Brazilian Portuguese Grammar

Vowel clusters

There are three kinds of vowel clusters (encontros vocálicos) in Portuguese: diphthongs (ditongos), triphthongs (tritongos) and hiatuses (hiatos).

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are pairs made up of a vowel and a semivowel (i and u) that form one single syllable. There are two kinds: oral and nasal diphthongs.

Oral Diphthongs

Spelling	Example	Pronunciation
ai	caixa *box*	as in five
au	causa *cause*	as in about
ei	deixar *to leave*	as in day
éi	fiéis *faithful*	e as in bet + i as in baby
eu	judeu Jewish	e as in bit + u as in how
iu	viu *a past form of verb to see*	iu as in new (British)
oi	coisa *thing*	o as in most + i as in baby
ói	faróis *headlights*	as in oyster
ou	vou a present form of verb to go	as in go
ui	Rui Rui is a male proper name	as in Louie
ol	anzol fish hook	as in fault

Note: L is pronounced as a vowel at the end of words.

Nasal Diphthongs

While saying each word, hold your nose: if you feel it vibrating, then your pronunciation must be correct.

Spelling	Example	Pronunciation
ãe ãi	mãe, cãibra *mother, cramp*	as in an era
ão am an	pão bread cantam a present form of verb to sing	as in loan
em en	também also líquen liquen	as in pain
õe	aviões *airplanes*	as in loin
ui	muito *very, many, much*	as in ruin

Visit Sound Files to hear the sounds on Alphabet & Sounds