Brazilian Portuguese Grammar

Stress placement rules

Proparoxítonas are ALWAYS accented - the choice of the accent depends on the quality of the vowel (nasal, oral)

(no exceptions!)

cânhamo

êxtase

íntimo

lógico

lúdico

Oxítonas are accented, except those ending in consonant + i or consonant + u

sapê, sapês

baú, baús

but

Saci, Sacis

tatu, tatus

Paroxítonas are accented when they end in l, n, r, x, ps, i (is), u (us), um (uns), ã, ãs e ôo , or in diphthongs.

Note:

Paroxítonas ending in en are accented, but not in ens:

líquen

liquens

Paroxítonas ending in on or ons are accented:

nêutron

nêutrons

fértil

líquen

látex

tríceps

safári

safáris

álbum

álbuns

vírus

enjôo

One-syllable words

Prepositions and conjunctions are NEVER accented:

mas, de, em, por, pois, para, etc.

They are accented when they end in a (s), e (s) and o(s):

pé

pés

má

más

dó

cós

The verb group êem always takes a circumflex accent.

vêem

dêem

lêem

Ter and vir compounds take an acute accent in the 3rd person singular and a circumflex accent in the 3rd person plural of the present Indicative, but NOT ter and vir!

conter - ele contém / eles contêm

deter - ele detém / eles detêm

intervir - ele intervém /eles intervêm

but

ter - ele tem / eles têm

vir - ele vem / eles vêm

(accent only in the plural form)

Some homographs (words with identical spelling, but which belong to different parts of speech) are accented so you can tell the difference between each pair.

pode (verb can, 3rd person singular, presente do indicativo)

pôde (verb can, 3rd person singular, pretérito perfeito do indicativo)

por (preposition)

pôr (verb to put)

para (preposition)

pára (verb to stop, 3rd person, presente do indicativo)