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Study Resource: Brazilian Portuguese Alphabet Reference Sheet

By: Fabiana Dametto Oliveira

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These activities are part of our Brazilian Portuguese Grammar series. The skills we are practicing here are covered in our article:

Brazilian Portuguese Alphabet

The charts in this section illustrate how to spell each phoneme (essential sound) in Brazilian Portuguese.

Brazilian Portuguese consonants

Spelling in Brazilian Portuguese	Phoneme (IPA)	Example (Brazilian Portuguese)	Example (English)	Mangonetics
B	b	babá[bab'a]	baby	b

C	k	caro[k´aru]	car	k
C	s	cem[sẽ]	city	s
Ç	s	canção[kãs'ãu]	site	s
CH	ʃ	chave[ʃ''avi]	shop	sh

D	d	dado[d'adu]	adapt	d

F	f	faca[f'aka]	family	f

G	g	gato[g'atu]	garden	g
G	ʒ	gelo[ʒ'elu]	measure	zh
GU	g	guitarra[git'ar̄a]	guilt	g

H	--	honra['õr̄a]
H	r̄	hobby[r̄′ɔbi]	horse

L	l	lado[l'adu]	law	l
L	u	futebol	caw	oo
LH	λ	calha[k′aλa]	million	ly

M	m	manga	monkey	m

N	n	nova[n'ɔva]	night	n
NH	ñ	ninho[n'iñu]	onion	ny

P	p	para[p'ara]	pack	p

Qu	k	quero[k'ɛru]	queue	k

R	r̄	rato[r̄'atu]	ham	h
RR	r̄	arroz[ar̄'os]	ham	h
R	r̄	arma[′arma]	air	r

S	z	rosa[r̄′ɔza]	zebra	z
S	s	sim[sĩ]	essay	s
SS	s	assim[asĩ]	essay	s

T	t	tudo[t'udu]	tulip	t

V	v	vaso[v'azu]	voice	v

X	ʃ	xerife[ʃer'ifi]	ash	sh
X	s	texto[t'estu]	modest	s
X	z	exibir[ez'ibir]	zero	z
X	ks	fixo[f'iksu]	taxi	ks

Z	z	zebra[z'ebra]	zebra	z

Brazilian Portuguese vowels

Spelling in Brazilian Portuguese	Phoneme (IPA)	Example (Brazilian Portuguese)	Example (English)	Mangonetics
A	a	amor	pasta	ah
Ã	ã	fã		ahum
A	ə	cama	unwell	ah

E	ɛ	cego	bed	eh
E	e	esperar	exact	ay
E	ẽj	cem	bane	en
E	i	pode	Jill	ee

I	ĩ	fim	thin	een
I	i	igreja	sweet	ee

O	o	dor	bone	oh
O	ɔ	bota	not	aw
O	õw	bom	tongue	oum
O	u	tumba[t'ũmba]	institute	oo

U	u	uva[uva]	actual	oo
U	ũ	tumba[t'ũmba]	plume	oon

Letter combinations

The table below includes special combinations of letters that represent consonant clusters (2 or more consonants) as well as some diphthongs (vowels made by combining vowel sounds).

Spelling in Brazilian Portuguese	Phoneme (IPA)	Example (Brazilian Portuguese)	Example (English)	Mangonetics
DI	dʒi	dia[dʒia]	angel	jee
GUA	gwa	guarda[gw'arda]	bilingual	gwa
GUE	gwe	aguento[agw'ẽjtu]	Gwen
GUI	gwi	linguiça[lingw'isa]
QUA	kwa	quase[kw'azi]	quality	kw
TI	ʧi	tia[ʧia]	chia seed	chee
ÃO	ãw	mão[mãw]		aun
ÃE	ẫj	mãe[mãj]		ine
ÕE	õj	põe[põj]		oyn

Brazilian Portuguese accent marks

Accent Name	Where to use it	Sound	Example
acute	á, é, í, ó, ú (all the vowels)	It makes the vowel sound open, higher, and more emphasized. It is only present on the stressed syllable of a word.	café(coffee) chá(tea) fácil(easy)
circumflex	â, ê, ô	It makes the vowel sound closed. It is only present on the stressed syllable of a word.	Atlântico(Atlantic) você(you) pôr(put)
tilde	ã, õ	It creates a nasal sound in the vowel.	pão(bread) limões(lemons)
grave accent	à	It has the same pronunciation as the acute accent. It’s only used as a contraction between a(to) and the articles a, as(the).	Fomos à Espanha. We went to Spain. Comemos pizza somente às sextas-feiras. We eat pizza only on Fridays.
cedilla or hook	ç	It appears only on the letter c (ç), in cases where it is pronounced [s] before the vowels a, o, and u: ça - ço - çu. Without this accent the c in ca, co, cu would be pronounced [k].	açafrão(saffron) açougue(butcher shop) açúcar(sugar)

Common pairs of words where the addition of an accent changes the meaning

Accent	No accent
público public	publico I publish
país country	pais parents
está it is	esta this
é it is	e and
mangá manga book	manga mango
forró forró (Brazilian dance)	forro table cover
carnê bill	carne meat

Words where a closed ‘o’ becomes an open ‘o’ in the plural

Check out our main post on spelling and pronunciation in Brazilian Portuguese to review the differences between open and closed o, and to see why this change occurs between singular and plural.

Singular Form closed o [oh]	Plural Form open o [aw]	English
caroço	caroços	kernel(s)
corajoso	corajosos	brave
corpo	corpos	body/bodies
curioso	curiosos	curious
esforço	esforços	effort(s)
fogo	fogos	fire(s)
jogo	jogos	game(s)
novo	novos	new
olho	olhos	eye(s)
osso	ossos	bone(s)
ovo	ovos	egg(s)
poço	poços	well(s)
povo	povos	people(s)
teimoso	teimosos	stubborn
torto	tortos	tilt(s)

Diphthongs and triphthongs in Brazilian Portuguese

Diphthongs are complex vowels that are made by combining two simple vowels. Triphthongs are complex vowels made by combining three or more simple vowels. Let’s have a look!

Dipthong	Example
AI	Sounds like ai in “Thai”: pai(father), baixo(short)
AU, AL	Sounds like ow in “now”: mau(bad), tchau(bye), sal(salt)

EI	Sounds like ai in “Thai”: pai(father), baixo(short)
ÉI	Sounds like e in “red” followed by “y”: papéis(papers), anéis(rings)
EU	Sounds like ay in “aim” followed by “oo”: meu(my, mine), eu(I)
ÉU	Sounds like e in “bed” followed by “oo”: céu(sky), chapéu(hat), mel(honey)
IU, IL	Sounds like the exclamation “ew!": Ela viu(she saw), vinil(vinyl)

OI	Sounds like oy in “boy”: noite(night), boi(ox)
ÓI	sounds like o in “top” followed by “y”: lençóis(bedsheets), farol(lighthouse)
OU	Sounds like ow in “show”: Eu sou(I am), Eu vou(I'll go)

UI	Sounds like ewy in “chewy”: Eu fui(I went), Ele possui(he owns)
UL	sounds like u in “rune” followed by a “w” sound: sul(South), azul(blue)

Tripthong	Example
UAI	Sounds like the vowel sound in “why”: quais(which, pl.), iguais(equals)
UAL	Sounds like the vowel sound in “wow”: qual(which), igual(equal)
UEI	Sounds like the vowel sound in “way”: Eu averiguei(I found out), Eu busquei(I searched)
UOU	Sounds like the vowel sound in “whoa”: Você averiguou(You found out), Você enxaguou(You rinsed)

Words in which ‘x’ is pronounced [ks]

Brazilian Portuguese	English
anexar	attach
axila	armpit
boxe	boxing
clímax	climax
complexo	complex
conexão	connection
crucifixo	crucifix
fixar	fix
flexível	flexible
fluxo	flow
intoxicar	intoxicate
maxilar	jaw
oxigênio	oxygen
reflexo	reflection
táxi	taxi

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