Brazilian Portuguese Grammar

Syllabication

(Dividing words into syllables)

Divisão silábica

Imagine you're writing a text and reach the end of a line, but there's no room for the whole word: a part of the word must be carried over to the next line - you need to break up words into syllables. That's when syllabication rules become important, because you must know exactly where, when and how to do that.

Things to know before learning syllabication rules

1. Words can be classified according to the number of syllables they have:

Monosyllables (one-syllable words), e.g:

mas (but), rei (king), sol (sun), pé (foot), meu (my), por (for).

Disyllables (two-syllable words), e.g:

prata (silver), ouro (gold), cena (scene), Brasil (Brazil), também (also, too), amor (love), punhal (dagger).

Trisyllables (three-syllable words), e.g.:

príncipe (prince), relato (account), galinha (hen), ciclope (cyclops), cachorro (dog), escola (school), professor (teacher).

Polysyllables are words made up of four or more syllables, e.g:

Four-syllable words: computador (computer), diferente (different), sabotagem (sabotage);

Five-syllable words: inteligência (intelligence), constitucional (constitutional), recrutamento (recruitment);

Six-syllable words: inconstitucional (inconstitutional), paralelogramo (parallelogram), reflorestamento (reforestment);

Seven-syllable words: responsabilidade (responsibility), paralelepípedo (paving stone);

Eight-syllable words: constitucionalidade (constitutionality);

Nine-syllable words: inconstitucionalidade (inconstitutionality);

Ten-syllable words: otorrinolaringologista (otorhinolaringologist).

2. A sequence of vowels in a word can make up a diphthong, a triphthong or a hiatus:

a) A diphthong (ditongo) is a combination of:

semivowel + vowel (rising diphthong - ditongo crescente);
vowel + semivowel (falling diphthong - ditongo decrescente).

Regarless of the type of dipththong you're dealing with (rising or falling diphthong), the vowel and the semivowel must be uttered in the same syllable. The semivowels in Portuguese are i and u. Besides, diphthongs can be oral or nasal. View Alphabet & sounds for examples.

A triphthong (tritongo) is a combination of a semivowel + vowel + semivowel uttered in the same syllable. They can also be oral or nasal. View Vowel sounds for further information;

A hiatus (hiato) is a combination of two vowels uttered in different syllables.

Tips

A sequence of two vowels in which the second vowel is an i or u with an acute accent (í, ú) is always a hiatus, e.g.:

baú => ba-ú (chest, trunk)

saúde => sa-ú-de (health)

saída => sa-í-da (exit)

países => pa-í-ses (countries)

The sequences aa, ee, êe and ôo always form a hiatus:

Saara => Sa-a-ra (Sahara)

veemente => ve-e-men-te (vehement)

lêem => lê-em (3rd person plural of the present indicative, verb ler - to read)

entôo => en-tô-o (1st person singular of the present indicative, verb entoar - to chant)