Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation, Video 3: Portuguese Spelling Rules

This is the third of a three-part series on Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation. The goal is to get familiar with the sounds of Brazilian Portuguese. You'll then be able to learn them faster, either through your own studies or through my pronunciation trainers. More links below:
Flashcard Designs for Teaching Yourself Pronunciation: blog.fluent-forever.com/gallery/
My Pronunciation Trainers: fluent-forever.com/product/fl...
Anki Language Learning: ankilanguagelearning.com
More Anki Decks, including Portuguese Pronunciation: speakada.com
Reddit's Anki Language Learning Community: / ankilanguagelearning
A super detailed discussion of the IPA: • Pronunciation Tutorial...

[@ramzy-6566]

Thank you for Brazilian Portuguese Pronunciation.

[@FluentForeverApp]

Our pleasure. Happy you enjoy it!

[@francellaarostegui3794]

Amazing linguistic job and wonderful video! You guys are great!

[@exoneuromancer1672]

Thanks! that was really helpful. Looking forward to memorize it with the pronunciation trainer

[@USA2Brazil]

7:52 this sound change even applies to plurals of the same word: olho vs olhos and ovo vs ovos as the first "o" as an aw sound ( the backward c in IPA.)

[@Emile.gorgonZola]

MICHAEL H Also fermoso vs fermosa

[@joaovictorcarvalho6339]

Not always tho. For example the word “bolo” for cake doesn’t change its vowel when it becomes “bolos”. It’s not really a rule. Even Brazilians are shocked when we find out that the plural of “forno” for oven is “”fórnos”” with an open o

[@Emile.gorgonZola]

Some ways to predict open/closed e/o though, Eg fermoso vs fermosa -- the feminine adjective tends to be open

[@rogeriopenna9014]

i think you meant fOrmoso and fOrmosa?

[@andraslang96]

when you pronounce it, I wonder why fermoso has an o at the end and not like u as normally e.g. in velo. Is it only an exception?

[@leob4403]

You forgot to mention that l at the end of syllable becomes w, like Brazil > Braziw etc, in Rio area z at the end of syllable becomes sh, feliz > felish (ʃ)

[@musical_lolu4811]

This is a draft. Understand?

[@Emile.gorgonZola]

Already implied in the previous video with examples like "mel"

[@neri9170]

I'm native, you only missed a few important things. "Demora" is an important exception where "de" actually sounds like "de"; the word "muito" has a nasal u and i; and you didn't mention how R sounds when we have (vowel)+r+(consonant).. or vowel+r+(end of word). Usually R is not pronounced in the end of word and instead people do a sliding-to-high-pitch vowel (like the á, ó, ú, í, é of Chinese Mandarin). Everyone speaks pretty much the same dialect because the television speaks the Rio de Janeiro dialect. Aside from those things I mentioned, I think there's nothing else missing on those three videos.

[@neri9170]

also: - when a word ends with -em -om -am, it sounds like the following(all nasal): "ei, ou, au") - when it's vowel-L-consonant or L in the end of word, L sounds like a short u. (almanaque, almoçar, especial) ... when we have U-L-consonant, the ul sounds like the chinese ú (slide to higher pitch). I thought it was pretty neat that you pointed out the difference between english L and portuguese L-- I'm pretty sure you went deeper than any other video on the subject.

[@Luis-ej4ei]

Neri Rook Some of these observations are related to specific accents, so following the rules shown in the video would still be considered correct Portuguese pronunciation.

[@mayaboyddd]

yay

[@andraslang96]

very nice, thank you. it seems to be a bit difficult for a beginner, I see.

[@tomasrodrigues9828]

Obrigado

[@FluentForeverApp]

The pleasure is all ours, Tomas!

[@gerardd8941]

Fantastic! Thank you very much for this. It has cleared my doubts a lot. I have a question though: Is the way you've explained the s/z pronunciation enough for standard Brazilian Portuguese? I've read it was a pretty complicated topic in Portuguese phonology. For example, I've very often heard final s pronounced as [ ʃ ], both by European and Brazilian speakers. Is this regional and non-standard? PS I'm asking since I couldn't find any good sources on that. Even "Portuguese phonology" on Wikipedia "does not cite any sources". Perhaps you could recommend some resources you've used while making the video. Thanks once again :)

[@Luis-ej4ei]

Gerardd In some accents, the final s sounds a bit like static sound, that sh of sheep, but most of them pronounce it like in English.

[@ThePedroalone]

Yes. You'll be understood everywhere in Brazil. The "s" sound you mentioned is mostly used in Rio de Janeiro. I can't think off the top of my head of another region that says the "s" in the end of words the way you said. Maybe in some places in the northeast of the country.

[@kelvy2007]

Is more regional! In Rio de Janeiro the s/z pronunciation is like um chii "gosta" chage to "gochiiista", and in Ceará the s/z can be changed for double "mas rapaz..." will be "marr raparr". Don't worry about it, you will be understanded if you use the standart utiliziation in these and other regions.

[@banana_cake24]

Eu gostei desse video, tava olhando pra ver que se eles ensinam bem o portugues, então também ensinam as outras linguas bem....

[@FluentForeverApp]

Hi there! We are happy you liked the videos.

[@rogeriopenna9014]

these D and T sounds and e like in cidade are not "rules". More like accents. And there are local accents that pronounce those correctly (meaning, no irregularities)

[@rogeriopenna9014]

@L'Ephebe93 the southern half of the country is larger in area than Germany and France and possibly Spain combined. And has over 100 million people. The vast majority is not everyone.

[@ThePassingVoid]

I thought r was pronunced like /x/ like the x in Greek or the ch in Polish and German

[@Emile.gorgonZola]

It's only /x/ in very few places in Brazil

[@bahadrucr7566]

@GabrielWyner I sent you email. Please check it

[@marcelocorrea9569]

You didn't mention that in Brazilian Portuguese the final R in verb infinitives is silent.;

[@FluentForeverApp]

Hello Inglês, and thanks for the feedback. We find that this differs from region to region but we will definitely double check to be sure!

[@marcelocorrea9569]

@@FluentForeverApp yeah, the language may vary a lot according to the region. However, as a native, I can ensure that silent R in infinitives is absolutely common in the majority of the dialects, especially the ones of Belo Horizonte, Rio de Janeiro, sometimes São Paulo and most of the Brazilian Northeast. As for the other Rs sounds, believe it, there are about 10 of them spread throughout the country. The four most used, which are essential for any non-native speaker to master conversations are: /ɦ/ Used when the letter R is at the beginning of words, when it is intervocalically doubled or between a vowel and a voiced consonant. E.g.: rato (mouse), roda (wheel) morrer (to die), carro (car), vergonha (shame), irmão (brother). /h/ Used in cases when there is intention to pronounce the sound /ɦ/ faster and softer (the speaker generally decides about which one to use at the moment he/she is speaking) and when the R is at the end of words that precede others starting in consonant sounds. E.g.: corda (rope). rosa (rose), cor verde (green color), lugar distante (distant place). This is overly rare for verb infinitives. /ɾ/ Used when the R is between two vowels, between a consonant and a vowel and as a connective between words ended in /ɦ/ or /h/ and others that start in vowel sounds . E.g. Pará (a Brazilian State), arame (wire), praia (beach), grupo (group), mar azul (blue sea), dor abdominal (abdominal pain). /χ/ Used when the letter R is between a vowel and a voicless consonant and when it is at the end of a word. It is also an alternative connective for when the R is at the end of words that precede others starting in voiceless consonant sounds. Borth situations are rare for verb infinitves. E.g: Marcelo (my name), sorte (luck), lugar (place), favor (favor), mulher charmosa (charming woman), calor forte (strong heat). If you want authentic practice fir the most used R sounds listen to the song "De Janeiro a Janeiro" (From January to Janurary) performed by singers Roberta Campos and Nando Reis. The link for the video with lyrics goes below. Notice the way she drops the final R in verb infinitives and uses different phonemes to connect it to other words starting in vowel, voiced or voiceless consonantes. Another thing you can pay attention is that in words other than verbs, final R may or not be pronounced according to the speaker's preference. Hope you enjoy. kzbin.info/www/bejne/iHnVloOag8alrdU&ab_channel=GootieMusic

[@yohaku42]

Esse brasileiro é péssimo, "cidadji" é sotaque. Não explicou a forma correta pronunciada com DE nem do TE em "tomate". Também não explicou o pq de estar pronunciando o "O" com som de "U". O cara pronuncia "órgão" como "órrgão" o que é um sotaque bem específico de certo estado. Gostei muito do vídeo sobre Coreano, mas esse de português deixou muito a desejar.

[@Luis-ej4ei]

Yohaku EU entendo o que vc quis dizer, mas o sotaque dele é considerado padrão.

[@faabriciosoares]

O meu sotaque não é igual ao dele, mas ele falou como a maioria das pessoas no Brasil fala. Não existe maneira correta, e portanto não é a minha nem a da maioria. Mas como modelo didático, o ideal é descrever a forma mais comum de pronunciar os sons, independente do sotaque ou da região, e foi o que eu vi no vídeo em 90% dos casos.

[@Emile.gorgonZola]

........ "a forma correta " rsrs obviamente vc não é um linguista. Não há "formas corretas" dado q tem tanta variação no país

[@polianapolain]

Yohaku, vc esqueceu de ler a palavra DRAFT no video, que inclusive foi escrita em destaque. Portanto, foi apenas um o esboço introdutorio da lingua, em um video de 11 minutos. Não era para ser uma lecture para abranger toda a complexidade da lingua. Vms apreciar o esforco dos criadores do video, que executaram muito bem no que se propuseram a fazer.

[@2006017637]

Dizer que é péssimo pegou pesado. Eu nunca vi um gringo que tivesse se atentado a tantos detalhes de nossas pronúncia. E conheço e trabalhei com estrangeiros pelos últimos 15 anos, muitos fluentes em português, mas sem jamais produzir os sons que ele ensina aqui. Ah, e o som de "cidadji" é majoritário no Brasil, não apenas em número de falantes (basta ver que todo o sudeste o adota em peso), como em número de estados. Logo, é a melhor orientação geral possível para um vídeo de 11minutos.