As is the case with most languages, the same letter can be associated with different phonemes — that is to say, the same letter can be pronounced in many different ways. You’ve probably noticed that Portuguese is no exception.
In this guide, we’ll focus on S, Z, C, and Ç. We’ve grouped these together because their pronunciations and variations have a lot of overlap. Let’s see a few examples, just to get us started:
- sucessosuccess – In this example, different letters/digraphs (s, c, and ss) have the same sound.
- concessãoconcession – Here we have the same letter (c), but two different sounds.
- Dez vezes dez é igual a cem10 times 10 equals 100 – The 2nd and 3rd z sound different from the 1st one, which sounds like the s!
In this Learning Note, you’ll learn which pronunciation to use by paying attention to how the letter is positioned within a word or phrase.
The Letter S
Depending on where it’s placed, and the letters surrounding it, s can represent different sounds: 'se' , 'ze' , or 'sh'
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- ‘Se’ sound – At the beginning of a word or after a consonant sound (usually the letter n)
o sapofrog
sentidosense
SimYes
a tensãotension
pensarto think
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- ‘Ze’ sound – Between vowel sounds it sounds like the letter z in English
asawing
rosarose
isoladorisolator
pesoweight
risolaughter
Temos água**We have water
Fomos hoje**We went today
**Notice in these last two examples that the same rule holds true in continuous speech, even if the vowel sound appears in the next word. In the phrase Temos água, the s at the end of ‘temos’ comes before the vowel á in ‘água’, so you hear it as a ‘ze’ sound. Similarly, the s at the end of ‘fomos’ sounds like ‘ze’ because it comes before the vowel sound at the beginning of the word ‘hoje’. (The consonant h is not pronounced at the beginning of Portuguese words, so the first sound is a vowel: hoje )
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- ‘Sh’ sound – Before a consonant sound or at the end of a word
istothis
pescarfish
postepost
barcosboats
aresairs
Temos cerveja**We have beer
**Notice again in this last example that the rule holds true between words in continuous speech.
❓A Note about the ‘Sh’ Sound
We use ‘sh’ for simplicity, but the ‘sh’-like sounds you hear in these words are not always exactly the same. At the end of an isolated word, or before a “voiceless” consonant, it’s a subtle ‘sh’ sound (the IPA symbol is ʃ ). But before a “voiced” consonant (b, d, g, j, l, lh, m, n, nh, r, rr, v, z), it becomes “voiced” and sounds like ‘zh’. This is just like the sound made by the ‘s’ in the English word pleasure. (The IPA symbol is ʒ ). To compare the subtle difference, listen to the examples below. The first two use the ‘sh’ ( ʃ ) sound and the second two use the ‘zh’ ( ʒ ) sound:
postesposts
estasthese
mesmosame
os livrosbooks
The Digraph SS
A digraph is just a combination of two letters that represent a single sound. In this case, ss has the 'se' sound:
impressionanteimpressive
passeiowalk
sessãosession
The Letter Z
At the beginning of a word, between vowels, or after a consonant, the Z sounds just like it does in English: 'ze' . At the end of the word or before a consonant, the Z sounds like ‘sh’ (or ‘zh’), following the same rules/variations as the Portuguese S.
- ‘Ze’ sound – Beginning of word, or between vowel sounds, or after a consonant sound
zerozero
azedasour
cinzentogray
Sejam felizes!Be happy! (pl.)
Feliz Ano NovoHappy New Year
- ‘Sh’ / ‘Zh’ sound – End of word, or before consonant sound
o arrozrice
felizhappy
Feliz NatalMerry Christmas
The Letter C
The letter C can sound like 'se' or 'que' , depending on its placement. When you see the letters ch together, it will always sound like 'sh' .
- ‘Se’ sound – If followed by the vowels e or i
certoright
cincofive
concederto grant
pocilgapigpen
- ‘Que’ sound – If followed by the vowels a, o or u, however, C acquires a totally different sound, being pronounced like the letter K
a camabed
o copoglass
curtoshort
o bancobank
- ‘Sh’ sound – If followed by the consonant h, it forms the digraph ch which sounds like ‘sh’
ChegaEnough
machomale(animal)
a tochatorch
a comichãoitchiness
The Letter Ç
Here’s an easy one! The letter Ç , called C-cedilha or C-cedilhado is the same as ss — it always represents the ‘se’ sound:
a cabeçahead
coçarscratch
o berçocradle, birthplace
Mixing things up
Not surprisingly, even natives sometimes make mistakes and write ss instead of ç, ç instead of just c, or s instead of z, because they can all sound the same. Since the specific letter used depends mostly on the word’s origin and history, the only way to avoid those mistakes is to get enough exposure to the words in both written and spoken form.
Just for fun: some tricky examples to help you practice pronunciation!
salsichasausage
Nós os doisBoth of us
Comments
In the phrase “Nós os dois” is the first S pronounced ze because it is between the o in Nós and the o in os? Thanks
That’s it, Max!
Pergunta dois. In the above lesson the C and S in words sede and cede should be the same, “se”, but I hear the words pronounced differently. Is there a rule or it is one of many exceptions. Thanks
Hm, not sure if we can talk about rules or exceptions here, because it’s not even about the S or C consonants (which do sound the same), but about the E vowel, which can have different sounds in different words; it is what it is. When it comes to sede vs. cede, the first E is more closed in the former and open in the latter. But note that there’s more than one type of sede!
Cede (open E) = To give in
Sede (closed E) = Thirst
Sede (open E) = Headquarters
This last sede is pronounced just the same as cede.
Are there any exceptions to the “s” pronounced like “z” between vowels rule, specifically if the s is at the end of a word and leads into a word that begins with a vowel.
For example, what about dois asas, muitos alunos, bons alunos, or os alunos?
Obrigado,
Tim
Olá, Tim. No exceptions that I can remember. In fast speech, all of those ending S letters before a vowel (duas; muitos; bons; os) would sound like ‘Z’ 🙂 The very last letters of the last words (asas; alunos) would keep the normal S sound (sss), because they don’t have any vowels in front of them.
Does s ever have the se sound at the end of a word?
Not in European Portuguese 🙂 But you’ll hear it like that in Brazilian Portuguese!
excellent explanation, thank you.
The section on letters S and C has been very useful as are the other links to Grammar explanations. I have been going through the Units and then using the grammar and verb sections to consolidate my understanding. The way you have set up the website is fantastic. I am thoroughly enjoying my lessons. Obrigada.
In the example “Feliz ano novo”, the regular speed male says feliz with a ‘ze’ sound but the slower female voice seems to pronounce it ‘feleesh” – which is it?
By itself, ‘feliz’ has a ‘sh’ sound at the end. In the slow version, she is saying each word one at a time, so that’s why it sounds the same as it would if it were by itself. In normal (faster) connected speech, however, it will sound like the ‘z’ sound in that sentence, because it comes before a vowel sound.
in the part explaining when to use the Ze sound instead of the sh/zh, you meant to say after a consonant – cinzento
Thanks, Kelly! Indeed, it should be after a consonant, not before. We’ve just updated that section with clearer wording and an extra example (“cinzento” isn’t the ideal example, because the Z is mainly considered to be between two nasal vowel sounds).
This is very helpful. Can you please explain why ‘z’ is pronounced differently in the same word, like in the example “dez vezes dez”, why the first ‘z’ is pronounced ‘zh’ and in the same word ‘dez’ used for the second time is pronounced as ‘z’. I didn’t get what is the rule here?
Olá! That shouldn’t happen, actually. The word ‘dez’ is always pronounced the same way (with a ‘sh’/’zh’ sound by default). The exception is when the following word starts with a vowel sound and we’re speaking at normal speed, in which case we tend to connect the words with a ‘z’ or ‘j’ sound, depending on the regional accent. For example: “dez anos” would sound like “de[z]anos” instead of “de[zh] anos”. This Learning Note should help you become familiar with these pronunciation variations: Pronunciation Variations | Practice Portuguese
My surname is COOKSON and after 8 and half years of living in Portugal, very few people can pronounce it properly – come up with some wonderful versions. The K seems to stump them
Hi. Outstanding learning note. I don’t recall seeing this earlier, but I asked about pronouncing s in various ways back in A1. If this isn’t presented earlier on, I would add it. I thought the various s sounds were due more to individual accents; they almost seemed random, and I never was able to discern a pattern. These rules finally clear that up. Having it presented earlier would help reinforce proper pronunciation, but also recognition of the spoken bits. I will have to go over this section many times to internalize it, but thanks very much for it. It’s really excellent.
Hi, I’m surprised about the o having the stress and not the a.
I’ve been practicing the Z connection between separate words, but today my teacher who is portuguese said that it’s not correct to pronounce it like this and I should keep it as SH in such cases as temos água 😳
then I had a long conversation with chat GPT who also got confused about that, but at the end came to a summary that generally the rule is to pronounce the s between words as SH, but some people choose to pronounce it as Z.
Now I’m all confused as there are so many videos and materials that say that it’s actually a rule to pronounce it as Z 🫣 what is correct?
Olá! This is a speech pattern which applies to the ‘dominant’ European Portuguese accent, as heard in media (mostly influenced by Lisbon’s patterns). At normal speed in this accent, it’s definitely typical to pronounce a final S as a Z when followed by another vowel. When speaking slowly and with evident separation between words, the S retains its default SH sound. But for example, in some parts of Portugal, e.g. inner central Portugal, this connection between words is not made with a Z sound, but with a J sound instead, so you should always be mindful of regional variability and not think of this Z connection as a hard rule across the country – it’s more a rule of thumb than a grammatical mandate.
Thank you for this extensive explanation! Curiously, the teacher is from around Porto and has lived in Lisbon half of his life.