Portuguese (Português)

Portuguese is a Romance language spoken by about 240 million people mainly in Brazil (Brasil) and Portugal, and also in Angola, Mozambique (Moçambique), Cape Verde (Cabo Verde), Guinea-Bissau (Guiné-Bissau), São Tomé e Principe, East Timor (Timor-Leste) and Macau. There are also communities of Portuguese speakers in the USA, Canada and a number of other countries.

Portuguese is a descendent of Latin, which was brought to the Iberian Peninsula by Roman soldiers, settlers and merchants from 218 BC. The earliest records of a distinctly Portuguese language appear in administrative documents dating from the 9th century AD. In 1290 King Denis decreed that Portuguese, then simply called the "Vulgar language" should be known as the Portuguese language and should be officially used.

A reformed Portuguese orthography (nova ortografia), in which words were spelled more in accordance with their pronunciation, was adopted is Portugal in 1916. A slightly modified form was adopted in Brazil in 1943 and revised in 1970. A new orthography which aims to unify the written Portuguese of all the lusophone countries was adopted in Brazil in 2009. Dates have yet to be set for its adoption in the other Portuguese-speaking countries

Portuguese alphabet (alfabeto português)
A a	B b	C c	D d	E e	F f	G g	H h	I i
á	bê	cê	dê	é	efe	gê	agá	i
J j	K k	L l	M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r
jota	cá/capa	ele	eme	ene	ó	pê	quê	erre
S s	T t	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y	Z z
esse	tê	u	vê	dábliu, dáblio, duplo-vê	xis	ípsilon, ipsilão, i grego	zê

The letters K, W and Y are used only in foreign loanwords.

Listen to the Portuguese alphabet read by Heitor de Moraes from Brazil

Pronunciation of the Portuguese of Portugal

Pronunciation of the Portuguese of Brazil

Listen to the consonants of Brazilian Portuguese read by Heitor de Moraes from Brazil

Notes on Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation

Sample text in Portuguese

Todos os seres humanos nascem livres e iguais em dignidade e em direitos. Dotados de razão e de consciência, devem agir uns para com os outros em espírito de fraternidade.

A recording of this text

Sample text in Brazilian Portuguese

Todos os seres humanos nascem livres e iguais em dignidade e direitos. São dotados de razão e consciência e devem agir em relação uns aos outros com espírito de fraternidade.

A recording of this text

Translation

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Tower of Babel in Portuguese

Useful phrases in European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese

books Portuguese language learning materials