Cómo empezar a aprender portugués
Como puedes imaginar, el primer paso para aprender un idioma es conocer su alfabeto. Vamos a repasar el alfabeto portugués, letra por letra.
Por cierto, esta es la guía que más me ha ayudado a la hora de empezar a aprender portugués por mi cuenta 😉
Las letras con asterisco (*) no pertenecen al alfabeto propiamente dicho, sino que representan diferentes sonidos que hay que destacar y tratar por separado.
Los símbolos de pronunciación son lo más aproximados posible, pero te recomiendo que escuches los audios para familiarizarte con los diferentes sonidos.
La lengua portuguesa depende de la zona de habla portuguesa, existiendo dos pronunciaciones principales: portugués de Brasil y portugués de Portugal. Yo mismo lo he grabado en una pronunciación portuguesa (de Portugal) lo más estándar posible.
Espero que te sea útil 😊
| Letter | Name | Pronunciation | Examples | Phonetics | Traduction |
| a | a | [a] as in British cat. Not stressed. | amor | [a’mor] | love |
| á* | acute a | [a] as in British cat. Used to mark a stressed [a] in words whose stressed syllable is in an abnormal location within the word, as in lá (there) and rápido (rapid, fast). If the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the acute accent is not used. | rápido | [‘gapidoo] | fast |
| â* | a circumflex | [ɐ] Indicates that the vowel is stressed in words whose stressed syllable is in an unpredictable location within the word. It also distinguishes a few homographs. Where the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the circumflex accent is not used. | râguebi | [‘rɐgebi] | rugby |
| ã* | a tilde | It marks nasal vowels before glides at the end of words and before final -s. It usually coincides with the stressed vowel unless there is an acute or circumflex accent elsewhere in the word or if the word is compound. | maçã irmãzinha | [ma’saŋ] [irmaŋ’zeeɲa] | apple litle sister |
| à* | grave a | It marks the contraction of two consecutive vowels in adjacent words, normally the preposition a and an article or a demonstrative pronoun: a + aquela = àquela “at that”, a + a = à “at the”. It can also be used when indicating time: “às 4 horas” = “at 4 o’clock”. It does not indicate stress. In adverbs formed with -mente affix, all of the vowels can take the grave accent mark, e.g.: provàvelmente (probably) from provável (probable). | à | [a] | at the |
| b | be | [b] as in boy. | bolo | [‘boloo] | cake |
| c | se | [k] before ‘a – o – u’. [s] elsewhere. | procurar conhecer | [proku’rar] [koɲe’ser] | to look for to know |
| ç* | se cedilla | The cedilla indicates that ç is pronounced [s]. | começar | [kome’sar] | to start |
| ch* | – | [ʃ] (sh) as in shower. | chuva | [‘ʃoova] | rain |
| d | de | [d] as in dog. | dizer | [di’zer] | to say |
| e | ae | Open or closed ‘e’. | mesa | [‘mesa] | table |
| é | acute ae | Closed ‘e’. Used to mark a stressed [ɛ] in words whose stressed syllable is unpredictable within the word, as in “péssimo” (very bad). If the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the acute accent is not used. | péssimo | [‘pessimoo] | very bad |
| ê | ae circumflex | Closed ‘e’. It marks a stressed [e] only in words whose stressed syllable is in an otherwise unpredictable location in the word: “pêssego” (peach). | pêssego | [pe’sseʃo] | peach |
| è | grave ae | Open ‘e’. It does not indicate stress. In adverbs formed with -mente affix, all of the vowels can take the grave accent mark, e.g.: genèricamente (generically) from genérico (generic). | genèricamente | [ʒe’nericament] | generically |
| f | efe | [f] as in fool | fora | [‘fora] | out |
| g | ʒe | [ʒ] before ‘e – i – y’. [g] elsewhere. | gente gato | [ʒent] [‘gatoo] | people cat |
| h | aga | Silent letter. | hoje | [‘oʒe] | today |
| i | ee | [i] as in keen. | mirar | [mi’rar] | to look at |
| í* | acute ee | “Closed ‘ee’. Used to mark a stressed [ee] in words whose stressed syllable is unpredictable within the word. If the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the acute accent is not used.” | exercício | [izer’sisioo] | exercice |
| ì* | grave ee | “Open ‘i’. It does not indicate stress. In adverbs formed with -mente affix, all of the vowels can take the grave accent mark, e.g.: analìticamente (analitically) from analítico (analytic).” | analìticamente | [ana’litikament] | analytically |
| j | ʒota | [ʒ] as ‘s’ in pleasure. | jantar | [ʒan’tar] | to have dinner |
| k | capa | [k] as in kiwi. | kiwi | [‘kiwi] | kiwi |
| l | ele | [l] as in layer. | licença | [li’sensa] | licence |
| lh* | – | [ʎ] like ‘lli’ in English, ‘million’). | colher | [koo’ʎer] | spoon |
| m | eme | [m] as in month. | mais | [maiʃ] | more |
| -em* | – | nasal [eiŋ]. | também | [tam’beiŋ] | also / too |
| -im* | – | nasal [iŋ]. | fim | [fiŋ] | end |
| -om* | – | nasal [oŋ]. | com | [koŋ] | with |
| -um* | – | nasal [uŋ]. | algum | [al’guŋ] | some |
| n | ene | [n] as in nose. | noite | [noit] | night |
| nh* | – | [ɲ] as ‘ng’ in French, cognac. | minha | [‘miɲa] | my / mine |
| o | o | [o] as in toll. | olho | [o’ʎoo] | eye |
| ó* | acute o | Used to mark a stressed [o] in words whose stressed syllable is in an abnormal location within the word, as in pó (dust) and óculos (glasses). If the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the acute accent is not used. | pó | [po] | dust |
| ò* | grave o | “Open ‘o’. It does not indicate stress. In adverbs formed with -mente affix, all of the vowels can take the grave accent mark, e.g.: pròpriamente (truly) from próprio (itself / own).” | pròpriamente | [‘propriament] | truly |
| ô* | o circumflex | “[ô] Indicates that the vowel is stressed in words whose stressed syllable is in an unpredictable location within the word. It also distinguishes a few homographs like ‘por’ (by) with ‘pôr’ (to put). Where the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the circumflex accent is not used.” | pôr | [por] | to put |
| õ* | o tilde | “It marks nasal vowels before glides at the end of words and before final -s and in some compounds. It usually coincides with the stressed vowel unless there is an acute or circumflex accent elsewhere in the word or if the word is compound.” Used only in the plurals of nouns ending in -ão (nação ‘nation’ > nações ‘nations’) and in the second person singular and third person forms of the verb pôr in the present tense (pões ‘you put’, põe ‘he / she / it puts’, põem ‘ they put’). | nações | [na’soŋeʃ] | nations |
| ou* | – | [oh] | sou | [soh] | I am |
| p | pe | [p] as in pack. | Portugal | [poortoo’gal] | Portugal |
| q | ke | [k] as in key. Always appears with ‘u’: ‘qu’ has the value [k] before ‘e – i’. ‘koo’ elsewhere. | quedo quando | [‘kedo] [‘kwando] | quiet when |
| r /rr | erre / double erre | Initially and ‘rr’ (always in the middle of a word), [G] as in French rouge (red) but much harder. Medially, slightly rolled. Finally, almost not pronounced. Very soft. | romper carro para bailar | [Gom’per] [‘kaGoo] [‘para] [bai’lar] | break car for / to to dance |
| s | esse | [s] initially. [ʃ] before consonants [c,q,p,t] and at the end of the word. Very soft [s] before a vowel. | saudade mais este casa | [sau’dad] [maiʃ] [eʃte] [kaza] | longing more this house |
| t | te | [t] as in pat. | tudo | [‘toodoo] | everything /all |
| u | oo | [oo] as in cool. | tu | [too] | you |
| ú | acute oo | [oo] as in cool. Used to mark a stressed [a] in words whose stressed syllable is in an abnormal location within the word, as in lá (there) and rápido (rapid, fast). If the location of the stressed syllable is predictable, the acute accent is not used. | túmulo | [‘toomooloo] | grave |
| ù | grave oo | Open ‘oo’. It does not indicate stress. In adverbs formed with -mente affix, all of the vowels can take the grave accent mark, e.g.: ùnicamente (uniquely / solely) from único (unique). | ùnicamente | [‘oonikament] | solely / only |
| v | ve | [v] as in void. | ver | [ver] | to see |
| w* | double ve | [w] as in whisky. | [whisly] | [‘wiski] | whisky |
| x* | xis | It has several sounds. [sh / ʃ] – [s] – [ks] – [z] | taxa próximo axioma exercício | [‘taʃa] [‘prosimoo] [ak’sjoma] [izer’sisioo] | fee next / ahead axiom exercice |
| y | greek ee | [i] elsewhere. [j] before vowel. | yoga | [‘joga] | yoga |
| z | ze | [z] initially. [ʃ] medially. [s] at the end. | zebra faz-tudo faz! | [‘zebra] [faʃ-‘tudoo] [faʃ] | zebra handyman do! |
