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Study Resource: Brazilian Portuguese Alphabet Reference Sheet

By: Fabiana Dametto Oliveira

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 transcribed bab'a	baby	b

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

D	d	dado transcribed d'adu	adapt	d

F	f	faca transcribed f'aka	family	f

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

H	--	honra transcribed 'õr̄a
H	r̄	hobby transcribed r̄′ɔbi	horse

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

M	m	manga	monkey	m

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

P	p	para transcribed p'ara	pack	p

Qu	k	quero transcribed k'ɛru	queue	k

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

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

T	t	tudo transcribed t'udu	tulip	t

V	v	vaso transcribed v'azu	voice	v

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

Z	z	zebra transcribed 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 transcribed t'ũmba	institute	oo

U	u	uva transcribed uva	actual	oo
U	ũ	tumba transcribed 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 transcribed dʒia	angel	jee
GUA	gwa	guarda transcribed gw'arda	bilingual	gwa
GUE	gwe	aguento transcribed agw'ẽjtu	Gwen
GUI	gwi	linguiça transcribed lingw'isa
QUA	kwa	quase transcribed kw'azi	quality	kw
TI	ʧi	tia transcribed ʧia	chia seed	chee
ÃO	ãw	mão transcribed mãw		aun
ÃE	ẫj	mãe transcribed mãj		ine
ÕE	õj	põe transcribed 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 meaning coffee chá meaning tea fácil meaning easy
circumflex	â, ê, ô	It makes the vowel sound closed. It is only present on the stressed syllable of a word.	Atlântico meaning Atlantic você meaning you pôr meaning put
tilde	ã, õ	It creates a nasal sound in the vowel.	pão meaning bread limões meaning lemons
grave accent	à	It has the same pronunciation as the acute accent. It’s only used as a contraction between a meaning to and the articles a, as meaning the.	Fomos à Espanha. Translation: We went to Spain. Comemos pizza somente às sextas-feiras. Translation: 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 meaning saffron açougue meaning butcher shop açúcar meaning sugar

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


Accent	No accent
público Translation: public	publico Translation: I publish
país Translation: country	pais Translation: parents
está Translation: it is	esta Translation: this
é Translation: it is	e Translation: and
mangá Translation: manga book	manga Translation: mango
forró Translation: forró (Brazilian dance)	forro Translation: table cover
carnê Translation: bill	carne Translation: 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 meaning father, baixo meaning short
AU, AL	Sounds like ow in “now”: mau meaning bad, tchau meaning bye, sal meaning salt

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

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

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


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