DCaDC6D
*lse8here in 'ra<il, those pronunciations described abo:e may be in free
:ariationB Some speakers palatali<e more than others, but in general coda
al:eolars 8ill appear before bilabial and :elar consonants and at the end of a
sentence, 8hile coda postal:eolars are dominant before postal:eolar and
al:eolar consonantsB Speakers nati:e and resident to the state of 2io de
-aneiro state palatali<e the most 8hile speakers nati:e and resident to
ParanF, 2io +rande do Sul, "ato +rosso do Sul, "ato +rosso and 2ondXnia
palatali<e the leastB Free :ariation is pre:alent in almost all of northern and
northeastern 'ra<ilB )ebbucali<ation to ChD and CD, and deletion to CD $<ero%,
are per:asi:e in collo9uial and :ernacular speech registers in all of 'ra<il
$though not to the e;tent found in eBgB Spanish%, but ne:er in the educated
onesBCsDC_D
The traditional pronunciation of the letter ; bet8een :o8els is fuf, but in
loan8ords from atin or +reek it may represent other sounds! fksf $the most
common%, f<f $in 8ords that begin 8ith e; or he; follo8ed by a :o8el, and in
compounds made from such 8ords%, or fsf $in a :ery small number of 8ords,
such as trou;e and prV;imo%B It is al8ays pronounced fuf at the beginning of
8ords and after consonantsB
oan8ords 8ith a fuf in their original languages recei:e the letter ; to
represent it 8hen they are nati:ised iBeB ;ampu $shampoo%B While the
pronunciations of ch and ;, like in French, merged long ago, some +alician
Portuguese dialects like the +alician language, the portunhol da pampa and
the speech registers of northeastern Portugal still preser:e the diAerence as
ch ftuf :sB ; fuf, as does other Iberian languages and "edie:al PortugueseB
When one 8ants to stress the sound diAerence in dialects 8here it merged
the con:ention is to use tch eBgB tchau $ciao% and 'ra<ilian Portuguese
2ep\blica Tcheca $(<ech 2epublic%, though in most loan8ords, it mergers 8ith
fuf $or ftf eBgB moti for mochi%, #ust as originally CdlD most often merges 8ith
flfB &l:eolar aAricates CtsD and Cd<D, though, are more likely to be preser:ed
$eBgB pi<<a, 7eitgeist, tsunami, kud<u, ad<uki, etcB%
)iacritics and basic digraphsCeditD
Portuguese makes use of si; diacritics to e;pand the atin alphabet, one of
8hich is the cedilla, placed belo8 the letter c to indicate that it is pronounced
fsf before the :o8els a, o, or u, because of a historical palatali<ationB
)igraphs are pairs of letters 8hich represent a single sound, diAerent from
the sum of their componentsB 0either letters 8ith diacritics nor digraphs are
included in the alphabetB They are al8ays pronounced the same 8ayB
+rapheme Pronunciation
N s
ch u
lh x
nh
rr o
ss s
The digraph ch is pronounced as an *nglish sh by the o:er8helmingly
ma#ority of speakersB The digraphs lh and nh, of Occitan origin, denote palatal
consonants 8hich do not e;ist in *nglishB The digraphs rr and ss are only
used bet8een :o8elsB The pronunciation of the digraph rr :aries 8ith dialect
$see the note on the phoneme fof, abo:e%B
Silent lettersCeditD
&s in other languages of 8estern *urope, the letter u is normally silent in the
graphemes gu and 9u, 8hen it comes before a front :o8el!
gu is pronounced fmf before e or i, and fmuf else8hereb
9u is pronounced fkf before e or i, and fkuf else8hereB
There are, ho8e:er, a fe8 such 8ords in 8hich the :o8el u is pronouncedB
These e;ceptions used to be indicated 8ith a trema $ge, gi, 9e, 9i% in the
'ra<ilian spelling, but not in the *uropean orthographyB "ost of them 8ere
learned latinisms, such as fre9Rnciaffre9uRncia dfre9uencyd,
argiNJofarguiNJo d9uestioningd, 9in9elTngef9uin9uelingue din =:e
languagesd $con#ectured to be the Portuguese 8ord 8ith the most diacritics%B
&s part of the Portuguese anguage Orthographic &greement $celebrated in
>??@ in isbon, Portugal%, the trema 8as retired and remo:ed from e:ery
:ernacular 8ord in 'P spelling and only retained for personal names,
borro8ings or deri:ations from borro8ingsB
The graphemes sN and ;s are pronounced as one sound fsf in 'P, but as t8o
sounds fusf in much of standard *P $often reduced to fuf in casual speech%B The
letter pairs sc and ;c are also pronounced fs e us e uf before e or iB
4o8elsCeditD
The :o8els in the pairs fa, gf, fe, if, fo, pf only contrast in stressed syllablesB
In unstressed syllables, each element of the pair occurs in complementary
distribution 8ith the otherB Stressed fgf appears mostly before the nasal
consonants m, n, nh, follo8ed by a :o8el, and stressed faf else8here,
although they ha:e a limited number of minimal pairs in *PB
In 'ra<ilian Portuguese, both nasal and unstressed :o8el phonemes that only
contrast 8hen stressed tend to a mid height, though CaD may be often heard
in unstressed position $especially 8hen singing or speaking emphatically%B In
pre2@thcentury *uropean Portuguese, those tended to be raised to CD, CiD
$no8 C D e;cept 8hen close to another :o8el% and CuDB This still is the case of
most 'ra<ilian dialects, 8here the 8ord elogio may be :ariously pronounced
as CilukliuD, Ce lo kliuD, Ce lukliuD, etcB Some dialects, such as those of
0ortheastern and Southern 'ra<il, tend to do less pre:ocalic :o8el reduction
and in general the unstressed :o8el sounds adhere to that of one of the
stressed :o8el pair, namely Ci, pD and Ce, oD respecti:elyBC2DC?D
In the educated speech used in 2io de -aneiro, most often accepted as
standard or close to it, :o8el reduction is used less often than in collo9uial
and :ernacular speech, though still more than the more distant dialects, and
in general mid :o8els are dominant o:er closemid ones and especially open
mid ones in unstressed en:ironments 8hen those are in free :ariation $that
is, so<inho is al8ays Cspk<uD, e:en in Portugal, 8hile elogio is almost
certainly Ce lo kliBuD%B "id :o8els are also used as choice for stressed nasal
:o8els in both Portugal and 2io de -aneiro, though not in SJo Paulo and
southern 'ra<il, 8hile in 'ahia, Sergipe and neighboring areas mid nasal
:o8els supposedly are closemid, like those of FrenchB 4eneno can thus :ary
as *P C: kne nuD, 2- C:r knrnuD, SP C:eknen~D and '& C:ikninuD according to the
dialectB fg f also got signi=cant dialectal :ariation, respecti:ely in the same of
the last sentence, banana CbkngnD, Cb knnD, CbknnD and CbknngDBC?D
'y assimilation of nasality it :aries the most, but 8hile stressed and not
follo8ed by a nasal consonant fg f is generally C} D in 'ra<ilBC>@D
4o8el reduction of unstressed nasal :o8els is e;tremely per:asi:e
nation8ide in 'ra<il, in :ernacular, collo9uial and e:en most educated speech
registers eBgB entJo Cktg 8D, camondongo CkgmkdZmuDBC2D This is slightly more
resisted, though also present, in PortugalB
)iacriticsCeditD
The pronunciation of the accented :o8els is fairly stable, e;cept that they
become nasal in certain conditionsB See the section on 0asali<ation, for
further information about this regular phenomenonB In other cases, nasal
:o8els are marked 8ith a tildeB The diacritic is only used in the letter & and
is merely grammatical, meaning a contraction bet8een t8o e9ual letters
such as ad:erb dtod and feminine pronoun dthed, eBgB :ou a a cidade :ou
L cidade dIym going to the cityd not aAecting pronunciation at allB The
umlaut $trema% 8as o|cial prior to the last orthographical reform, and can
still be found in older te;ts or used by people not accustomed to the ne8
rulesB It meant that the usually silent 3 bet8een 1 or + and I or * 8as in fact
pronounced, like in the 8ords li9ido dli9uidd and sangTneo dfrom the blooddB
Some 8ords ha:e t8o acceptable pronunciations, :arying largely by accentsB
+rapheme Pronunciation
F a
H g, g
J g
L a
P i
R e, #
T i
V p
X o
Z Z
\ u
)iphthongsCeditD
The pronunciation of each diphthong is also fairly predictable, but one must
kno8 ho8 to distinguish true diphthongs from ad#acent :o8els in hiatus,
8hich belong to separate syllablesB For e;ample, in the 8ord saio fksaiuf
$Cksa#B#uD%, the i forms a clearer diphthong 8ith the pre:ious :o8el $though a
slight yod also in the ne;t syllable is generally presentC2D%, but in saiu fsgkiuf
$Csgki8D%, it forms a diphthong 8ith the ne;t :o8elB &s in Spanish, a hiatus
may be indicated 8ith an acute accent, distinguishing homographs such as
saia fksaigf $Cksa#B#gD% and saTa fsgkigfB
Oral
+rapheme Pronunciation +rapheme Pronunciation
ai, Fi Cai e giD au, FuCau e guD
ei, Ri Cei e eD, CiD> eu, RuCeuD
Pi CiiD, CiD> Pu CiuD
oi CoiD ou Cou e oD
Vi CpiD Vu CpuD
ui CuiD iu CiuD
0asal
+rapheme Pronunciation +rapheme Pronunciation
Je, Ji Cg D Jo Cg D
Ze CZD
> In central PortugalB
0asali<ationCeditD
When a syllable ends 8ith m or n, this consonant is not fully pronounced, but
merely indicates the nasali<ation of the :o8el 8hich precedes itB &t the end
of 8ords, this sometimes produces a nasal diphthongB
"onophthongs )iphthongs
+rapheme Pronunciation +rapheme Pronunciation
an, am, Hn, Hm>fg f am2 fg f
en, em, Rn, Rm>frf em, Pm2 frf $Cg D%
in, im, Tn, Tm^ ff en, Pn`
on, om, Xn, Xm^fZf Rm2 frf $Cg D%
un, um, \n, \m^ff
> at the end of a syllable
2 at the end of a 8ord
^ at the end of a syllable or 8ord
` before =nal s, for e;ample in the 8ords bens and parabPns
The grapheme en is also pronounced as a nasal diphthong in a fe8
compound 8ords, such as bendito $bem dito%, homen<inho $homem
<inho%, and 'en=caB
Personal namesCeditD
The use of diacritics in personal names is generally restricted to the letter
diacritic combinations abo:e, and often also by the applicable Portuguese
spelling rulesB
Portugal is more restricti:e than 'ra<il in regard to gi:en namesB They must
be either Portuguese or adapted to the Portuguese orthography and sound,
and should also be easily discerned as either a masculine or feminine name
by a Portuguese speakerB There are lists of pre:iously accepted names, and
names not included therein must be sub#ect to consultation of the national
director of registriesBC>>D 'ra<ilian birth registrars, on the other hand, are
likely to accept names containing any $atin% letters or diacritics, limited only
to the a:ailability of such characters in their typesetting facilityB