There are 5 vowels in Brazilian Portuguese: a, e, i, o, u. Each vowel has more than one pronunciation.
Aninteresting fact for speakers of other languages ​​is that words in Portuguese can be masculine or feminine, and this includes letters as well.
All letters of the alphabet are masculine. Below you will see a little more about each vowel, its pronunciation and its different sounds.
The transcription (sound representation) presented here is based on the sound of the letters of the Portuguese alphabet in order to facilitate understanding.
Observation: This article covers only stressed vowels. They are similar to unstressed ones, the difference is that unstressed vowels are weaker. Transcripton letters of unstressed vowels will be the same as the stressed ones.
Meaning in this text:
Bold – vowel or transcription letter.
Underlined – stressed syllable of the word.
Transcription letter – the letter in English that represents a sound. (This is not International Phonetic Alphabet)
Letters between vertical bars – transcription letter that represents the sound of the word.
| a |a| | ||
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a (almost) as in car
There is a little difference between Brazilian Portuguese and English vowel a.
Transcription letter: |a|
Example: bird
ave
|avi|
| e |e| | ||
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e as in egg
This is an open vowel.
Transcription letter: |e|
Example: she
ela
|ela|
or
e as in obey
Usually it appears in diphtongs in English language.
This is a closed vowel.
Transcription letter: |ê|
Example: to have
ter
|têh|
or
e as in we
Transcription letter: |i|
Example: he
ele
|êli|
| i |i| | ||
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i as in ski
Transcription letter: |i|
Example: life
vida
|vida|
| o |o| | ||
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o as in morning
This is an open vowel.
Transcription letter: |o|
Example: ball
bola
|bola|
or
This sound doesn’t exist in English as a letter
This is a closed vowel.
Transcription letter: |ô|
Example: soup
sopa
|sôpa|
or
o as in to
Transcription letter: |u|
Example: fact
fato
|fatu|
| u |u| | ||
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u as in attitude
Transcription letter: |u|
Example: grape
uva
|uva|
Brazilian Portuguese nasal vowels
Although English has nasal sounds, nasal vowel sounds in Brazilian Portuguese are different.
| ã, an, am |ã| | ||
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Transcription letter: |ã|
Example: wool
lã
|lã|
Example: year
ano
|ãnu|
Example: friend
amigo
|ãmigu|
| en, em |ẽ| | ||
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Transcription letter: |ẽ|
Example: to try
tentar
|tẽtah|
Example: time
tempo
|tẽpu|
| in, im |Ä©| | ||
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Transcription letter: |Ä©|
Example: Sunday
domingo
|dumĩgu|
Example: end
fim
|fĩ|
| on, om |õ| | ||
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Transcription letter: |õ|
Example: wave
onda
|õda|
Example: good
bom
|bõ|
| un, um |Å©| | ||
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Transcription letter: |Å©|
Example: world
mundo
|mũdu|
Example: perfume
perfume
|pehfũmi|
VOWEL TABLE
| LETTER | SOUND | E.G. | EN |
| a | |a| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | ave |avi| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | bird |
| a | |ã| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | lã |lã| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | wool |
| e | |e| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | ela |ela| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | she |
| e | |ê| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | ter |têh| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | to have |
| e | |i| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | ele |êli| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | he |
| e | |ẽ| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | tentar |tẽtah| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | to try |
| i | |i| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | vida |vida| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | life |
| i | |ĩ| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | fim |fĩ| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | end |
| o | |o| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | bola |bola| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | ball |
| o | |ô| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | sopa |sôpa| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | soup |
| o | |u| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | fato |fatu| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | fact |
| o | |õ| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | bom |bõ| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | good |
| u | |u| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | uva |uva| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | grape |
| u | |ũ| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | mundo |mũdu| An HTTP error occurred during file retrieval. Error Code: 403 | world |
Comment below if you have any questions or sugestions to make!
