Portuguese orthography is based on theLatin alphabet and makes use of theacute accent, thecircumflex accent, thegrave accent, thetilde, and thecedilla to denote stress,vowel height, nasalization, and other sound changes. Thediaeresis was abolished by the lastOrthography Agreement. Accented letters and digraphs are not counted as separate characters forcollation purposes.
The spelling ofPortuguese is largelyphonemic, but somephonemes can be spelled in more than one way. In ambiguous cases, the correct spelling is determined through a combination ofetymology withmorphology and tradition; so there is not a perfect one-to-one correspondence between sounds and letters or digraphs. Knowing the maininflectional 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 atPortuguese phonology. This article addresses the less trivial details of thespelling of Portuguese as well as other issues oforthography, such as accentuation.
Only the most frequent sounds appear below since a listing of all cases and exceptions would become cumbersome. Portuguese is apluricentric 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 (exceptx). 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 asyllable" can be understood as "before a consonant, or at the end of a word". For the letterr, "at the start of a syllable (not between vowels)" means "at the beginning of a word or afterl,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 thesemicolon; sounds after it occur only in a limited number of positions within a word. Sounds separated by "~" areallophones ordialectal variants.
The names of the letters aremasculine.
| Letter | European | Brazilian | Phonemic values | Example | Example (IPA) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Name (IPA) | Name | Name (IPA) | ||||
| Aa | á | /a/ | á | /a/ | /a/,/ɐ/ | cara | [ˈkaɾɐ] |
| Bb | bê | /be/ | bê | /be/ | /b/ or[β]nb 1 | bato | [ˈbatu(~ʊ)] |
| Cc | cê | /se/ | cê | /se/ | /k/nb 2;/s/nb 3 | conciso | [kõˈsi.zu(~ʊ)] |
| Dd | dê | /de/ | dê | /de/ | /d/ ~[dʒ]nb 4 or[ð]nb 1 | dádiva | [ˈdaðivɐ/ˈdad(ʒ)ivɐ] |
| Ee | é | /ɛ/ | é orê | /ɛ/,/e/ | /e/,/ɛ/,/i/nb 5,/ɨ/,/ɐ/,/ɐi/ | rente | [ˈʀẽntə/ˈʁẽt(ʃ)i] |
| Ff | efe | /ˈɛfɨ/ | efe | /ˈɛfi/ | /f/nb 6 | fala | [ˈfa(~ɑ)lɐ] |
| Gg | gê orguê | /ʒe/,/ɡe/ | gê orguê | /ʒe/,/ɡe/ | /ɡ/ or[ɣ]nb 1;/ʒ/nb 3 | ɡiɡante | [ʒiˈɣɐ̃ntə/ʒiˈɡɐ̃t(ʃ)i] |
| Hh | agá | /ɐˈɡa/ | agá | /aˈɡa/ | natively silent,/ʁ/ in loanwordsnb 7 | homem | [ˈɔmɐ̃j/ˈõmẽj~ˈomẽ(ɲ)] |
| Ii | i | /i/ | i | /i/ | /i/nb 5 | idade | [iˈðaðə/iˈdad(ʒ)i] |
| Jj | jota | /ˈʒɔtɐ/ | jota | /ˈʒɔtɐ/ | /ʒ/nb 6 | janta | [ˈʒɐ̃(n)tɐ] |
| Kk | cápa | /ˈkapɐ/ | cá | /ˈka/ | /k/ | kiwi | [kiːwi] |
| Ll | ele | /ˈɛlɨ/ | éle | /ˈɛli/ | /l/ ~[ɫ~w]nb 6nb 9 | lamaçal | [lɐmɐˈsa(~ɑ)ɫ/lamaˈsaw] |
| Mm | eme | /ˈɛmɨ/ | éme | /ˈemi/ | /m/nb 6nb 10 | mala | [ˈma(~ɑ)lɐ] |
| Nn | ene | /ˈɛnɨ/ | éne | /ˈeni/ | /n/nb 5nb 10 | ninho | [ˈniɲʊ], [ˈnĩj̃u] |
| Oo | ó | /ɔ/ | ó orô | /ɔ/,/o/ | /o/,/ɔ/,/u/nb 5 | óculos | [ˈɔkulu(~ʊ)s(/ʃ)] |
| Pp | pê | /pe/ | pê | /pe/ | /p/ | pato | [ˈpatu(~ʊ)] |
| quê | /ke/ | quê | /ke/ | /k/nb 2 | quente | [ˈkẽntə/ˈkẽt͡ʃi] | |
| Rr | erre orrê | /ˈɛʁɨ/,/ʁe/ | érre | /ˈɛʁi/ | /ɾ/,/ʁ/,/ʀ/,/r/nb 6nb 11 /ɽ/ | raro | [ˈ'ʁ/ʀ/raɾu], [ˈ'aɾu(~ʊ)] |
| Ss | esse | /ˈɛsɨ/ | ésse | /ˈɛsi/ | /s/,/z/nb 12,[ʃ]nb 13 ~[ʒ]nb 6 | siso | [ˈsizu(~ʊ)] |
| Tt | tê | /te/ | tê | /te/ | /t/ ~[tʃ]nb 4 or[θ]nb 14 | tente | [ˈtẽntə/ˈtẽt͡ʃi] |
| Uu | u | /u/ | u | /u/ | /u/nb 5 | urubu | [uɾuˈbu] ([uɾuˈβu]) |
| Vv | vê | /ve/ | vê | /ve/ | /v/ or/β~b/nb 15 | vaca | [ˈvakɐ] ([ˈbakɐ]) |
| Ww | dâblio or duplo vê | /ˈdɐbliu/, /ˈdupluˌve/ | dáblio | /ˈdabliu/ | /u/, /v/ or /w/ | watt | [ˈwaːt] |
| Xx | xis | /ʃiʃ/ | xis | /ʃis/ | /ʃ/,/ks/,/z/,/s/,/gz/nb 12nb 16 | xale | [ˈʃa(~ɑ)lə/ˈʃali] |
| Yy | ípsilon or i grego | /ˈipsɨlɔn/, /ˌi ˈgrɛgu/ | ípsilon | /ˈipsilõ/ | /i/ or /j/ | yeti | [jɛtiː] |
| Zz | zê | /ze/ | zê | /ze/ | /z/,/s/,/ʃ/nb 13 ~[ʒ] | zunir | [zuˈniɾ̥(ə)/zũ.ˈ(n)iɾ~∅] |
Portuguese usesdigraphs, pairs of letters which represent a single sound different from the sum of their components. Digraphs are not included in the alphabet.
The digraphs⟨qu⟩ and⟨gu⟩, before⟨e⟩ and⟨i⟩, may represent both plain or labialised sounds (quebra/ˈkɛbɾɐ/,cinquenta/sĩˈkʷẽtɐ/,guerra/ˈɡɛʁɐ/,sagui/saˈɡʷi/), but they are always labialised before⟨a⟩ and⟨o⟩ (quase, quociente, guaraná). The trema used to be employed to explicitly indicate labialized sounds before⟨e⟩ and⟨i⟩ (quebra vs.cinqüenta), but since its elimination, such words have to be memorised. Pronunciation divergences mean some of these words may be spelled differently (quatorze / catorze andquotidiano / cotidiano).[3] The digraph⟨ch⟩ is pronounced as an English⟨sh⟩ by the overwhelming majority of speakers. The digraphs⟨lh⟩ and⟨nh⟩, ofOccitan origin, denotepalatal consonants that do not exist in English. The digraphs⟨rr⟩ and⟨ss⟩ are used only between vowels. The pronunciation of the digraph⟨rr⟩ varies with dialect (see the note on the phoneme/ʁ/, above.nb 11)
Portuguese makes use of fivediacritics: thecedilla (ç),acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú),circumflex accent (â, ê, ô),tilde (ã, õ), andgrave 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).
Thecedilla (◌̧) indicates thatç is pronounced/s/ (from ahistoric palatalization). By convention,s is written instead of etymologicalç at the beginning of words, as in "São", the hypocoristic form of the female name "Conceição".
Theacute accent (◌́) and thecircumflex accent (◌̂) indicate that a vowel isstressed and the quality of the accented vowel and, more precisely, itsheight:á,é, andó are low vowels (except in nasal vowels);â,ê, andô are high vowels. They also distinguish a fewhomographs:por "by" withpôr "to put",pode "[he/she/it] can" withpôde "[he/she/it] could".
Thetilde (◌̃) marks nasal vowels before glides such as incãibra andnação, at the end of words, before final-s, and in some compounds:romãzeira "pomegranate tree", fromromã "pomegranate", andvãmente "vainly", fromvã "vain". It usually coincides with the stressed vowel unless there is an acute or circumflex accent elsewhere in the word or if the word iscompound:órgão "organ",irmã +-zinha ("sister" +diminutive suffix) =irmãzinha "little sister". The formõ is used only in the plurals of nouns ending in-ão (nação → nações) and in the second person singular and third person forms of the verbpôr in the present tense (pões, põe, põem).
Thegrave accent (◌̀) marks the contraction of two consecutive vowels in adjacent words (crasis), normally the prepositiona and an article or a demonstrative pronoun:a +aquela =àquela "at that",a +a =à "at the". It can also be used when indicating time: "às 4 horas" = "at 4 o'clock". It does not indicate stress.
Thediaeresis (◌̈) is nowadays practically in disuse. Until 2009 they were still used in Brazilian Portuguese in the combinationsgüe/qüe andgüi/qüi (European Portuguese in this case used the grave accent between 1911 and 1945, then abolished). In old orthography they were also used as in English, French and Dutch to separate diphthongs (e.g.:Raïnha,Luïsa,[10]saüde and so on). The other way to separate diphthongs and non-hiatic vowel combinations is to use acute (as in modernsaúde) or circumflex (as in pre-1911 common orthographyCorôa).
Below are the general rules for the use of the acute accent and the circumflex in Portuguese. Primarystress may fall on any of the three final syllables of a word. A word is calledoxytone if it is stressed on its last syllable,paroxytone if stress falls on the syllable before the last (thepenult), andproparoxytone if stress falls on the third syllable from the end (theantepenult). Most multisyllabic words are stressed on the penult.
All words stressed on the antepenult take anaccent mark. Words with two or more syllables, stressed on their last syllable, are not accented if they have any ending other than-a(s),-e(s),-o(s),-am,-em,-ens; except to indicatehiatus as inaçaí. With these endings paroxytonic words must then be accented to differentiate them from oxytonic words, as inamável,lápis,órgão.
Monosyllables are typically not accented, but those whose last vowel isa,e, oro, possibly followed by final-s,-m or-ns, may require an accent mark.
Accentuation rules of Portuguese are somewhat different regarding syllabification than those of Spanish (English "continuous" is Portuguesecontínuo, Spanishcontinuo, and English "I continue" is Portuguesecontinuo, Spanishcontinúo, in both cases with the same syllable accented in Portuguese and Spanish).
The use of diacritics in personal names is generally restricted to the combinations above, often also by the applicable Portuguese spelling rules.
Portugal is more restrictive than Brazil in regard to given names. They must be Portuguese or adapted to the Portuguese orthography and sound and should also be easily discerned as either a masculine or feminine name by a Portuguese speaker. There are lists of previously accepted and refused names, and names that are both unusual and not included in the list of previously accepted names must be subject to consultation of the national director of registries.[11][12] The list of previously accepted names includes some of the most common names, like "Pedro" (Peter) and "Ana" (Anne).[13]Brazilian birth registrars, on the other hand, are likely to accept names containing any (Latin) letters or diacritics and are limited only to the availability of such characters in their typesetting facility.
Most consonants have the same values as in theInternational Phonetic Alphabet, except for thepalatals/ʎ/ and/ɲ/, which are spelled⟨lh⟩ and⟨nh⟩, respectively, and the following velars, rhotics, and sibilants:
| Phoneme | Default | Before⟨e⟩ or⟨i⟩ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling | Examples | Spelling | Examples | |
| /ɡ/ | g | goano | gu | guerra,guitarra |
| /ɡʷ/ | gu | guano | unguento,sagui | |
| /ɡu/ | averigua | Guiana,averigue | ||
| /k/ | c | colar | qu | quente,aqui |
| /kʷ/ | qu | adequado | cinquenta,aquífero | |
| /ku/ | cu | acuado | cu | cueca |
Thealveolar flap/ɾ/ is always spelled as a single⟨r⟩. The otherrhotic phoneme of Portuguese, which may be pronounced as atrill[r] or as one of thefricatives[x],[ʁ], or[h], according to theidiolect of the speaker, is either written⟨rr⟩ or⟨r⟩, as described below.
| Phoneme | Start of syllable | Between vowels | Closed syllable | End of syllable | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling | Examples | Spelling | Examples | Spelling | Examples | Spelling | Examples | |
| /ʁ/ | r | rosa,tenro,guelra | rr | carro | r | sorte | r | mar |
| /ɾ/ | - | - | r | caro | ||||
| ∅ | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
For the following phonemes, the phrase "at the start of a syllable" can be understood as "at the start of a word, or between a consonant and a vowel, in that order".
| Phoneme | Start of syllable[A] | Between vowels | Closed syllables and end of syllable | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spelling | Examples | Spelling | Examples | Spelling | Examples | |
| /s/ | s[B], c[C] | sapo, psique, cedo | ss, ç,[D] c,[C] x[E] | assado, passe, açoite, alperce próximo | s, x,[F], z[G] | isto, externo, paz |
| /ʃ/ | ch, x | chuva, cherne, xarope, xisto | ch, x | fecho, duche, caixa, mexilhão | ||
| /z/ | z | zumbido, zero | s, z, x[H] | rosa, Brasil, prazo, azeite, exemplo | s, x,[I] z[I] | turismo, ex-mulher, felizmente |
| /ʒ/ | j, g[C] | jogo, jipe, gente | j, g[C] | ajuda, pajem, agenda | ||
Note that there are two main groups ofaccents in Portuguese, one in which the sibilants arealveolar at the end of syllables (/s/ or/z/), and another in which they arepostalveolar (/ʃ/ or/ʒ/). In this position, the sibilants occur incomplementary distribution,voiced before voiced consonants, and voiceless before voiceless consonants or at the end ofutterances.
The vowels in the pairs/a,ɐ/,/e,ɛ/,/o,ɔ/ only contrast instressed syllables. In unstressed syllables, each element of the pair occurs incomplementary distribution with the other. Stressed/ɐ/ appears mostly before the nasal consonants⟨m⟩,⟨n⟩,⟨nh⟩, followed by a vowel, and stressed/a/ appears mostly elsewhere although they have a limited number ofminimal pairs in EP.
In Brazilian Portuguese, both nasal and unstressed vowel phonemes that only contrast when stressed tend to a mid height though[a] may be often heard in unstressed position (especially when singing or speaking emphatically). In pre-20th-century European Portuguese, they tended to be raised to[ɐ],[ɨ] and[u]. It still is the case of most Brazilian dialects in which the wordelogio may be variously pronounced as[iluˈʒiu],[e̞lo̞ˈʒiu],[e̞luˈʒiu], etc. Some dialects, such as those of Northeastern and Southern Brazil, tend to do less pre-vocalic vowel reduction and in general the unstressed vowel sounds adhere to that of one of the stressed vowel pair, namely[ɛ,ɔ] and[e,o] respectively.[1][14]
In educated speech, vowel reduction is used less often than in colloquial and vernacular speech though still more than the more distant dialects, and in general, mid vowels are dominant over close-mid ones and especially open-mid ones in unstressed environments when those are in free variation (that is,sozinho is always[sɔˈzĩɲu], even in Portugal, whileelogio is almost certainly[e̞lo̞ˈʒi.u]). Mid vowels are also used as choice for stressed nasal vowels in both Portugal and Rio de Janeiro though not in São Paulo and southern Brazil, but in Bahia, Sergipe and neighboring areas, mid nasal vowels supposedly are close-mid like those of French.Veneno can thus vary as EP[vɯ̽ˈne̞nu], RJ[vẽ̞ˈnẽ̞nu], SP[veˈnenʊ] andBA[vɛˈnɛ̃nu] according to the dialect./ɐ̃/ also has significant variation, as shown in the respective dialect pronunciations ofbanana as[baˈnə̃nə],[bə̃ˈnə̃nə], and[bəˈnənə].[14]
Vowel reduction of unstressed nasal vowels is extremely pervasive nationwide in Brazil, in vernacular, colloquial and even most educated speech registers. It is slightly more resisted but still present in Portugal.
The pronunciation of the accented vowels is fairly stable except that they become nasal in certain conditions. See#Nasalization for further information about this regular phenomenon. In other cases,nasal vowels are marked with atilde.
Thegrave accent is only used on the letter⟨a⟩ and is merely grammatical, meaning acrasis between two⟨a⟩ such as the prepositiona "a" anda "the (f.)" (vou a cidade →vou à cidade "I'm going to the city"). In dialects where unstressed⟨a⟩ represents/ɐ/,⟨à⟩ represents/a/; in dialects where unstressed⟨a⟩ is/a/ the grave accent makes no difference in pronunciation.
There was a proposal to use the grave for separation ofunstressed diphthongs, e.g.:saìmento,paìsagem,saùdar.[15]
Thetrema was official prior to the last orthographical reform and can still be found in older texts. It meant that the usually silent⟨u⟩ between⟨q⟩ or⟨g⟩ and⟨i⟩ or⟨e⟩ is in fact pronounced:líqüido "liquid" andsangüíneo "related to blood". Some words have two acceptable pronunciations, varying largely by accents.
It was also proposed to use thegrave accent instead of trema,[15] e.g.:líqùido,sangùíneo.
The pronunciation of eachdiphthong is also fairly predictable, but one must know how to distinguish true diphthongs from adjacent vowels inhiatus, which belong to separate syllables. For example, in the wordsaio/ˈsai.u/ ([ˈsaj.ju]), the⟨i⟩ forms a clearer diphthong with the previous vowel (but a slight yod also in the next syllable is generally present),[1] but insaiu/sɐˈiu/ ([sɐˈiw]), it forms a diphthong with the next vowel. As in Spanish, a hiatus may be indicated with an acute accent, distinguishinghomographs such assaia/ˈsai.ɐ/ ([ˈsaj.jɐ]) andsaía/sɐˈi.ɐ/.
| Oral | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Grapheme | Pronunciation | Grapheme | Pronunciation |
| ai | [ɐi] | au | [ɐu] |
| ei, êi | [ei~eː],[əi][i] | eu, êu | [eu] |
| oi | [oi] | ou | [ou~oː] |
| ai, ái | [ai] | au, áu | [au] |
| ei, éi | [ɛi],[əi][i] | eu, éu | [ɛu] |
| oi, ói | [ɔi] | ||
| iu | [iu] | ||
| ui | [ui] | ||
| Nasal | |||
| Grapheme | Pronunciation | Grapheme | Pronunciation |
| ãe, ãi | [ɐ̃ĩ] | ão | [ɐ̃ũ] |
| õe | [õĩ] | - | |
When a syllable ends with⟨m⟩ or⟨n⟩, the consonant is not fully pronounced but merely indicates thenasalization of the vowel which precedes it. At the end of words, it generally produces a nasal diphthong.
| Monophthongs | Diphthongs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grapheme | Pronunciation | Grapheme | Pronunciation | |
| -un, -um, -ún, -úm[a] | /ũ/ | |||
| -on, -om, -ôn, -ôm[a] | /õ/ | |||
| -an, -am, -ân, -âm[b] | /ɐ̃/ | -am[c] | /ɐ̃ũ/ | |
| -en, -em, -ên, -êm[b] | /ẽ/ | -em, -êm[c] | -en-[d] | /ẽĩ/ ([ɐ̃ĩ]) |
| -ém[c] | -én-[e] | |||
| -in, -im, -ín, -ím[a] | /ĩ/ | |||
The letter⟨m⟩ is conventionally written before⟨b⟩ or⟨p⟩ or at the end of words (also in a few compound words such ascomummente -comumente in Brazil), and⟨n⟩ is written before other consonants. In the plural, the ending -⟨m⟩ changes into -⟨ns⟩; for examplebem,rim,bom,um →bens,rins,bons,uns. Some loaned words end with -⟨n⟩ (which is usually pronounced in European Portuguese).
Nasalization of⟨ui⟩, according to modern orthography, is left unmarked in the six wordsmuito,muita,muitos,muitas,mui,ruim (the latter one only in Brazilian Portuguese). During some periods, the nasal⟨ui⟩ was marked as⟨ũi⟩:mũi,[16]mũita,[17]mũito,[18]mũitas,[19]mũitos.[16]
The word endings -am, -em, -en(+s), with or without an accent mark on the vowel, represent nasaldiphthongs derived from various Latin endings, oftenla-ant,-unt or-en(t)-. Final -⟨am⟩, which appears in polysyllabic verbs, is always unstressed. The grapheme -⟨en⟩- is also pronounced as a nasal diphthong in a few compound words, such asbendito (bem +dito),homenzinho (homem +zinho), andBenfica.
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Nouns which end in -⟨gem⟩ often have a corresponding verb whose infinitive ends in -⟨jar⟩; these verbs retain⟨j⟩ (rather than⟨g⟩) in their conjugations, even in forms that are pronounced identically to the corresponding noun, e.g.viagem "voyage (noun)" butviajem (third person plural of the present subjunctive of the verbviajar "to travel").
Verbs whosethematic vowel becomes a stressed⟨i⟩ in one of their inflections are spelled with an⟨i⟩ in the whole conjugation, as are other words of the same family:crio "I create" impliescriar "to create" andcriatura "creature".
Verbs whose thematic vowel becomes a stressed⟨ei⟩ in one of their inflections are spelled with an⟨e⟩ in the whole conjugation, as are other words of the same family:nomeio "I nominate" impliesnomear "to nominate" andnomeação "nomination".
The majority of the Portuguese lexicon is derived from Latin,Celtic,Greek, someGermanic and someArabic. Greek words are Latinized before being incorporated into the language, and many words of Latin or Greek origin have easily recognizablecognates in English and other western European languages and are spelled according to similar principles. For instance,glória "glory",glorioso "glorious",herança "inheritance",real "real/royal". Some general guidelines for spelling are given below:
Loanwords with a/ʃ/ in their original languages receive the letter⟨x⟩ to represent it when they are nativised:xampu "shampoo". While many dialects merged the pronunciations of⟨ch⟩ and⟨x⟩ long ago, some Galician-Portuguese dialects like Uruguayan Portuguese and the speech registers of northeastern Portugal and Galicia still preserve the difference as⟨ch⟩/tʃ/ vs.⟨x⟩/ʃ/, as do other Iberian languages. When one wants to stress the sound difference in dialects in which it merged the convention is to use⟨tch⟩:tchau "ciao" andRepública Tcheca "Czech Republic". In most loanwords, it merges with/ʃ/ (or/t/:moti "mochi"), just as[dʒ] most often merges with/ʒ/. Alveolar affricates[ts] and[dz], though, are more likely to be preserved (pizza,Zeitgeist,tsunami,kudzu,adzuki, etc.), although not all of these hold up across some dialects (/zaitʃiˈgaiʃtʃi/ for'Zeitgeist,/tʃisuˈnɐ̃mi/ fortsunami and/aˈzuki/ foradzuki [along with spellingazuki])
Portuguesesyllabification rules require a syllable break between double letters:⟨cc⟩,⟨cç⟩,⟨mm⟩,⟨nn⟩,⟨rr⟩,⟨ss⟩, or other combinations of letters that may be pronounced as a single sound:fric-ci-o-nar,pro-ces-so,car-ro,ex-ce(p)-to,ex-su-dar. Only the digraphs⟨ch⟩,⟨lh⟩,⟨nh⟩,⟨gu⟩,⟨qu⟩ are indivisible. All digraphs are however broken down into their constituent letters for the purposes ofcollation,spelling aloud, and incrossword puzzles.
The apostrophe (') appears as part of certain phrases, usually to indicate theelision of a vowel in the contraction of a preposition with the word that follows it:de +água =d'água. It is used almost exclusively in poetry.
The hyphen (-) is used to make compound words, especially plants and animal names likepapagaio-de-rabo-vermelho "red-tailed parrot".
It is also extensively used to appendclitic pronouns to the verb, as inquero-o "I want it" (enclisis), or even to embed them within the verb (mesoclisis), as inlevaria +vos +os =levar-vo-los-ia "I would take them to you". Proclitic pronouns are not connected graphically to the verb:não o quero "I do not want it". Each element in such compounds is treated as an individual word for accentuation purposes:matarias +o =matá-lo-ias "You would kill it/him",beberá +a =bebê-la-á "He/she will drink it".
In European Portuguese, as in many other European languages, angularquotation marks are used for general quotations in literature:
Although American-style (“…”) or British-style (‘…’) quotation marks are sometimes used as well, especially in less formal types of writing (they are more easily produced in keyboards) or inside nested quotations, they are less common in careful writing. In Brazilian Portuguese, only American and British-style quote marks are used.
In both varieties of the language, dashes are normally used for direct speech rather than quotation marks:
Prior to thePortuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990, Portuguese had two orthographic standards:
The table to the right illustrates typical differences between the twoorthographies. Some are due to different pronunciations, but others are merely graphic. The main ones are:
As of 2016, the reformed orthography under the 1990 agreement is obligatory in Brazil, Cape Verde, and Portugal, but most adult people do not use it.
| Convention | Portuguese-speaking countries except Brazil before the 1990 agreement | Brazil before the 1990 agreement | All countries after the 1990 agreement | translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Different pronunciation | anónimo | anônimo | Both forms remain | anonymous |
| Vénus | Vênus | Both forms remain | Venus | |
| facto | fato | Both forms remain | fact | |
| ideia | idéia | ideia | idea | |
| Silent consonants | acção | ação | ação | action |
| direcção | direção | direção | direction | |
| eléctrico | elétrico | elétrico | electric | |
| óptimo | ótimo | ótimo | optimal | |
| Diacritics | pinguim | pingüim | pinguim | penguin |
| voo | vôo | voo | flight | |
| Non-personal and non-geographical names | Janeiro | janeiro | janeiro | January |