Rhotic sounds have to do with the letter R, and this letter in Portuguese will make two sounds. So it’s either this one, /r/

or this one, /R/. So this one, /r/, is in front of your mouth, /r/. This one is produced here in the back, /R/.

This is called alveolar tap.

So to make this sound, /r/,

you have to have the tip of your tongue hovering your palate, and then

it will flip once, the tip of your tongue, /r/, as the air flows out, /r/.

Notice that if you think of the typical Spanish /rrr/, this is called a trill, so it’s a roll. /rrr/. But this one is a single flip, /r/.

Okay. This one is produced here in the back, and it has to do with this straight passage between your larynx and the uvula, and so it’s a vibration as

the air comes out or passes through this straight channel. So /R/.

In some parts of Portugal, mostly in Tras-os-Montes, the northeast Portugal, people will do the Spanish trill instead of this /R/. So people will say Ricardo instead of Ricardo. So if this is too difficult for you, and if the Spanish trill is easier, just go with the Spanish trill and you will be fine. /rrr/ instead of /R/.

All right. Now let’s take a look at the spellings standing for each of them. So starting with the R sounds, R in between other letters, of which one must be a vowel. So if we have the letter R in between letters and one of them, at least one, is a vowel, then we have /r/. The first example here, “caro”. We have two vowels. R in between two vowels, “caro”, expensive.

Parco.

Here we have a vowel preceding R and then a consonant following it. “Parco”. And here we have the opposite, so the R is preceded by a consonant B and then followed by a vowel, “braço”. In all these situations, we have the /r/ sound, “caro”, “parco”, “braço”. Braço, arm. Parco is modest, simple, poor. It depends on the context. Caro is expensive.

Oh, and by the way, this will be true as long as R is not preceded by N or L. Otherwise, we’ll get the other /R/ sound, as we’ll see in a bit.

Then we have R at the end, so

“mar”, for example. Sea, mar. “Cozer”,

to cook. Any verb in the infinity form, “andar”, “fazer”, “correr”, /r/. So R at the end will render the /r/ sound. And then our /R/, so it’s the opposite. /R/ at the beginning will render the R sound, as in “rude” or “rã”. Okay? Rude, rã. So rude and rã, frog. No, it’s the bigger one. The toad, rã. /R/.

So there you go here. So if R follows L or N, in other words, if R is preceded by N or

L, then we also get “R”, as in “genro”, “melro”. Son-in-law, genro. Melro, blackbird.

And finally, so double R in between vowels always stands for /R/, as in “erro”, “arrogante”.

So this is mistake or error, erro. Arrogante, arrogant. And, of course, this is in opposition to the situation when the single R is in between vowels and we have the /r/. So if we want to say “carro” instead of “caro”, then we use the double R and we say carro, car, because caro is expensive. All right, and that’s it for rhotic sounds, and I’ll see you in the next lesson. Até breve.