Unveiling the Sounds of Portugal and Brazil: A Pronunciation Guide

Ever wondered why Brazilian Portuguese sounds like a lively samba, while European Portuguese feels more like a classic fado? Portuguese spoken in Brazil sounds more open and melodic than its European cousin, no doubt. Indeed, pronunciation is where these Portuguese dialects differ the most.

In this post, we will delve into those phonetic differences. But let’s remind us nonetheless that Brazil is a huge country with several regional dialects. Likewise, Portugal has regional variations. Thus, differences in pronunciation pointed out throughout this post refer to standard versions of Portuguese spoken on either side of the Atlantic.

Let’s dive in.

Explore other differences beyond pronunciation: Two Worlds, One Language: Unveiling the Differences Between European and Brazilian Portuguese

Vowel Sounds

In general, Brazilian Portuguese is more clearly pronounced than its European cousin. Much of this is due to differences in the vowel sounds between the two.

See, European Portuguese, like English, is a stress-timed language, whereas Brazilian Portuguese is syllable-timed.

Simply put, in a stressed-timed language (as opposed to a syllable-timed one), stressed syllables follow a regular cadence with fixed time intervals between them. 

Because unstressed syllables must fit into those fixed time intervals (between the stressed syllables), they are shortened or reduced. 

This syllable-shortening leads to vowel reduction (vowels won’t sound as open as otherwise) and, as a result, pronunciation becomes less explicit.

Listen to the following verses* in either variant. Pay attention to the vowel sounds.

* From Água de Beber by António C. Jobim

Did you notice the vowel reduction going on in the European version? For instance, you can hardly hear that e in the words tive and sabe. 

In Brazilian Portuguese, however, you clearly hear an /i/-sound, as in Lee. 

Let’s now turn to the consonant sounds. 

Consonant Sounds 

S, Z

There are more fricative sounds in European Portuguese than in the Brazilian standard. This is mostly due to the pronunciation of the letter s.

In European Portuguese, all words ending with an s render the fricative /ʃ/-sound, as in shape. The same happens whenever an s comes before a voiceless consonant* like p, t, c, f.

Also, words ending with the letter z produce the same fricative sound.

* Voiceless consonants are sounds that we articulate without engaging our vocal cords. If you want to dive deeper into Portuguese pronunciation, specifically European Portuguese, consider enrolling in Sounds of Portuguese. 

In Brazilian Portuguese, however, the letters s and z will (under the same circumstances) produce the sibilant /s/-sound (as in sign).

Listen to the following sentence in either standard: