Brazilian Portuguese Grammar
Word stress & accent placement rules
According to stress placement, words fall under three different categories:
-
Oxítonas (stress on the last syllable);
-
Paroxítonas (stress on the last but one - penultimate syllable);
-
Proparoxítonas (stress on the next to last but one - antepenultimate syllable);
| proparoxítona (proparoxytone) | paroxítona (paroxytone) | oxítona (oxytone) |
There's something else you need to know: The syllable of a word that has an acute or circumflex accent is ALWAYS the stressed syllable. These accents also indicate the quality of the vowel (open, closed or nasal):
Since all the words below are accented, the syllables in red are obviously the stressed ones.
Read Vowel Sounds and Spelling
| Accent | Vowels | ||||
| a | e | i | o | u | |
| circumflex |
lâmpada
ambulância |
pêssego incêndio bebê
|
not used in Portuguese |
ônibus
estômago avô |
not used in Portuguese |
| acute |
árvore canário quiçá
|
espécie
até ébano |
ímpeto
planície açaí |
óvulo
história avó |
saúde
baú úvula |
| Tips | |
| The circumflex accent over a indicates it is a nasal vowel. |
preponderância âmago câncer
|
|
The acute accent over a, e, o
indicates that they are open vowels.
The acute accent over i and u indicates that either there's a hiatus, or the vowels belong in a proparoxítona (all proparoxítonas are accented). |
lobo-guará armário estéril íngreme aborígine consultório pústula rúcula
|
| The acute accent over i and u indicates hiatus - these vowels are pronounced in a different syllable from the preceding vowel and are accented. |
balaústre país saída
|
|
Note: Don't put the accent over i and u before nh, u, i or z in a hiatus: rainha fuinha raiz xiita juiz
|
|
| The circumflex accent over e and o indicates they are closed vowels. |
trêmulo Leôncio
|
 |
 |
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