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Letters

The sounds are better explained in the next chapters.

Letter	Name of the Letter	Sound (IPA)	Sound (compared to English)	Example
A	á	a	a as in english father	árvore	tree
B	bê	b	b as in bee	beber	to drink
C	cê	k	c like in account (no aspiration)	coisa	thing
		s	c like in since	cedo	early
D	dê	d	d as in dozen	dois	two
E	é	e	é as in French fiancée or e in Spanish negro	besta	beast
		ɛ	ai as in french Palais or e as in English bed	fera	wild animal
F	efe	f	f as in fine	folha	sheet
G	gê	g	g as in ago	gordo	fat
		ʒ	s as in pleasure or j as in French Jean	gelo	ice
H	agá	soundless	homem	man
I	i	i	ee as in bee but shorter or i as in spanish mina	mito	myth
J	jota	ʒ	s as in pleasure or j as in French Jean	jarra	vase
L	ele	l	l as in lamb, never as in jungle	lema	motto
M	eme	m	m as in mother	mar	sea
N	ene	n	n as in never	nada	nothing
O	ó	o	o as in French mot or o as in Spanish no	dono	owner
		ɔ	a as in ball or aw as in law	lorde	lord
P	pê	p	p as in people (no aspiration)	pato	duck
Q	quê	k	c like in account (no aspiration)	querer	to want
R	erre	ɾ	dd as in ladder	caro	expensive
		h	h as in house	carro	car
S	esse	s	s as in since	selva	jungle
		z	z as in zoo	casa	house
T	tê	t	t as in tongue (no aspiration)	teto/tecto	roof
U	u	u	oo as in boot, but shorter or ou as in French fou	último	last
V	vê	v	v as in victory	vitória	victory
X	xis	ʃ	sh as in she	xadrez	chess
		ks	x as in oxyde	táxi	taxi
		s	s as in since	trouxe	brought
		z	z as in Brazil	exato/exacto	exact
		soundless	(Brazilian Portuguese only)	exceção/excepção	exception
Z	zê	z	z as in Brazil	azul	blue

Note: the letter q is always followed by a u.

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Digraphs

Digraphs is a pair of letters used to sign one sound.

Digraph	Sound (IPA)	Sound (compared to English)	Example
CH	ʃ	sh as in she	achar	to find
LH	ʎ	aprox. ll as in million or gli as in Italian figlio	filho	son
NH	ɲ	aprox. ny as in canyon or ñ as in Spanish mañana	vinho	wine
QU	k	c like in account	questão	question
RR	h	h as in house	carro	car
SS	s	s as in since	passo	step

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Diacritics

In Portuguese, a letter with or without Diacritics is considered the same.

Letter with diacritic	Name	Sound (IPA)	Sound (compared to English)	Example
á	a com acento agudo	stressed a	a as in english father	cálice	calix
à	a com acento grave (Crase)	a	a as in english father	Fui à cidade.	I went to the city
ã	a com til	ã	a as in german kann	não	no
ç	ce cedilha	s	s as in since	moça	girl
é	e com acento agudo	stressed ɛ	ai as in french Palais or e as in English bed	patético	pathetic
ê	e com acento circunflexo	stressed e	é as in French fiancée or e in Spanish negro	bêbado	drunk
í	i com acento agudo	stressed i	ee as in bee or i as in French midi	Líbano	Lebanon
ó	o com acento agudo	stressed ɔ	a as in ball or aw as in law	próprio	proper
ô	o com acento circunflexo	stressed o	o as in French mot or o as in Spanish no	avô	grandfather
õ	o com til	õ	aprox. on as in French bon	canções	songs
ú	u com acento agudo	stressed u	oo as in boot, but shorter or ou as in French fou	múltiplo	multiple