Portuguese 1.1.1. Vowels

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:

The Vowel Letter “e”

The letter “e” can have one of three sounds:

1. An open “e” sounds similar to the “e” in “bed” or “set.” Examples include:

2. A closed “e” sounds similar to the “ay” sound in “say” but without the final “y” sound. Examples include:

3. Like “i” in “kid” when it is unstressed at the end of a word. Examples include:

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:

1. An open “o” sounds similar to the “o” in “cop” but shorter. Examples include:

2. A closed stressed “o” sounds similar to the “o” sound in “go” but without the final “w” sound. Examples include:

3. A closed unstressed “o” sounds similar to the weak “o” in “into.” Examples include:

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:

There are also four triphthongs:

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:

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:

In addition to the main five nasal vowels, there are five diphthong vowels. These are summarized as follows:

It is important to notice the following:

1. 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).
2. 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”:

Next: Similarities & Differences – Portuguese & English

Back to: Portuguese Lessons

Other Lessons in Level I: