After exploring the Pronunciation Guide for European Portuguese Vowels and Pronunciation Guide for European Portuguese Consonants, you probably had a better sense of how to pronounce the various sounds of Portuguese in isolation.
However, when you listened for these sounds throughout the Units and in the Shorties, you may have heard some things you didn’t expect! It’s not always straightforward to know how sounds will be pronounced at a more natural speaking pace. Why? Two reasons:
- the neighbouring sounds (i.e. the sounds right before or after) have an effect on each other
- the stress / flow of the word or sentence
Luckily there are some guidelines to help you nail these less obvious Portuguese pronunciation skills! 
S or Z Followed By Any Vowel Sound
You’ll probably remember this one if you read our Learning Note on How to Pronounce the Letter S. When a word that ends in s or z is immediately followed by a vowel (or by a word that starts with a vowel sound) the pronunciation changes from ‘sh‘ to ‘zz‘ ([ʃ] to [z]).
uma casaa house
as uvasthe grapes
Feliz Ano NovoHappy New Year
Os homens são altosThe men are tall
In isolation, the words from the last 3 examples sound like this: as feliz os . However, in the example sentences, they are followed by vowel sounds at the beginning of uvas, ano, and homens. In those contexts, they sound more like “ooz”, “uhz”, and “fehleez”.
Note: The letter H is always mute. Remember that it’s the sound that matters, not the letter itself, so homens begin with a vowel sound.
Unstressed Endings
The next two guidelines both apply to unstressed word endings.
e Followed by Medium or Open Vowels (e, a, or o)
When an e is followed by e, a, or o, it sounds more like the vowel I. (This is basically the same as how one would say the name of the letter E in English – “ee”).
This is more common with 1-syllable words, such as que, de, se, or enclitic pronouns, like -te or -me, than it is with longer words.
O que é que achas?What do you(sing.,inf.) think?
- The two que are unstressed and followed by the open E and A vowels in é and achas , respectively, so the pronunciation becomes either: O qui é qui achas? (“key”, modified e) or O qu’é qu’achas? (“kay”, omitted e).
Tu és de onde?Where are you(sing.,inf.) from?
- The same thing happens here. Because de is followed by the o in onde , it sounds like Tu és di onde? (“dee”, modified first vowel) or Tu és donde? (omitted first vowel, which forms a contraction in this case).
Eu quero-te aquiI want you here
- Here the clitic object pronoun te is followed by the a in aqui , so it sounds like Eu quero-ti aqui (“tee”, modified e) or Eu quero-t’aqui (omitted e).
Medium a/o Followed by Medium a/o
Medium As tend to be omitted and change the following vowel into its open version. So the general guideline is:
- Medium A + Medium A = Open A
É a avó!It’s grandma!
The medium a vowels here merge together to make it sound more like É àvó! (with an open A).
The same thing sometimes happens with O:
- Medium A + Medium O = Open O
Paga o que devesPay what you owe
The medium a and the medium o merge together, and it sounds like: Pagó que deves (with an open O).
When in Doubt…
It’s helpful to at least be familiar with these pronunciation patterns, since you’ll hear many of them quite often in regular and fast-paced speech. As a learner, however, you’ll probably be speaking more slowly in the beginning. This means it’s okay to focus on the ‘normal’ pronunciation first.
Over time, as your fluency improves, you’ll likely start to pick up these variations naturally by listening to Shorties and conversations in the real world.
Also, keep in mind that pronunciation varies across contexts / dialects / different parts of Portugal, so not everybody always follows the same patterns.
Your explanation completely ignores the second que which is followed by a word beginning with ‘a’. Shouldn’t it be therefore be pronounced like the first one? (If the ‘rule’ is correct…)
Good catch, sorry about that. If you hear the audio example, you’ll note that the same pattern is observed in the two ‘que’: the last E vowel sounds like an ‘ee’. Somehow, we just failed to mention both in the text! It’s updated now, thanks.
Hi just wondering about this one – the letter s – as in the quiz os figos is pronounced oshh not oz? Have I got a bit confused with this rule? thx 🙂
Yes, that’s correct! Since figos starts with a consonant sound, that doesn’t change the sound of the s in os. It still sounds like “oosh”, just like it would sound by itself.
But in something like os homens or as ideias, for example, both homens and ideias start with a vowel sound, so the s in os and as would sound like “ooz”.
I would recommend reading this Learning Note: How to Pronounce the Letter S as it goes into much more detail and provides more examples. (I also added more information to that section in this learning note.)
In the article it says ‘When an e is followed by e, a, or o, it sounds more like a closed E. (This is basically the same as how one would say the name of the letter E in English – “ee”).’.
Is leem an example of this? I was expecting the same sound as ‘têm’ (crudely, tay-ay in English) instead it sounds to me like (crudely) ‘lee-ay’. Or maybe I’m hearing it incorrectly.
Thanks!
Olá! As noted in the article, that rule of thumb is given for unstressed word endings, which are then influenced by the first vowel sound on the subsequent sound. So, it doesn’t apply to leem, which is a single word and should sound more or less like ‘leh-ayn’ (medium E followed by medium A, as defined in this reference guide). The word ‘veem’ is also pronounced the same 🙂
Hi there!
What a great explanation.
I noticed you mention 2 x variations;
– O qui é qui achas? (“key”, modified e) or;
– O qu’é qu’achas? (“kay”, omitted e).
Is one version favoured as more “correct” than the other? Or are these just regional variations / accents, like the countless varieties we have here in the UK?
If regional, can you offer any advice as to which regions pronounce which variation?
As I’m just a beginner I realise I don’t need to delve too deeply into this topic just yet, however I’m finding the way the words meld together in a sentence really interesting and it’s piqued my interest!
BTW I think this is an unbelievably brilliant site, been signed up for just under a month and really impressed with the content.
Portuguese is a beautiful language and I am enjoying the learning process hugely – Muito obrigada! ☺
Olá! First of all, thank you so very much for your feedback 🙂
Regarding the variations you mentioned, I wouldn’t say that the usage of either one is divided by region – it all basically boils down to individual speech patterns. While one is not more correct than the other, the first one (modified E) is perhaps the most easily understandable. The combined variation “O qu’é qui achas?” also sounds a bit clearer than the full omission.
Just so I know:
The slow audio of “As uvas” was pronounced, “ash uvash”
Shouldn’t it be “azz uvash,” being that the s in “As” is between 2 vowels?
🧐🤔
You’re correct that the ‘s’ in “As” is typically pronounced as ‘z’ when it’s between two vowels. However, in the slow audio, we aim for clear articulation, which can sometimes lead to slight pronunciation variations. In regular or fast speech, you would indeed hear it as “azz uvash”!