Portuguese orthography is based on the Latin alphabet and makes use of the acute accent, the circumflex accent, the grave accent, the tilde, and the cedilla to denote stress, vowel height, nasalization, and other sound changes. The diaeresis was abolished by the last Orthography Agreement. Accented letters and digraphs are not counted as separate characters for collation purposes.
The spelling of Portuguese is largely phonemic, but some phonemes can be spelled in more than one way. In ambiguous cases, the correct spelling is determined through a combination of etymology with morphology and tradition; so there is not a perfect one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters or digraphs. Knowing the main inflectional paradigms of Portuguese and being acquainted with the orthography of other Western European languages can be helpful.
A full list of sounds, diphthongs, and their main spellings is given at Portuguese phonology. This article addresses the less trivial details of the spelling of Portuguese as well as other issues of orthography, such as accentuation.
Letter names and pronunciations Only the most frequent sounds appear below since a listing of all cases and exceptions would become cumbersome. Portuguese is a pluricentric language, and pronunciation of some of the letters differs. Apart from those variations, the pronunciation of most consonants is fairly straightforward.
Although many letters have more than one pronunciation, their phonetic value is often predictable from their position within a word; that is normally the case for the consonants (except x). Since only five letters are available to write the fourteen vowel sounds of Portuguese, vowels have a more complex orthography, but even then, pronunciation is somewhat predictable. Knowing the main inflectional paradigms of Portuguese can help.
In the following table and in the remainder of this article, the phrase "at the end of a syllable" can be understood as "before a consonant, or at the end of a word". For the letter r, "at the start of a syllable (not between vowels)" means "at the beginning of a word or after l, n, s, or a prefix ending in a consonant". For letters with more than one common pronunciation, their most common phonetic values are given on the left side of the semicolon; sounds after it occur only in a limited number of positions within a word. Sounds separated by "~" are allophones or dialectal variants.
The names of the letters are masculine.
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! rowspan=2 | Letter ! colspan=2 | European ! colspan=2 | Brazilian ! rowspan=2 | Phonemic values ! rowspan="2" |Example ! rowspan="2" |Example (IPA) |- ! Name ! Name (IPA) ! Name ! Name (IPA) |- | align=center| A a || á || || á || || , |cara |[ˈkaɾɐ/ˈkaɾa] |- | align=center| B b || bê || || bê || || or |bato |[ˈbatu(~ʊ)] |- | align=center| C c || cê || || cê || || ; |conciso |[kõˈsi.zu(~ʊ)] |- | align=center| D d || dê || || dê || || ~ or |dádiva |[ˈdaðivɐ/ˈdad(ʒ)ivɐ] |- | align=center| E e || é || || é or ê || , || , , , , , |rente ||[ˈʀẽtə/ˈʁẽȷ̃t(ʃ)i] |- | align=center| F f || éfe || || éfe || || |fala |[ˈfa(~ɑ)lɐ] |- | align=center| G g || gê or guê || , || gê|| || or ; |ɡiɡante |[ʒiˈɣɐ̃ntə/ʒiˈɡɐ̃t(ʃ)i] |- | align=center| H h || agá || || agá || || natively silent, in loanwords |homem |[ˈɔmɐ̃j/ˈõmẽj~ˈomẽ(ɲ)] |- | align=center| I i || i || || i || || |idade |[iˈðaðə/iˈdad(ʒ)i] |- | align=center| J j || jota || || jota || || |janta |[ˈʒɐ̃(n)tɐ] |- | align=center|K k |cápa |/ˈkapɐ/ |cá |/ˈka/ |/k/ |kiwi |[kiːwi] |- | align=center| L l || ele || || éle || || ~ |lamaçal |[lɐmɐˈsa(~ɑ)ɫ/lamaˈsaw] |- | align=center| M m || eme || || éme || || |mala |[ˈma(~ɑ)lɐ] |- | align=center| N n || ene || || éne || || |ninho |[ˈniɲʊ], [ˈnĩj̃u] |- | align=center| O o || ó || || ó or ô || , || , , |óculos |[ˈɔkulu(~ʊ)s(/ʃ)] |- | align=center| P p || pê || || pê || || |pato |[ˈpatu(~ʊ)] |- | align=center| Q q || quê || || quê || || |quente |[ˈkẽntə/ˈkẽt͡ʃi] |- | align=center| R r || erre or rê || , || érre || || , , /h/ , , /ɽ/ |raro
| align=center| S s || esse || || ésse || || , , ~ |siso |[ˈsizu(~ʊ)] |- | align=center| T t || tê || || tê || || ~ or |tente |[ˈtẽntə/ˈtẽt͡ʃi] |- | align=center| U u || u || || u || || |urubu |[uɾuˈbu] ([uɾuˈβu]) |- | align=center| V v || vê || || vê || || or |vaca |[ˈvakɐ] ([ˈbakɐ]) |- | align=center|W w |dâblio or duplo vê |/ˈdɐbliu/, /ˈdupluˌve/ |dáblio |/ˈdabliu/ |/u/, /v/ or /w/ |watt |[ˈwaːt] |- | align=center| X x || xis || || xis || || , , , , |xale |[ˈʃa(~ɑ)lə/ˈʃali] |- | align=center|Y y |ípsilon or i grego |/ˈipsɨlɔn/, /ˌi ˈgrɛgu/ |ípsilon |/ˈipsilõ/ |/i/ or /j/ |yeti |[jɛtiː] |- | align=center| Z z || zê || || zê || || , , ~ |zunir |[zuˈniɾ̥(ə)/zũ.ˈ(n)iɾ~∅]
Notes The letters b, d, g can denote , , and in intervocalic positions, especially in northern and central Portugal. In Mozambique an intervocalic /d/ can be realized as [d.ð] or [dː], mostly before a final e-caduc or reduced /o/. In other intervocalic schemes can be realized also as [ð] of European variety. /k/ can be realized in Mozambique as [kʰ], mostly before a final e-caduc or reduced /o/. Before the letters e or i. Allophonically affricated before the sound (spelled i, or sometimes e), in BP. May become an approximant as a form of vowel reduction when unstressed before or after another vowel. Words such as boia and proa are pronounced and . The letters f, j, l, m, n, r and s are sometimes named differently in the northwest region of Brazil: fê, ji, lê, mê, nê, rê, sê. Silent at the start or at the end of a word. Also part of the digraphs ch, lh, nh. See below. The letters K (called capa /ˈkapɐ/ in EP or cá /ka/ in BP), W (EP: dâblio /ˈdɐbliu/ or duplo vê /ˈduplu ˌve/, BP: dáblio /ˈdabliu/), and Y (EP: ípsilon /ˈipsɨlɔn/ or i grego /ˌi ˈgrɛgu/, BP: ípsilon /ˈipsilõ/) were not part of the official alphabet before 2009. They are used only in foreign words, personal names, and hybrid words derived from them. The letters K, W and Y will be included in the alphabet used in East Timor, Macau, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe, when the 1990 Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement comes into legal effect.. In Brazil, the Orthographic Agreement went into legal effect from 1 January 2009; in Portugal, from 13 May 2009; in Cabo Verde, from 1 October 2009. However, those letters were used before 1911 (see the article on spelling reform in Portugal). Velarized to in EP and conservative registers of southern BP. Vocalized to , , or seldom (as influence from Spanish or Japanese), at the end of syllables in most of Brazil. Usually silent or voiceless at the end of syllables (word-final n is fully pronounced by some speakers in a few loaned words). See Nasalization section, below. At the start of syllables (not between vowels) in most of the dialects or at the end of syllables (in some dialects of BP), a single graphical r is pronounced or ~~ (see Portuguese phonology for variants of this sound). However, in the moribund dialect of the interior of São Paulo it can be realized as /ɽ/ even in consonant clusters, such as [bɽ], [dɽ], [fɽ], [gɽ], [kɽ], [pɽ], [tɽ], or after /j/. After /l/ can be assimiled and realized as [ɽ.r], e.g. melro [mˈɛɽ.rʊ]. In European dialects word-initial or preceded by /n/, /l/, /s/ ([dʒ]) or nasalisation can be pronounced as very intense /ʁ/, /ʀ/, or /r/ (latter — as in Galician). Elsewhere, it is pronounced as and its variants. Word-final rhotics may also be silent when the last syllable is stressed, in casual and vernacular speech, especially in Brazil (pervasive nationwide, though not in educated and some colloquial registers) and in some African and Asian countries. In European variety a word-initial /r/ can be realised as [r̝] after /s/. Word(or coda)-final European variants of /ɾ/ include [ɾ̥], [r̝], [r̻], and [ɻ̊]. Sometimes a non-phonematic [ə] is added after a final /ɾ/. A single s is pronounced voiced between vowels. The opposition between the four sibilants , , , is neutralized at the end of syllables; see below for more information. Letter t, surrounded by nasal vowels (realized always as nasal vowel + before it), , , , , , , and stops, can be read as allophonic in some Mozambican varieties. Mostly before final reduced vowels can be realized there also as [tʰ]. The same pattern of aspiration for /t/ occurs in East Timorese Portuguese. Northern Portuguese dialects share with Galician and other, more distantly related, North Iberian languages (Astur-Leonese, including Mirandese, Castilian, Aragonese, Catalan and, to some extent, Basque) one common feature — merger of /b/ and /v/ into /β~b/. The letter w is also pronounced // in German loanwords and names. The letter x may represent , , , , or (peixe, fixar, exemplo, próximo, hexágono). It is always pronounced at the beginning of words and at the end of words.
Digraphs Portuguese uses digraphs, pairs of letters which represent a single sound different from the sum of their components. Digraphs are not included in the alphabet.
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:120%" ! style="font-size:80%" | Grapheme ! style="font-size:80%" | Pronunciation |- align=center | ch || |- align=center | lh || , , |- align=center | nh || , |- align=center | rr || |- align=center | ss || |- align=center | qu || ; |- align=center | gu || ; ;
The digraphs and , before and , may represent both plain or labialised sounds ( , , , ), but they are always labialised before and (). The trema used to be employed to explicitly indicate labialized sounds before and ( vs. ), but since its elimination, such words have to be memorised. Pronunciation divergences mean some of these words may be spelled differently ( and ). The digraph is pronounced as an English by the overwhelming majority of speakers. The digraphs and , of Occitan origin, denote palatal consonants that do not exist in English. The digraphs and are used only between vowels. The pronunciation of the digraph varies with dialect (see the note on the phoneme , above.)
Diacritics Portuguese makes use of five diacritics: the cedilla (ç), acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú), circumflex accent (â, ê, ô), tilde (ã, õ), and grave accent (almost abolished in the 1990 Orthography Reform) (à, rarely ò, formerly also è, ì, and ù). Its major use was on adverbial formations: Só->Sòmente, Última->Ùltimamente. Formerly the diaeresis was also used (ï, ü).
{| class="wikitable" style="font-size:120%" ! style="font-size:80%" | Grapheme ! style="font-size:80%" | Pronunciation |- align=center | á | |- align=center | â | () |- align=center | ã | |- align=center | à | |- align=center | ç | |- align=center | é | |- align=center | ê | (, ) |- align=center | í | () |- align=center | ó | |- align=center | ô | () |- align=center | õ | |- align=center | ú | () |- align=center
The cedilla (◌̧) indicates that ç is pronounced (from a historic palatalization). By convention, s is written instead of etymological ç at the beginning of words, as in "São", the hypocoristic form of the female name "Conceição".
The acute accent (◌́) and the circumflex accent (◌̂) indicate that a vowel is stressed and the quality of the accented vowel and, more precisely, its height: á, é, and ó are low vowels (except in nasal vowels); â, ê, and ô are high vowels. They also distinguish a few homographs: por "by" with pôr "to put", pode "[he/she/it] can" with pôde "[he/she/it] could".