Pronunciation: How To Pronounce The Letter “R” in Brazilian Portuguese

How To Pronounce The Brazilian Portuguese “R” & How The Sound Varies By State

The “R” – A lot of people seem to have trouble with the Portuguese “R”  but the good news is that it can be pretty much pronounced however you wish because the sound of the letter “R” changes from state to state in Brazil. One word that is famous for being pronounced differently depending on which state you are in is the word for door, “porta.”

MINAS GERAIS

I pronounce the mineiro “R” that sounds like an h or sometimes just a wind of breath.  So I say pó-h-tá. It’s one of those sounds that’s almost like your blowing your breathe from the back of your throat.

RIO DE JANEIRO

Cariocas (people from Rio de Janeiro) tend to extend their r’s a little further and say pó-hhhh-tá. The R is pronounced almost like the beginning of the word “Chanukah”.

SAO PAULO

Then there are paulistanos, whose R’s are almost Spanish speaking where they roll it off their tongues. Paulistas & Paranaenses make it easy for Americans to pronounce their Portuguese R’s because they say “porta” as an American English speaker would say it. Except maybe it sounds more like “pour-tá”.

 

*Note that double R’s in Portuguese are pronounced with an “H” sound!

Portuguese Pronunciation: The -em Ending

How To Pronounce The EM Ending in Brazilian Portuguese

EM – This word ending is one where you must neglect the actual letters it contains. The -EM on the end of words in Brazilian Portuguese does not contain any actual “M” sound. If anything, -“em” is pronounced like “-en,” but it is more like  “ayyn” or “eyn”.

Let’s use some examples:

– Massagem = Mah-sah-jeyn (smoothing out that “j”)

– Homem = Oh-meyn

– Comem = Coh-meyn

Pronunciation Lesson: Use of the Cedilha (ç) in Brazilian Portuguese

Via: Fun With Brazilian Portuguese

Use of the Cedilha in Brazilian Portuguese

 

The cedilha (also called cê-cedilha or cê cedilhado) is a hook placed under the letter “c” to indicate that it is pronounced like an [s]. So, for example, if we take the word “faca” (knife), where the letter “c” sounds like a [k], and add a cedilha under the “c” it becomes “faça”, the imperative of the verb fazer (to make) and it is pronounced like an [s].

Note: The cedilha is never used at the beginning of a word and it is only used when followed by the vowels a, o and u – never before e or i because with these vowels the c is already pronounced as an [s].

For example:
bagunça (mess, disorder) / bagunceiro (disorderly, the person who makes the mess)

braço (arm) / bracinho (little arm)

Other examples of when the cedilha is used:

• Words of Indigenous, African or Arabic origin:

Indigenous origin:
açaí (acai berry, fruit of the cabbage palm),
araçá (Brazilian guava)

African origin:
caçula (the youngest child of a family)
miçanga (bead, glass pearl)

Arabic origin:
açúcar (sugar)
muçulmano (Muslim)
açafrão (saffron)

• After diphthongs (union of two vowels pro­nounced in one syllable)

feição (feature, aspect, appearance, look)

louça (chinaware)

traição (betrayal)

• In nouns derived from the verbs ending in –ter

abster (v. to abstain) > abstenção (n. abstention)

obter (v. to obtain)  > obtenção (n. obtainment)

conter (v. to contain)  > contenção (n. contention)

deter (v. to detain)  > detenção (n. detention)

reter (v. to retain) >retenção (n. retention)

• In the suffixes (endings of a word)  –aça, –aço, –nça, –iça, –iço, –uça, –uço.

barcaça (barge)

ricaço (coloq rich person, moneybag, loaded)

criança (child)

carniça (cattle for slaughtering, meat, bloodshed)

caniço (fishing-rod)

dentuça (female with big teeth, big-toothed)

buço (fluff on the upper lip)

•         In the correlation t > ç

absorto (absorbed) > absorção (absorption)

       canto (song) > canção (song)

       exceto (except) > exceção (exception)

       isento (exempt) > isenção (exemption)

       ato (act) > ação (action)

•  In the suffixes –ação and –ção in nouns derived from verbs.

exportar (v. to export) > exportação (n. exportation, export )

reparar (v. to repair) > reparação (n. reparation, repair)

construir (v. to construct) > construção (n. construction)

destruir (v. to destruct) > destruição (destruction)

formar (v. to form) > formação (n. formation)

How To Pronounce the Letter “X” in Brazilian Portuguese

One thing that confuses a lot of people who are learning Portuguese, is when and how to use the letter “x,” as opposed to a ch, s, z, etc.

So I found this really fun “lesson,” online on the pronunciation of the “x” in Portuguese. First, there is a paragraph with a bunch of x’s – then they explain which is pronounced how and why (well, the why part sort of…)

Antes do EXAME, oferecem-lhe uma XÍCARA de chá, pois o EXCESSO de estudos o tinha DEIXADO em grande EXCITAÇÃO nervosa. Ele era um aluno EXEMPLAR, o que justifica o tratamento de EXCEÇÃO que recebeu dos professores.Depois de tranqüilizado, fez EXCELENTE EXAME e falou com propriedade sobre o NEXO EXISTENTE entre os traumas da primeira infância e o COMPLEXO de Édipo, inspirado na EXIGÊNCIA de uma educação SEXUAL dos pais e dos educadores. Obteve a nota MÁXIMA.

So when do you pronounce which “version” of the Portuguese “x” in the above paragraph?

“z” sound:

– exame

– exemplar

– existente

– exigência

What do all of these words have in common in relation to the x?

For the “z” sound in Portuguese, the x should be before and after a vowel, but the following vowels need to be followed by consonants. Exception: máxima,  which is “s” sounding.

“s” sound:

– excesso

– exceção

– excelente

– excitação

What do all of these words have in common in relation to the x?

They’re all preceded by a vowel (e) and followed by a c! Easy enough, right?

 

“ks” sound:

 

– complexo

 

– nexo

 

– sexual

 

What do all of these words have in common in relation to the x?

These words are also preceded by and followed by a vowel, but which is not necessarily followed by another vowel or letter at that!

“ch” sound (but really “sshhh” sound):

– xícara

– deixado

What do all of these words have in common in relation to the x?

This is the hardest one because there are so many ways to use it and the pronunciation can be confused with the “ch” in Portuguese as well.  Overall though, there are a few rules for this pronunciation of the “x”:

 

– At the beginning of words – like the example, xícara, in the text.

 

– After a ditongo, which is a vowel & a “semi-vowel” in the same syllable.  So in deixado,  the “ditongo,” is “ei” (this rule has it’s exceptions, such as recauchutar & caucho, but overall, you should be safe).

 

– After “me” – With words like, mexer, mexe, méxicano, mexericar, etc.  The only exception here is “mecha“

 

– And after “en” – Examples are – enxada, enxame, etc. – The exceptions here are: encher, enchente, enchova.

 

Did that help a little? Note these aren’t scientific grammar rules, but just some assumptions we can make while trying to pronounce the x in Portuguese.  This sort of rule is not set in stone and I apologize if I missed any exceptions!

 

*Sources: http://www.transparent.com/portuguese

 

Pronouncing the -ão in Brazilian Portuguese

The -ão ending in Portuguese gives English speakers a really hard time, so here is a video for you to practice your pronunciation.

For the video I chose five very common words ending in -ão: mão (hand), mamão (papaya), pão (bread), não (no, not) and chão (ground, floor). I also provided some example sentences with the words ending in -ão so you can practice it.

Remember that we are only able to produce difficult sounds after listening to them many times, so watch the video, stop it, watch it again and you’ll see that it gets better every day.

*Sources: http://www.transparent.com/portuguese