Master European Portuguese Pronunciation: Essential Guide for Beginners and Beyond

I often hear people say that Portuguese sounds different from other Romance languages. And that’s because it’s true!

So, what is so special about European Portuguese pronunciation?

In short, European Portuguese pronunciation is characterized by an abundance of hushing, nasal, and close-vowel sounds. These phonetic traits make it reminiscent of Slavic languages, even though it is a Romance language.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the European Portuguese sound system, let’s take a moment to understand why pronunciation is crucially important for language learners. Read on

Why you should care about your pronunciation

Decent pronunciation skills are vital to putting insecurities away when speaking in your target language.

By feeling more confident in speaking Portuguese, you are more likely to engage more often in conversation. More speaking practice, in turn, translates into progress toward a more articulate speech. It simply is a virtuous circle.

And yet, in my experience, students tend to prioritize grammar and vocabulary over pronunciation.

There is a widespread notion among language learners that pronunciation will naturally improve over time. Well, I’m afraid that is not the case. Actually, it might be quite the opposite.

See, left to its own devices, an underperformed pronunciation is likely to settle in for good. The later you act upon it, the harder it will be to get to grips with it. Thus, it is wise to work on it right off the bat.

So, becoming acquainted with the Portuguese basic sounds is among the first things you want to do as you start your learning journey. It’s simple, your pronunciation skills are a function of your ability to reproduce those basic sound units.

Let’s now take a peek at common features of European Portuguese pronunciation.

Main features of European Portuguese pronunciation

On several occasions, I’ve heard people say that European Portuguese sounds like a cross between Spanish and Russian!

At first, I took it as a joke. Then, I gave it some thought only to realize that it might be the case for foreigners hearing the language for the first time.

Broadly, one can say that European Portuguese has three kinds of sounds that stand out: (1) close-vowel sounds, (2) hushing sounds, and (3) nasal sounds.

Close-vowel sounds

You’ve probably noticed that language sounds in European Portuguese are less vibrant than in other Romance languages ​such as Spanish, Italian, or even Brazilian Portuguese. This is mainly due to the high frequency of close-vowel sounds in the spoken language.

See, Portuguese is a stress-timed language (as opposed to syllable-stressed languages), which means that the time gaps between stressed syllables are fairly consistent – this implies the reduction of unstressed syllables for them to fit into those fixed time slots.

In turn, syllable reduction of unstressed syllables results in close vowels and less clearly pronounced sounds when compared to stressed syllables.

All in all, syllable reduction and close vowel sounds make understanding (and pronouncing) Portuguese more challenging than, say, Spanish.

This is the reason why many language learners have a hard time with their listening comprehension and pronunciation. However, that’s nothing listening practice and phonological awareness won’t fix.

Fricative sounds

Fricative, hushing sounds (as in the word sheep) permeate the language.

In Portuguese, most nouns are pluralized by adding the letter s at the end, the so-called s-plural, which renders a hushing sound.

Also, the s-plural applies to articles, pronouns, and adjectives, thus adding to the prevalence of this fricative sound.

There are, too, several other spelling patterns that produce this hushing sound.

Nasal sounds