Like the “e” in “pet”. Brazilian Portuguese is most often pronounced precisely as it is spelled, consequently, knowing the Brazilian pronunciation of the diverse Portuguese vowels, consonants, diphthongs and diagraphs can be very profitable in helping your improve your pronunciation. Consonants Vowels Videos Text to IPA Minimal Pairs Cognates Verb Conjugator Numbers Word Search. I live in a City in SW Ontario that sometimes I think I am actually in Portugal. Cherchez et apprenez à prononcer des mots et phrases dans cette langue (Portugais). When we have the “e” at the end of the word or between two consonants in the non-stressed syllable, we often use the reduced pronunciation.The sound is very reduced or almost non-existent. I didn’t know there were so many Portuguese people in Ontario! If this constellation of letters is followed by an “i” or an “e” that are not accentuated, then the letter should be read as a “k” or like the “c” in “cosmetics”. Therefore, we can have the stressed syllable, which contains an “o”, sounding open or a bit more round and closed.It is the case of the sound “o” in the Portuguese word “podre” (rotten). Thank you so much for your feedback =)You have been so very helpful. The Portuguese language has a complex phonetic structure; many letters have more than one pronunciation, their phonetic value is often predictable from their situation within a word; this is usually the case for the consonants (except x). Click the picture below to begin.I created this website to help students learn European Portuguese wherever they are in the world. If, on the other end, it is followed by an “a” or an “o”, then the “u” should also be read, like “ku”.This consonant has two types of pronunciation. This happens when this consonant is at the end of a word and the following word does not start with a vowel sound or when the “s” is between a vowel and a consonant, as in “gostar” (to like).Normally pronounced as a normal “z”, this letter can also sound like a “sh” if placed at the end of the word and the word does not precede another one starting with a vowel, in which case the “z” is read like a normal “z” in “zebra”.The reason I put this letter at the end, is because I have some bad news about it. With the diacritical marks “^” or “~”, this vowel will also sound nasal. We actually DO tend to not pronounce the vowels that are at the end of words, unless the last syllable is the one accentuated. They sound something similar to the “u” in “butter”. This makes the “o” sound like an “u” or “oo” like in “kung-fu” or in “cool”.This happens in the word “momento” (moment), for example, which we would read like /mu-MEN-tu/. So, let us take a look at them!Before “i” and “e”, this consonant will have a soft sound, i.e., it will sound like the “s” in “sound”.Before an “a”, an “o” and a “u”, it will show a hard sound or a “k”, like the “c” in “cup”.This letter is also a consonant and every time we use it it is because we want a “c” that precedes an “a”, “o” or “u” to have the soft sound “s”, rather than the hard sound “k”.Like with the letter “c”, the “g” will sound soft or like a “j” before “i” and “e”, i.e., it will sound like the “g” in “giant”.Before an “a”, an “o” and a “u”, it will show a hard sound or a “g”, like the “g” in “game”.When we want a “g” that precedes an “e” or an “i” to have a hard sound like “g” in “game”, we insert an “u” between the “g” and the following “e” or “i”. Warm regards,I find your article very interesting. Thus, in the word “Menina”, used above, I will exemplify its pronunciation by writing /me-NI-na/, leaving the syllable with the stress in capital letters, while the other syllables are not capitalised.If you understand this, you will more easily understand what I will now explain about word pronunciation. Thank you for lighting a fire with an informative and great piece of education.Thank you so much for your comment That was really nice, it makes me even more motivated to teach my beautiful language! We use this to pronounce the “e´s” that are not in the end of the word, but can be in the stressed syllable.Therefore, we can have the stressed syllable which contains an “e”, sounding like the open pronunciation example above or a bit more closed.It is the case of the sound “e” in the Portuguese word “preço” (price). For some people, it might be easier to know that it has a similar sound to the “j” guttural in Spanish, like in “Juego”, for example.At the end of the word or alone in the middle of a word, it has a soft pronunciation, like in “Rome” or “Maryann”, although in Portuguese you can hear it more than in English. In a few words, they can also sound reduced when they are in between two consonants in a non-stressed syllable. Don’t be a stranger Meu idioma de origem é o alemão, estou absolutamente adorando aprender o português. To begin with, I would like to tell you that as hard as it seems, you can really learn some basic rules that will always apply in European Portuguese, making it much easier to understand the pronunciation. I will name them in a second, and I want you to know that the order I am writing them has a reason, and you will soon find it out.