How To Pronounce the Letter “X” in Brazilian Portuguese
June 20, 2011 Leave a comment
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?
– xícara
– deixado
What do all of these words have in common in relation to the x?