A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation
Stress and accents
Where the stress falls — and when an accent shows it.
English stress has to be learnt word by word; Portuguese stress mostly follows two rules. If a word ends in a, e or o — with or without an s — or in -am, -em, -ens, the stress falls on the second-to-last syllable: casa, livros, falam, homem.
If it ends in any other consonant, in i, u or a nasal vowel, the stress falls on the last syllable: falar, hotel, feliz, aqui, irmão, jardim.
A written accent appears where a word breaks these rules: café, você and tambémare stressed on the last syllablefácilon the second-to-lastmédicoon the third-to-last A word stressed on the third-to-last syllable always carries an accent. The acute also shows an open vowel, the circumflex a closed one.
The grave accent shows no stress at all, only that a and a have merged into à. And some accents keep two words apart: estámeans « is »estameans « this »
The form
| second-to-last: word ending in a, e, o | casa |
| second-to-last: word ending in -am, -em | falam |
| last: word ending in r, l, z | falar |
| last: word ending in i, u | aqui |
| last syllable, against the rule | café |
| second-to-last, against the rule | fácil |
| third-to-last: always an accent | médico |
| circumflex: stressed and closed | você |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
Words ending in a, e, o and in -am, -em are stressed on the second-to-last syllable.
Os livros ficam em casa.The books stay at home.
Words ending in r, l, z, i, u or a nasal vowel are stressed on the last syllable.
Quero falar com o meu irmão.I want to talk to my brother.
An accent shows a stress that breaks the rule.
O médico também toma café.The doctor drinks coffee too.
Some accents keep two words apart.
Esta casa está vazia.This house is empty.
How to spot it
- á
- é
- ó
- ê
- ô
Example sentences
O português não é difícil.Portuguese is not difficult.
A música está muito alta.The music is very loud.
Você também é médico?Are you a doctor too?
O hotel fica aqui ao lado.The hotel is right next door.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English writes no accents, so it is tempting to treat them as decoration and leave them out. They are not decoration: without the accent the word shows a different stress, and sometimes it is a different word — estameans « this »estámeans « is » And the English habit of stressing the front of a word turns hotel into « HO-tel », where Portuguese says « o-TEL » with a silent h.
The accent marks the syllable that breaks the rule.
Your turn
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