Portuguese Alphabet

The Portuguese alphabet has 26 letters^[1], the same as the English alphabet. Out of these, 5 are vowel letters (a, e, i, o, u) and the remaining 21 letters are consonants. The letters K, W, and Y were officially added to the Portuguese alphabet in 2009 with the Acordo Ortográfico (Orthographic Agreement), though they are used primarily in foreign words and proper names.

The cedilha (ç) is a distinctive feature of Portuguese orthography:

• Pronunciation - always pronounced like "s" in "sun"

• Usage - used before a, o, u to make the "s" sound (without the cedilha, c before these vowels would sound like "k")

• Examples - coração (heart), açúcar (sugar), cabeça (head)

• Never used - before e or i (where c naturally has the "s" sound)

The cedilha is essential for correct spelling and pronunciation!

Nasal vowels are a distinctive feature of Portuguese pronunciation:

• Marked with tilde - ã (as in "mãe" - mother) and õ (as in "pão" - bread)

• Pronunciation - air flows through both the mouth and nose, creating a nasal sound

• Other nasal sounds - created by vowel + m or n at end of syllable (em, im, om, um, an, en, in, on, un)

• Examples - maçã (apple), limão (lemon), bem (well), campo (field)

Nasal vowels are one of the most characteristic sounds of Portuguese!

Portuguese uses several diacritical marks with distinct purposes:

• Acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú) - indicates stress and open vowel sound

• Circumflex (â, ê, ô) - indicates stress and closed vowel sound

• Grave accent (à) - indicates contraction, mainly used in "à" (a + a = to the)

• Tilde (ã, õ) - indicates nasal vowel sound

• Diaeresis (ü) - rare, used in some foreign words

• Cedilha (ç) - makes "s" sound before a, o, u

These marks are essential for correct pronunciation and meaning!

Portuguese is a global language spoken across four continents:

• Europe - Portugal (including Madeira and Azores)

• Americas - Brazil (largest Portuguese-speaking country with over 215 million speakers)

• Africa - Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, São Tomé and Príncipe, Equatorial Guinea

• Asia - Macau, East Timor (Timor-Leste)

• 260 million speakers^[2] worldwide make it the sixth most spoken language in the world!

While similar, Portuguese and Spanish have distinct alphabetic features:

• Unique letters - Spanish has ñ, Portuguese has ç (cedilha)

• Accent marks - Portuguese uses acute, circumflex, grave, and tilde; Spanish mainly uses acute

• Nasal vowels - Portuguese has distinctive nasal vowels (ã, õ); Spanish does not

• Pronunciation - many letters are pronounced quite differently despite similar spelling

• Both - share 26 basic Latin letters and similar grammatical structure

The alphabets are similar but pronunciation differs significantly!

Portuguese has unique challenges but is learnable:

• Similarities to English - uses the same 26 letters as English

• Accent marks - multiple diacritics require attention to detail

• Nasal vowels - unique sounds that may be unfamiliar to English speakers

• Variable pronunciation - vowels can have different sounds depending on stress and position

• Consistent spelling - once learned, Portuguese spelling is relatively consistent

With practice, you can master Portuguese orthography and pronunciation!

The Acordo Ortográfico (Orthographic Agreement) of 1990, implemented in 2009:

• Purpose - unified Portuguese spelling across all Portuguese-speaking countries

• Alphabet changes - officially added K, W, and Y to the alphabet (previously used only in foreign words)

• Spelling changes - eliminated silent consonants in some words, changed hyphenation rules

• Accent changes - removed some accent marks like the diaeresis in certain words

• Goal - facilitate international communication and reduce differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese

The agreement modernized and standardized Portuguese orthography!