A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation
The alphabet
Twenty-six letters, their names, and how to spell a name out loud.
The Portuguese alphabet has the same 26 letters as the English one. K, w and y, though, only appear in foreign words, names and abbreviations. A Portuguese word writes the k sound with c or qu: casa, quilo.
On top of that come marks above and below the letters: the acute in café, the circumflex in você, the tilde in mãe, the grave in à and the cedilla in praça. They are not separate letters, but they are part of the spelling — a word without its mark is misspelt, not simplified.
The letter names are the real trap for an English speaker, because the vowels are named by their own sound: A is á, E is é, I is i. Spell « E » the English way, as « ee », and a Portuguese listener writes down an I; say « I » as « eye » and nobody knows what you mean. H is agá, J is jota, Q is quê, X is xis, K is capa.
Double letters are spelt with dois: dois erres, dois esses — « double r » said as « two r's ». The marks are spelt out too: cê cedilha, com til, com acento. The question is Como se escreve?
The form
| the letter H | agá |
| the letter J | jota |
| the letter Q | quê |
| the letter X | xis |
| the letter Z | zê |
| the letter G | gê |
| the letter R | erre |
| the letter K, foreign words only | capa |
| the letter W, foreign words only | dâblio |
| the letter Y, foreign words only | ípsilon |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
The names of the letters are masculine.
O agá não se pronuncia.The H is not pronounced.
A double letter is spelt with dois, « two ».
Ferreira escreve-se com dois erres.Ferreira is spelt with a double r.
The marks above and below the letters are spelt out as well.
Açores escreve-se com cê cedilha.Açores is spelt with a c-cedilla.
A Portuguese word writes the k sound with c or qu, never with k.
Quilo escreve-se com quê.« Quilo » is spelt with a Q.
How to spot it
- agá
- dois
- cedilha
- til
Example sentences
Como se escreve o teu apelido?How do you spell your surname?
Soletra, por favor.Spell it, please.
Sousa: esse, ó, u, esse, a.Sousa: S, O, U, S, A.
João escreve-se com til no a.João is spelt with a tilde on the a.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English gives no clue here, because a letter in English has no gender at all. In Portuguese every letter is masculine, including the ones ending in -e or -a: o erre, o esse, o jota. You hear it as soon as a number comes in front: dois erres, not duas erres.
Every letter is masculine: o agá, dois erres.
Your turn
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