| IPA |
Consonants
|
 |
 |
 |
Examples |
English equivalent
|
| b
|
b
|
besta; vaca (G)
|
best
|
| β
|
β
|
sábado [1]
|
between baby and bevy or best
|
| v
|
cavalo; palavra; vaca (P)
|
vest or between baby and bevy
|
| ð
|
d
|
rapadura [1]
|
this or dice
|
| d
|
dedo
|
dice
|
| dʒ
|
digo [2]
|
dice or engine
|
| f
|
fase; café
|
deface
|
| ɡ
|
ɡ
|
gato; guerra
|
get
|
| ɣ
|
magarefe; trigo [1]
|
between go and ahold or get
|
| k
|
cama; laca; quente; kelvin
|
scan
|
| l
|
l
|
livre (P); libre (G); calor
|
slip
|
| ɫ
|
w
|
mal; principal [3]
|
pill; cow or slip
|
| ʎ
|
velho (P); vello (G) [4]
|
roughly like million
|
| m
|
mesa; comer
|
almighty
|
| n
|
nata; ano
|
sonic
|
| ŋ
|
|
algunha; can; inglesa (G)
|
singer
|
| ɲ
|
ȷ̃
|
manhã (P); mañá (G)
|
roughly like canyon
|
| p
|
peito; topo
|
spouse
|
| r
|
ʁ
|
ʁ
|
raro; carro; enrascado [5]
|
guttural r (P) or trilled r (G)
|
| ɾ
|
cor; morte [6]
|
ladder in American English
or guttural r (some dialects of BP)
|
| ɾ
|
raro; caro; bravo; por acaso
|
ladder in American English
|
| s
|
z
|
z
|
casa; existir; portas abertas
|
zebra or sack
|
| z
|
ʒ
|
rasgado; portas brancas
|
rouge; zebra or sack
|
| θ
|
z
|
zona; azul
|
zebra or thought
|
| ʃ
|
s
|
dez; foz
|
ship; sack or thought
|
| s
|
cimeira; braço (P); brazo (G)
|
sack or thought
|
| s
|
saco; máximo; isso (P); iso (G)
|
sack
|
| ʃ
|
escola; mastro; portas fechadas
|
ship or sack
|
| ʃ
|
ʃ
|
xarope; baixo
|
ship
|
| tʃ
|
chave; achar
|
ship or reach
|
| tʃ
|
tʃ
|
tchau
|
reach
|
| t
|
tipo; ponte [2]
|
stand or reach
|
| t
|
tempo; átomo
|
stand
|
| ʃ
|
ʒ
|
já; gente (P); xa; xente (G)
|
rouge or ship
|
| IPA |
Marginal consonants
|
|
|
|
Examples |
English equivalent
|
| ħ
|
|
ghato; trigho (G) [7]
|
roughly like hook
|
|
| IPA |
Vowels
|
|
|
|
Examples |
English approximation
|
| a
|
a
|
a
|
taça; às; lá; Camões
|
father
|
| ɐ[8]
|
cabide
|
|
| ɐ[8]
|
taça; câmera; rush; cama [9]
|
banana; but (RP)
|
| ɛ
|
ɛ
|
ɛ
|
meta, sé
|
set
|
| e
|
e
|
incrível; prémio/prêmio [9]
|
|
| e[10]
|
meto; sê; acepção
|
play
|
| ɨ[11]
|
semáforo
|
emission
|
| i
|
gente; pequeno; se; aperfeiçoe
|
|
| i
|
i
|
si; proibir
|
see
|
| ɔ
|
ɔ
|
ɔ
|
formosa; formosos; avó
|
ball (GA), lot (RP)
|
| o
|
o
|
bónus/bônus [9]
|
|
| o
|
formoso; avô
|
sole (GA); sword (RP)
|
| u
|
Portugal
|
|
| u
|
boneco; posso; voo; vi-o; frio [12]
|
|
| u
|
lume; reunir
|
loop
|
| Nasal vowels
|
| aŋ
|
ɐ̃
|
canto; ângulo; âmbar; lã
|
|
| eŋ
|
ẽ
|
cento; sempre
|
|
| iŋ
|
ĩ
|
cinco; sim
|
|
| oŋ
|
õ
|
conto, bom
|
|
| uŋ
|
ũ
|
fungo, algum
|
|
|
|
| IPA |
Semivowels [13]
|
|
|
|
Examples |
English equivalent
|
| j
|
mais; saia; corações; saguões
|
you or boy
|
| w
|
quando; guarda; frequente; ao; quão
|
wine or cow
|
|
|
| IPA |
Suprasegmentals
|
|
|
|
Examples |
Explanation
|
| ˈ
|
livre [ˈlivɾɨ] (EP) / [ˈlivɾi] (BP)
|
|
| ˌ
|
livremente [ˌlivɾɨˈmẽtɨ] (EP) / [ˌlivɾiˈmẽtʃi] (BP)
|
|
| .
|
rua [ˈʁu.ɐ]
|
|
|
- ↑ अ आ इ In northern and central Portugal, /b/, /d/, and /ɡ/ are lenited to fricatives of the same place of articulation ([β], [ð], and [ɣ], respectively) in all places except after a pause, or a nasal vowel, in which contexts they are stops [b] [d] [ɡ], not dissimilar from English b, d, g (Mateus & d'Andrade 2000:11).
- ↑ अ आ In most varieties of Brazilian Portuguese, /d, t/ are affricated to [dʒ], [tʃ] before /i, ĩ/.
- ↑ In European Portuguese, /l/ is usually velarized much like with pill for many English speakers. For most Brazilians, it has been vocalized to [w] before consonants and at the end of words.
- ↑ In some Galician dialects /ʎ/ has merged with /j/.
- ↑ The rhotic consonant represented as <ʁ> has considerable variation across different variants, being pronounced as [x], [h], [χ], [ʁ], etc., in Brazil and as [ʁ], [r], etc., in Portugal. It's [r] in Galician. See also Guttural R#Portuguese.
- ↑ In Rio Grande do Sul state and São Paulo city it is an alveolar flap, while in Paraná state, many cities of interior of São Paulo state and south of Minas Gerais it may vary to alveolar approximant or retroflex approximant.
- ↑ In some Galician dialects /g/ is pharyngealized to [ħ], in a phonological process known as gheada.
- ↑ अ आ The height of the Portuguese /ɐ/ is close to [ə]. But in Brazil, at final unstressed position, it is an /a/ which raises in complementary distribution, and its height varies among [ə ~ ɐ ~ a] according to the dialect and the speech rate, being [ə] in relaxed pronunciation but generally (although not always) [a] when singing. (e.g. cama may indeed be pronounced [ˈkəmɐ ~ ˈkə̃mɐ] in Brazil).
- ↑ अ आ इ The 5 higher vowels /ɐ, e, i, o, u/, when stressed and followed by a nasal consonant, may assimilate the nasality.
- ↑ In Lisbon dialect, /e/ merges with /ɐ/ when it comes before palatal sounds (e.g. abelha, venho, jeito)
- ↑ In European Portuguese the IPA symbol /ɨ/ denotes a near-close near-back unrounded vowel: [ɯ̟], rather than a close central unrounded vowel.
- ↑ Some of the post-stressed high vowels in hiatuses; as in frio ('cold'), and rio ('river') may vary between a reduced vowel [ˈfɾi.u] and a glide [fɾiw], exceptions are verbal conjugations, forming pairs like eu rio [ew ʁi.u] (I laugh) and ele riu [elɨ ʁiw] (he laughed).
- ↑ The semivowels /w/ and /j/ can be combined with most vowels to form diphthongs and triphthongs. This includes nasal diphthongs such as [ɐ̃j] and [ɐ̃w], and nasal triphthongs such as [wɐ̃w] and [wõj].
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