Portuguese Liã‡ãƒo 1

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gzimize Monday 17th of October 2005 02:22:21 AM
LIÃ‡ÃƒO 1 - PRONÃšNCIA - Well, as I promised, I will post some Portuguese lessons here. The first is about pronunciation. At first sight it will probably seem to be very difficult, but with practice you\'ll see it\'s very easy. As I\'m Brazilian, I\'ll post Brazilian pronunciation, that\'s a little bit different from Portugal Pronunciation. I\'m counting with Portuguese people to help me. Any doubts you can PM me.

[b]A[/b]
1. It\'s pronounced like in f[b]a[/b]ther
2. In the end of the words, when unstressed, it\'s pronounced as an closed a like in comput[b]er[/b]
3. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal. I think English doesn\'t have a nasal sound.
4. [b]Á[/b] and [b]À[/b] are pronounced like number 1, and these diacritical signs show stress or the contraction of two words. It\'ll be explained in another lesson.
5. [b]Â[/b] is pronounced like number 2 and this diacritical sign shows stress.
6. [b]Ã[/b] is pronounced as a nasal A and this diacritic sign is used to show that it\'s a nasal vowel.

[b]B[/b]
1. It\'s pronounced like in English

[b]C[/b]
1. Before A, O and U is pronounced like in [b]c[/b]omputer
2. Before E and I is pronounced like [b]c[/b]eltic
3. The digraph [b]CH[/b] is ALWAYS pronounced like the English SH, as in [b]sh[/b]ake
4. [b]Ç[/b] is pronounced like S as in [b]s[/b]ound

[b]D[/b]
1. Like in English [b]d[/b]og
2. When before the letter I and before an unstressed E, it\'s pronounced like the english J, as in [b]j[/b]et

[b]E[/b]
1. It\'s pronounced like in p[b]e[/b]t
2. When unstressed and NON-FINAL it\'s pronounced as an closed E like in tr[b]a[/b]in
3. When unstressed and FINAL it\'s pronounced like I in mach[b]i[/b]ne
4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal.
5. [b]É[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress.
6. [b]Ê[/b] is pronounced like number 2 and this diacritical sign shows stress.

[b]F[/b]
1. Like in English

[b]G[/b]
1. Before A, O and U is pronounced like [b]g[/b]arage
2. Before E and I is pronounced like the French bon[b]j[/b]our. If people of Eastern Europe prefer, it\'s pronounced like [b]Ž[/b]
3. In the combinations GUE and GUI, the letter U ISN\'T pronounced and the G has a sound like in [b]g[/b]et and [b]g[/b]ive
4. In the combinations GÜE and GÜI (u with umlaut) the letter U is pronounced like an English W.
GÜE - gwe
GÜI - gwee/gwi

[b]H[/b]
1. It simply doesn\'t have a sound. It isn\'t pronounced.

[b]I[/b]
1. It\'s like gr[b]ee[/b]n
2. After a vowel, it\'s pronounced like Y in [b]y[/b]ellow.
3. [b]Í[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress. When Í comes after a vowel, different of number 2, it\'s pronounced like number 1.
E.g.: Pais (parents) - PAH-ys
País (country) - pah-EES
4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal.

[b]J[/b]
1. Like J in the french bon[b]j[/b]our

[b]L[/b]
1. Like in English when before a vowel
2. After a vowel, pronounced like English W as in [b]w[/b]et
3. [b]LH[/b] is pronounced like mil[b]li[/b]on or Italian GLI

[b]M[/b]
1. Like in English

[b]N[/b]
1. Like in English
2. [b]NH[/b] is pronounced like in the Spanish [b]Ñ[/b]

[b]O[/b]
1. Like the English l[b]o[/b]t
2. When unstressed and NON-FINAL it\'s pronounced as an closed O as in b[b]o[/b]at
3. When unstressed and FINAL it\'s pronounced like U as in b[b]oo[/b]t
4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal.
5. [b]Ó[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress.
6. [b]Ô[/b] is pronounced like number 2 and this diacritical sign shows stress.
7. [b]Õ[/b] is pronounced as a nasal O and this diacritic sign is used to show that it\'s a nasal vowel.
8. After a vowel, it\'s pronounced like W in [b]w[/b]et.

[b]P[/b]
1. Like in english

[b]Q[/b]
NOTE: It only comes before the letter U
1. The combinations QUA and QUO is pronounced like kwah and kwoh (like in [b]quo[/b]te)
2. The combinations QUE and QUI, the letter U isn\'t pronounced and it\'s pronounced like [b]ke[/b]pt and [b]ki[/b]ss
3. In the combinations QÜE and QÜI, the U is pronounced like a W as in [b]quee[/b]n

[b]R[/b]
1. When it\'s the first letter in a word ir has the sound of H as in [b]h[/b]ave
2. When it\'s between vowels it has the sound of R like in the Spanish.
3. After a vowel, it\'s like number 1
4. The combination RR is like number 1 too.

[b]S[/b]
1. When it\'s the first letter of a word it has the sound of S as in [b]s[/b]ound
2. When between vowels it has the sound of Z like in [b]z[/b]ebra
3. After a vowel it\'s like number 1
4. The digraph SS is like number 1 too

[b]T[/b]
1. Like in English [b]t[/b]ear
2. When before the letter I and before an unstressed E, it\'s pronounced like the english CH, as in [b]ch[/b]at
3. The (rare) combination TCH has the sound of English CH, like number 2

[b]U[/b]
1. It\'s like b[b]oo[/b]t
2. After a vowel, it\'s pronounced like W in [b]w[/b]et.
3. [b]Ú[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress. When Ú comes after a vowel, different of number 2, it\'s pronounced like number 1.
E.g.: Nau (a kind of ship) - is pronounced like the English word NOW
Baú (trunk) - bah-OO
4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal.

[b]V[/b]
1. Like in English

[b]X[/b]
It can have many sounds. I don\'t know if there\'s a rule. I think there isn\'t.
1. It can have the sound of S
2. It can have the sound of Z
3. It can have the sound of English SH
4. It can have the sound of X as in mi[b]x[/b]

[b]Z[/b]
1. Like in English

-----
It became bigger than I expected, but i think it\'s not difficult to you to understand. I know it\'s difficult to learn many rules but pronounciation is very important and I think it\'s all for today.
Até mais,
Mário

gvdan08 Wednesday 19th of October 2005 09:29:19 AM
- I thought the RR was pronounced like an 'H'.

"Guerra" might sound like "Gue-ha". Is this incorrect?

gzimize Thursday 20th of October 2005 03:44:01 AM
- you're correct, but it's written this in my lesson:
[quote]1. When it's the first letter in a word ir has the sound of H as in have[/quote]
[quote]4. The combination RR is like number 1 too.[/quote]
até mais,
Mário

Thalita Friday 21st of October 2005 11:00:33 AM
Two litlle observations... - Hello, gzimize. Very good and informative your pronunciation lesson. People learning Portuguese here will surely profit greatly from it. But I think two little observations are necessary:

You said that before E and I, C is pronounced like in celtic. The problem is that "celtic" has two different pronunciations: /keltik/ and /seltic/. It's important to make clear that the one which refers to the portuguese-C-before-E-and-I pronunciation is the second one.

The other one is less important, but it's worth mentioning anyway. It is that "pronunciação" struck me as kind of weird. I never heard this word before, at least. Don't you think that "pronúncia" would sound better?

Anyway, keep up the good job.

Thalita

bel Saturday 22nd of October 2005 12:37:35 AM
- In Portugal we don't have the "¨". The GÜE and the QÜE is Gue and Que.

remy Sunday 23rd of October 2005 10:41:55 PM
- obrigada for the lesson mario :)

obrigada for the tip bel as i'm learning the portugal portuguese :)

gzimize Monday 24th of October 2005 05:05:41 AM
- thalita,
you're right in the sake of the pronunciation of the letter C. if you prefer another example, the english word "cell" has the same sound.
both words, pronunciação and pronúncia, exists and they are synonims.

arkangath Tuesday 25th of October 2005 08:02:17 PM
Accent - Also, this may be the brazilian portuguese pronunctiation. Check one of my previous posts on Portuguese accent for a standard portuguese reading of the letters.

gzimize Tuesday 25th of October 2005 08:11:41 PM
- yes. this is the brazilian pronunciation. i don't know much about standard pronunciation of portugal

gzimize Tuesday 08th of November 2005 06:23:02 AM
- hello everyone!
i'm only posting this to put the lesson on the top of the list. i asked jeff (the portuguese forum moderator) to put my lessons as sticky topics, so that they'll always appear on the top, but i was looking and he doesnt enter here since October 10th, so i don't know if he'll put the sticky topics
até mais,
Mário

Phrasebase Archive
	gzimize	Monday 17th of October 2005 02:22:21 AM
	LIÃ‡ÃƒO 1 - PRONÃšNCIA - Well, as I promised, I will post some Portuguese lessons here. The first is about pronunciation. At first sight it will probably seem to be very difficult, but with practice you\'ll see it\'s very easy. As I\'m Brazilian, I\'ll post Brazilian pronunciation, that\'s a little bit different from Portugal Pronunciation. I\'m counting with Portuguese people to help me. Any doubts you can PM me. [b]A[/b] 1. It\'s pronounced like in f[b]a[/b]ther 2. In the end of the words, when unstressed, it\'s pronounced as an closed a like in comput[b]er[/b] 3. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal. I think English doesn\'t have a nasal sound. 4. [b]Á[/b] and [b]À[/b] are pronounced like number 1, and these diacritical signs show stress or the contraction of two words. It\'ll be explained in another lesson. 5. [b]Â[/b] is pronounced like number 2 and this diacritical sign shows stress. 6. [b]Ã[/b] is pronounced as a nasal A and this diacritic sign is used to show that it\'s a nasal vowel. [b]B[/b] 1. It\'s pronounced like in English [b]C[/b] 1. Before A, O and U is pronounced like in [b]c[/b]omputer 2. Before E and I is pronounced like [b]c[/b]eltic 3. The digraph [b]CH[/b] is ALWAYS pronounced like the English SH, as in [b]sh[/b]ake 4. [b]Ç[/b] is pronounced like S as in [b]s[/b]ound [b]D[/b] 1. Like in English [b]d[/b]og 2. When before the letter I and before an unstressed E, it\'s pronounced like the english J, as in [b]j[/b]et [b]E[/b] 1. It\'s pronounced like in p[b]e[/b]t 2. When unstressed and NON-FINAL it\'s pronounced as an closed E like in tr[b]a[/b]in 3. When unstressed and FINAL it\'s pronounced like I in mach[b]i[/b]ne 4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal. 5. [b]É[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress. 6. [b]Ê[/b] is pronounced like number 2 and this diacritical sign shows stress. [b]F[/b] 1. Like in English [b]G[/b] 1. Before A, O and U is pronounced like [b]g[/b]arage 2. Before E and I is pronounced like the French bon[b]j[/b]our. If people of Eastern Europe prefer, it\'s pronounced like [b]Ž[/b] 3. In the combinations GUE and GUI, the letter U ISN\'T pronounced and the G has a sound like in [b]g[/b]et and [b]g[/b]ive 4. In the combinations GÜE and GÜI (u with umlaut) the letter U is pronounced like an English W. GÜE - gwe GÜI - gwee/gwi [b]H[/b] 1. It simply doesn\'t have a sound. It isn\'t pronounced. [b]I[/b] 1. It\'s like gr[b]ee[/b]n 2. After a vowel, it\'s pronounced like Y in [b]y[/b]ellow. 3. [b]Í[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress. When Í comes after a vowel, different of number 2, it\'s pronounced like number 1. E.g.: Pais (parents) - PAH-ys País (country) - pah-EES 4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal. [b]J[/b] 1. Like J in the french bon[b]j[/b]our [b]L[/b] 1. Like in English when before a vowel 2. After a vowel, pronounced like English W as in [b]w[/b]et 3. [b]LH[/b] is pronounced like mil[b]li[/b]on or Italian GLI [b]M[/b] 1. Like in English [b]N[/b] 1. Like in English 2. [b]NH[/b] is pronounced like in the Spanish [b]Ñ[/b] [b]O[/b] 1. Like the English l[b]o[/b]t 2. When unstressed and NON-FINAL it\'s pronounced as an closed O as in b[b]o[/b]at 3. When unstressed and FINAL it\'s pronounced like U as in b[b]oo[/b]t 4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal. 5. [b]Ó[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress. 6. [b]Ô[/b] is pronounced like number 2 and this diacritical sign shows stress. 7. [b]Õ[/b] is pronounced as a nasal O and this diacritic sign is used to show that it\'s a nasal vowel. 8. After a vowel, it\'s pronounced like W in [b]w[/b]et. [b]P[/b] 1. Like in english [b]Q[/b] NOTE: It only comes before the letter U 1. The combinations QUA and QUO is pronounced like kwah and kwoh (like in [b]quo[/b]te) 2. The combinations QUE and QUI, the letter U isn\'t pronounced and it\'s pronounced like [b]ke[/b]pt and [b]ki[/b]ss 3. In the combinations QÜE and QÜI, the U is pronounced like a W as in [b]quee[/b]n [b]R[/b] 1. When it\'s the first letter in a word ir has the sound of H as in [b]h[/b]ave 2. When it\'s between vowels it has the sound of R like in the Spanish. 3. After a vowel, it\'s like number 1 4. The combination RR is like number 1 too. [b]S[/b] 1. When it\'s the first letter of a word it has the sound of S as in [b]s[/b]ound 2. When between vowels it has the sound of Z like in [b]z[/b]ebra 3. After a vowel it\'s like number 1 4. The digraph SS is like number 1 too [b]T[/b] 1. Like in English [b]t[/b]ear 2. When before the letter I and before an unstressed E, it\'s pronounced like the english CH, as in [b]ch[/b]at 3. The (rare) combination TCH has the sound of English CH, like number 2 [b]U[/b] 1. It\'s like b[b]oo[/b]t 2. After a vowel, it\'s pronounced like W in [b]w[/b]et. 3. [b]Ú[/b] is pronounced like number 1, and this diacritical sign shows stress. When Ú comes after a vowel, different of number 2, it\'s pronounced like number 1. E.g.: Nau (a kind of ship) - is pronounced like the English word NOW Baú (trunk) - bah-OO 4. When it comes before the letters [b]M[/b] and [b]N[/b] it is nasal. [b]V[/b] 1. Like in English [b]X[/b] It can have many sounds. I don\'t know if there\'s a rule. I think there isn\'t. 1. It can have the sound of S 2. It can have the sound of Z 3. It can have the sound of English SH 4. It can have the sound of X as in mi[b]x[/b] [b]Z[/b] 1. Like in English ----- It became bigger than I expected, but i think it\'s not difficult to you to understand. I know it\'s difficult to learn many rules but pronounciation is very important and I think it\'s all for today. Até mais, Mário
	gvdan08	Wednesday 19th of October 2005 09:29:19 AM
	- I thought the RR was pronounced like an 'H'. "Guerra" might sound like "Gue-ha". Is this incorrect?
	gzimize	Thursday 20th of October 2005 03:44:01 AM
	- you're correct, but it's written this in my lesson: [quote]1. When it's the first letter in a word ir has the sound of H as in have[/quote] [quote]4. The combination RR is like number 1 too.[/quote] até mais, Mário
	Thalita	Friday 21st of October 2005 11:00:33 AM
	Two litlle observations... - Hello, gzimize. Very good and informative your pronunciation lesson. People learning Portuguese here will surely profit greatly from it. But I think two little observations are necessary: You said that before E and I, C is pronounced like in celtic. The problem is that "celtic" has two different pronunciations: /keltik/ and /seltic/. It's important to make clear that the one which refers to the portuguese-C-before-E-and-I pronunciation is the second one. The other one is less important, but it's worth mentioning anyway. It is that "pronunciação" struck me as kind of weird. I never heard this word before, at least. Don't you think that "pronúncia" would sound better? Anyway, keep up the good job. Thalita
	bel	Saturday 22nd of October 2005 12:37:35 AM
	- In Portugal we don't have the "¨". The GÜE and the QÜE is Gue and Que.
	remy	Sunday 23rd of October 2005 10:41:55 PM
	- obrigada for the lesson mario :) obrigada for the tip bel as i'm learning the portugal portuguese :)
	gzimize	Monday 24th of October 2005 05:05:41 AM
	- thalita, you're right in the sake of the pronunciation of the letter C. if you prefer another example, the english word "cell" has the same sound. both words, pronunciação and pronúncia, exists and they are synonims.
	arkangath	Tuesday 25th of October 2005 08:02:17 PM
	Accent - Also, this may be the brazilian portuguese pronunctiation. Check one of my previous posts on Portuguese accent for a standard portuguese reading of the letters.
	gzimize	Tuesday 25th of October 2005 08:11:41 PM
	- yes. this is the brazilian pronunciation. i don't know much about standard pronunciation of portugal
	gzimize	Tuesday 08th of November 2005 06:23:02 AM
	- hello everyone! i'm only posting this to put the lesson on the top of the list. i asked jeff (the portuguese forum moderator) to put my lessons as sticky topics, so that they'll always appear on the top, but i was looking and he doesnt enter here since October 10th, so i don't know if he'll put the sticky topics até mais, Mário