How to Pronounce ‘O’ in Portuguese
If you want to speak Portuguese, nailing pronunciation is essential. Some basic principles are the same, but many aspects differ from English pronunciation.
Before diving in, explore the essentials. Improve your Portuguese pronunciation by learning about the alphabet, basic sounds, and the distinctive ways to pronounce the letter ‘O.’
The Basic Sounds of the Portuguese Language
Much like the English language, Portuguese has specific sounds that you must learn to communicate with others. Explore some of these sounds and understand why standard Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese are such different variants.
An Introduction to the Portuguese Alphabet and Sounds
The Portuguese alphabet is a great starting point for learning this beautiful language. It officially contains twenty-six letters, of which five are vowels, and twenty-one are consonants, matching the English alphabet exactly. It also includes the letters K, W, and Y, mainly used in foreign words and names. Historically, these three letters were excluded from the traditional Portuguese alphabet.
Portuguese uses a Latin-based writing system, similar to many European languages. However, it also relies on diacritics to modify pronunciation and meaning. These diacritics include the acute accent, the grave accent, the tilde, the cedilla, and the circumflex accent.
Portuguese Syllable Pronunciation
In all words, there is a stressed syllable. Usually, accents and nasal vowels in Portuguese indicate the stressed syllable of a word. Unlike in other languages, there are never two diacritics in the same syllable.
The tilde is always pronounced nasally and is often used in the first of two vowels. For example, this happens in the words mãe (mum), coração (heart), and órgão (organ).
Learn How to Pronounce ‘O’ in Portuguese
Similarly to your own language, different letter combinations generate different sounds. A vowel sound is specifically subject to these and other changes. Pronunciation-wise, there are many differences to account for.
You can pronounce a closed ‘O’ if the letter appears at the end of the last syllable. Contrarily, you often use an open ‘O’ when the word starts with the letter. The nasal sound is the one you will probably have to practice the most, as it requires air to flow from your mouth and nose simultaneously. Despite slight changes due to regional accents, nasal pronunciation is standard in European and Brazilian Portuguese. But what does this letter actually sound like in Portuguese?
Learn Portuguese: Watch the Video!
The following video is a pronunciation guide for Portuguese vowels. It will focus on the letter ‘O.’ In it, you will learn how the pronunciation changes according to the surrounding letters. You will also get the answer to one of the most common questions by Portuguese learners: Do the Portuguese pronounce the vowel/letter βOβ at the end of words?
LEARN TO PRONOUNCE LIKE A NATIVE: https://portuguesewithcarla.com/lettero
Discover more content on our YouTube channel, Portuguese with Carla & Friends.
Ready to become fluent in European Portuguese?
For the last decade, we’ve been working on putting together the best possible European Portuguese course. After much research, feedback from our students, and a number of iterations, we think we’ve got it! π
As a base, we used scientifically proven techniques to help with master pronunciation, phrase construction, oral understanding, grammar, and all the necessary bits to get you to fluency. At the same time, having learned foreign languages ourselves, we know the process needs to be engaging, varied, and enjoyable. The whole thing is presented as an adventure. It’s a course like no other, trust us!
Learn more about The Journey and start your free trial here.
Can I ask about the letter R? I feel like people from north pronounce it differently than someone from south, it seems to me they roll it a bit more and their R is softer. Is that true or is it just my impression?
You are right. I do roll the letter ” R”. I am from Vouzela, it’s close to Viseu- a small village from the north of the country.
@LukΓ‘Ε‘ PrusΓ‘k Hereβs our video on the portuguese R that answers your question π
https://youtu.be/B_xaE9jOaL8
A tua sogra nΓ£o pronunciou a letra” O” no final das palavras.
Pequeno- almoΓ§o – Como eu pronuncio esta palavra ou este termo?
A letra e de pequeno- a primeira e, nΓ£o a pronΓΊncio- Pqueno- e a “o”, pronuncio-a como se fosse uma”u”, mas Γ© uma vogal com um som reduzido. AlmoΓ§o- Γ© a mesma coisa com a segunda o.
O carro Γ© bonito- Aqui, sim pronuncias o ” O” de bonito e de carro como se fosse uma ” u”, o som Γ© fraco, mas nΓ£o se pode dizer que o ” O” totalmente mudo. A sogra da Carla, nΓ£o pronuncia as vogais do final das palavras.
Gelado- ela disse gela/ temp, cop, vent.
Notastes as diferenΓ§as, pessoal? A Carla pronuncio a ΓΊltima vogal de cada letra, mas o som foi fraco, jΓ‘ que essas vogais tem um som reduzido. Se eu dizer” Ele Γ© o meu amigo” A “Γ©” aqui leva um acento, e como leva um acento, esse ” Γ©” tem que soar mais forte do que o ” e” de elefante. Os acentos agudos, graves, circunflexos marcam essa diferenΓ§a.
Claro que em portuguΓͺs hΓ‘ 3 categorias: Vogais com som reduzido, vogais sem som- mudas- e as sonoras, as que soam.
A minha sogra Γ© madeirense π
@Portuguese With Carla NΓ³s sabemos disso. Como ela Γ© madeirense fala de uma maneira diferente, mas dΓ‘ para perceber o que ela quer dizer. Eu sΓ³ queria realΓ§ar que hΓ‘ uma grande diferenΓ§a entre vogais sonoras, mudas e aquelas com um som reduzido. Um vΓdeo muito interessante, Carla.
As a native Portuguese was a delight to listen to this video and get some awareness on some pronouciation.
Super well produced also.
Congrats Carla!!
@TomΓ‘s Amaro olΓ‘, TomΓ‘s! Muito brigada π€ Marlon will be pleased to read your comment as heβs the one responsible for the production side of things βΊοΈ
ΖVOLUTIONATED Shall I reply to you in English or in Portuguese? In the comment I posted a couple of days ago under this video was about my experience as a Portuguese native speaker. Yes, indeed, every native speaker are different. People from the USA also have a bunch of accents. The pronunciation is a bit different in every state/ city and even village. ChouriΓ§o. I pronounce the entire word, but I donβt stress in the last o. I pronounce it like a u, but the sound is almost silence. I do believe you when you say you have heard someone pronounced it in a different way. I am sorry to inform you that I donβt know π€·ββοΈ every single accent/ pronunciation is spoken in my home country. I doubt my compatriots have already heard all the accents. Trust me, there are thousand of accents there. Portugal π΅πΉ is an aunt compare to the USA or Brazil. We are only 11 Millions Portuguese people. Some of them, like me, are out of the country. I live in Berlin, in Germany.
Love your lessons, Carla. You are an excellent teacher. Alex
Yes, she is.
Muito obrigada, Alex e JosΓ© π₯°
Obrigadinh(o), Carla!
There are sicknesses worse than sicknesses,
There are pains that do not ache, not even in the soul,
Yet are more painful than all the others.
There are anxieties dreamed of more real
Than those life brings us, sensations
Felt only by imagining them,
More our own than life itself.
So many things exist without existing,
Exist, and linger on and on,
And on and on belong to us, and are us . . .
Over the turbid green of the wide spreading river
The white circumflexes of the gulls . . .
Over and over the soul, the useless fluttering
Of what never was, nor ever can be, and that’s all.
Let me have more wine, life is nothing.
–Fernando Pessoa
O I see now!! π
Wow that was very well explained and helpful! You guys are awesome!!!! πππ
Thanks Thomas π
TΓ£o maravilhoso ouvir alguΓ©m a ensinar portuguΓͺs de Portugal, em vez do portuguΓͺs do Brasil que inunda o YouTube. ππππ
OlΓ‘, Jorge! Obrigada βΊοΈ penso que seja natural haver mais conteΓΊdo sobre portuguΓͺs brasileiro (jΓ‘ que tem uma população enorme), mas jΓ‘ se comeΓ§a a ver mais canais no YouTube a ensinarem o portuguΓͺs de Portugal π
As far as I know, they do pronounce the “o” at the end of a word. However, most of them (even native Brazilian Portuguese teachers) don’t usually pronounce the “r” at the end of verbs in the infinitive form.
I’m talking about the Portuguese language spoken in Brazil, not in Portugal.
In Brazil, we speak all word the with “o” like Muito is MuitO.
Jean-Paul obrigada pelo seu comentΓ‘rio. The explanation on the video is about the way the Portuguese people (Portugal natives) pronounce it.
To be honest Iβve never really paid much attention to how the Brazilians pronounce the βOβ at the end of words, so I canβt really comment much on that.
However, from years of exposure to it I have noticed that they have in fact at least 4 ways to pronounce their final βRβ (couldnβt tell you which way is used by most of them though): 1) as you said, it disappears; 2) like the Portuguese do, more of a soft one; 3) like the American English βRβ; 4) like the perhaps German as well as the Romanian (or even English from some parts of England) βHβ.
PortuguΓͺs de Portugal Γ© tΓ£o chique e formal! Parece atΓ© que estou “lendo” algum clΓ‘ssico da literatura.
Pode ser “formal” para os brasileiros, mas para os portugueses Γ© a maneira normal e natural de falar. NΓ£o tem nada de chique, nem fazemos qualquer esforΓ§o para falar como falamos.
@Marina Martins nΓ£o Γ© tΓ£o claro assim, hΓ‘ muitos sotaques no paΓs que de sofisticação nada tΓͺm, antes pelo contrΓ‘rio!
@JoΓ£o JosΓ© Silva ππ
This way cool Carla! Keep it up! Pensei que o PortuguΓͺs fosse um idioma moribundo, me mostraste que nΓ£o.
I think it’s worth saying that there are some minor differences in the Portuguese language spoken around the world. In Brazil, where Portuguese is our native language, those muted last vowel mentioned in the examples (entre, disse, mude) are more emphasized and completely pronounced (not muted at all).
Yes, but she is teaching European Portuguese. There are plenty of Brazilian Portuguese videos on YouTube. I’m in love with the European one though π
True, Shaun, but I find these comparisons useful.
Just to keep in prespective. Portugal and Brazil are not the only countries were the language is spoken nor the only two types of accent.
You are my best teacher salute you
Baby singh, obrigada π₯°
Excelente explicação! Muito obrigado!
Hello Carla! Thanks for lessons, I’m interested in learning Portuguese because I want to communicate with my Portuguese friends, but may I suggest a suggestion, that it would be more easy if the channel has playlists for each kind of the language, like: vocabulary, Grammar, idioms and expressions, pronunciation, etc… So we can choose the playlist that we need the most. Thanks again! Your channel is great and professional.
Obrigada pela sugestΓ£o, Kifah ππ½
Can you make videos of Portuguese words that English can’t translate and vice versa?
Obrigada pela sugestΓ£o π
Muito Obrigado!
Did you say Muinto /muito
Where the hell that N sound come from ????
Yep, thatβs how βMuitoβ is pronounced in Portuguese, as if there was an βnβ in there. It seems the initial βmβ has a nasal sound, as it would be at the end of a word or in the middle of it, that has been extended to the diphthong βuiβ making it nasal. Interesting how languages evolve..!
Carla! Thank you so much for this clarification!! Iβm so glad that I have been doing this correctly
O O final pode ser mais ou menos forte – segundo as pessoas, a regiΓ£o, a pressa com que falam, etc, mas os ouvintes (pelo menos os portugueses) dΓ£o conta dele. Se ele nΓ£o tivesse nenhuma existΓͺncia (oral), entΓ£o, no caso de a palavra seguinte comeΓ§ar por vogal, o falante faria (naturalmente) uma ligação entre a consoante que estΓ‘ antes desse O e a vogal da palavra seguinte, o que nΓ£o acontece (em geral). Ex.: Na frase “eu falo inglΓͺs”, se o O de falo nΓ£o tivesse qualquer som (por mΓnimo que seja), a tendΓͺncia dos falantes seria para dizer “eu fal’inglΓͺs”. NΓ£o me parece que algum portuguΓͺs diga essa frase assim, nem outras do mesmo tipo – “eu quero arroz” ninguΓ©m diz oralmente “eu quer’arroz”. Nota-se, pelo menos, que hΓ‘ alguma coisa entre a consoante e a vogal da palavra seguinte, elas nΓ£o se ligam.
Ola Maria π obrigada pelo seu comentΓ‘rio. Eu e o Marlon somos nativos de Portugal e omitimos o βoβ final muitas vezes, assim como todos os portugueses que conhecemos o fazem. As frases que usou como exemplo: βeu falβinglΓͺsβ e βeu querβarrozβ, sΓ£o exatamente as formas que usamos e ouvimos usar pelos portugueses, particularmente, em situaçáes informais.
@Portuguese With Carla : EntΓ£o deve ser regional. No centro do paΓs (onde vivo) e no Norte (que conheΓ§o melhor) nΓ£o Γ© isso que ouΓ§o.
Wow, it help me a lot! Iβm learning Portuguese and my boyfriend is from Madeira island too. Heβs always telling me that i pronunce my « oΒ Β» too much! Now I understand why!π
Glad we could help π
Carla, your Mother-in-law is so nice and her Portuguese is very good. I like her!!! π
When you and your mother-in-law read the o-ending words, I closed my eyes to notice the difference better.
Minha mΓ£e e AΓ§oreana (Faialense) and she drops the “o” on some words…
Do you have a video with the “lh” sound? That one trips me up a lot…
So people from Faial also drop their final βoβ, interesting. Thanks for sharing!
We do have a video on βlhβ, but atm only in our European Portuguese program, The Journey.
Amazing explanation!
I am very happy to have found your lessons, besides incredible beautiful you teach great. Thank you for being here.
Thank you, Thomas βΊοΈ we hope you continue to enjoy and benefit from our videos π
Puuuuuuhπ π π π π π
Thank you for that explanation.
I’m in love with her eyes ππβ€οΈ
Obrigada π
Any part of Portugal pronounce words close to Brazilian Portuguese?
This a brilliant. I’ve been watching Angolean movies and I see a lot of this exaggeration with some worlds. It crazy watch films from Portugal , Brazil and Angola and see many differences