This page offers a guide to pronunciation in Brazilian Portuguese.
Most letters in Brazilian Portuguese are pronounced the same as in English, but the table below shows some of the main exceptions:
| Letter(s) | Pronunciation | Recording |
| ã | this is a nasal sound, that sounds a bit like uh | Listen |
| ão | this makes an ah-ooh sound | |
| c | c that begins a word usually sounds like a k | |
| c | c before an e and an i sounds like s | |
| ch | ch sounds like sh | |
| ç | ç makes an s sound | |
| d | if a word starts with a d, it is usually a hard sound like in English. A d in the middle of a word can have a hard sound, or sound like a j | |
| em | smile to make this pronunciation | |
| g | before an a, o or u — pronounced like the hard g in got | |
| g | before an e or i — pronounced like the soft s sound in pleasure | |
| h | if a word begins with an h, the letter is silent | |
| h | if h follows an l, or an n, the sound is like a y | |
| j | the letter j in Portuguese sounds like zh (as in Zsa Zsa Gabor) | |
| nh | nh sounds like ny | |
| q | the letter q in Portuguese has a k sound | |
| r | r at the beginning of a word sounds like h in English | |
| r | if r comes at the end of a word, it’s silent | |
| rr | if a word has two r’s, it makes an h sound | |
| t | sounds like ch when it is followed by an e, or an i | |
| w | the letter w doesn’t naturally occur in Brazilian Portuguese, but when it does, it sounds like a v. The only places you will see w is in someone’s name | |
| x | generally has a sh sound in Portuguese |
Test your understanding of pronunciation using the flashcards below. Click on the card to reveal the answer and click on the arrows to move between questions:
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