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🔤 The Portuguese Alphabet — The Portuguese alphabet has 26 letters: 5 vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and 21 consonants. Portuguese is a phonetic language, but it has some unique sounds including nasal vowels and the lh and nh sounds. This lesson covers the letter names and their sounds with pronunciation guides in Urdu and English.

🔊 Click the Listen button next to each letter or sound to hear the pronunciation using Text-to-Speech.

💡 Key Rule: Portuguese has open and closed vowel sounds. The letter "R" has two pronunciations: a soft tap (like in "caro") and a strong guttural sound (like in "carro"). Nasal vowels are very important in Portuguese.

🔤 The Portuguese Alphabet (A–Z)

The 26 letters of the Portuguese alphabet with pronunciation in Urdu and English.

# Letter Pronunciation (English) تلفظ (Urdu) Meaning (English) معنی (Urdu) Audio
1 A ah آ letter حرف
2 B beh بے letter حرف
3 C seh سے letter حرف
4 D deh دے letter حرف
5 E eh ای letter حرف
6 F eh-fee ایفی letter حرف
7 G zheh ژے letter حرف
8 H ah-gah آگا letter حرف
9 I ee ای letter حرف
10 J joh-tah جوتا letter حرف
11 K kah کا letter حرف
12 L eh-leh ایلے letter حرف
13 M eh-meh ایمے letter حرف
14 N eh-neh اینے letter حرف
15 O oh او letter حرف
16 P peh پے letter حرف
17 Q keh کے letter حرف
18 R eh-rreh ایرے letter حرف
19 S eh-sseh ایسے letter حرف
20 T teh تے letter حرف
21 U oo او letter حرف
22 V veh وے letter حرف
23 W dah-blee-oo ڈابلیو letter حرف
24 X sheesh شیش letter حرف
25 Y ee-psee-lohn ایپسیلون letter حرف
26 Z zeh زے letter حرف

📌 Vowels: A, E, I, O, U  |  Consonants: All other letters

🔑 Tip: Letters K, W, and Y are not native to Portuguese and are mainly used in loanwords.

🔊 Portuguese Vowel Sounds

Portuguese has both oral and nasal vowels. Nasal vowels are indicated by a tilde (~) or by an "m" or "n" at the end of a syllable.

/a/
casa, fala
Open A — like the "a" in "father"
کھلا آ — جیسے "فادر" میں
/ɛ/
ela, café
Open E — like the "e" in "bed"
کھلا ای — جیسے "بیڈ" میں
/e/
ele, você
Closed E — like the "ay" in "say"
بند ای — جیسے "سے" میں
/i/
sim, ali
I — like the "ee" in "see"
ای — جیسے "سی" میں
/ɔ/
olá, bom
Open O — like the "o" in "hot"
کھلا او — جیسے "ہاٹ" میں
/o/
ovo, avô
Closed O — like the "o" in "go"
بند او — جیسے "گو" میں
/u/
útil, mundo
U — like the "oo" in "soon"
او — جیسے "سون" میں
/ã/
mãe, pão, irmã
Nasal A — through the nose
ناک سے آ
/ẽ/
bem, tempo
Nasal E — through the nose
ناک سے ای
/ĩ/
sim, fim
Nasal I — through the nose
ناک سے ای
/õ/
bom, som, avô
Nasal O — through the nose
ناک سے او
/ũ/
um, algum
Nasal U — through the nose
ناک سے او

📌 Nasal Vowels: In Portuguese, vowels with a tilde (~) or followed by "m" or "n" are pronounced through the nose. This is very important!

🔑 Examples: mãe (mother), pão (bread), bem (well), bom (good), um (one)

🗣️ Portuguese Consonant Sounds

Key Portuguese consonant sounds that differ from English.

/ɾ/
caro, para, hora
Soft R — like the "dd" in "ladder" (tap)
نرم ر — جیسے "لڈر" میں
/ʁ/
carro, rato, Rio
Strong R — guttural, like French R (in the throat)
سخت ر — گلے سے (فرانسیسی آر کی طرح)
/ʎ/
filho, mulher, olho
LH — like the "lli" in "million"
لھ — جیسے "ملین" میں
/ɲ/
manhã, sonho, vinho
NH — like the "ny" in "canyon"
نھ — جیسے "کینین" میں
/z/
casa, mesa, rosa
S (voiced) — like the "z" in "zoo"
وائسڈ ایس — جیسے "زو" میں
/s/
sapo, sol
S (unvoiced) — like the "s" in "see"
بے آواز ایس — جیسے "سی" میں
/ʒ/
já, hoje, janela
J / ZH — like the "s" in "measure"
ژ — جیسے "میژر" میں

📌 Consonant Rules:

• R has two sounds: soft (tap) and strong (guttural).

• LH = like "lli" in "million" (filho = son).

• NH = like "ny" in "canyon" (manhã = morning).

• S between vowels = /z/ (casa), at beginning or after consonant = /s/ (sapo).

📖 Important Rules

👃 Nasal Vowels
mãe, pão, bem
Rule: Vowels with a tilde (~) or followed by "m" or "n" are nasal.
• ã — mãe (mother)
• ão — pão (bread)
• em — bem (well)
• om — bom (good)
ناک سے بولے جانے والے حروفِ علت
🗣️ The Two "R" Sounds
caro / carro
Soft R (tap): Between vowels and at the end of words.
• caro (expensive) — tap
Strong R (guttural): At the beginning of words and double RR.
• carro (car) — guttural
دو طرح کی "ر" — نرم اور سخت
🔤 LH and NH Sounds
filho, manhã
LH = /ʎ/ — like "lli" in "million"
• filho (son)
• mulher (woman)

NH = /ɲ/ — like "ny" in "canyon"
• manhã (morning)
• vinho (wine)
لھ اور نھ کی آوازیں
🔊 The Letter "S"
casa / sapo
Rule: "S" has different sounds.
• /z/ — between vowels (casa, mesa)
• /s/ — at beginning of words (sapo, sol)
• /ʃ/ — in Brazilian Portuguese at the end of words
"S" کی مختلف آوازیں

📝 Practice Tips:

💡 Quick Reference — Key Sounds:

Nasal: ã, õ, em, am, um
R (soft): caro
R (hard): carro
LH: filho (lli)
NH: manhã (ny)
S (voiced): casa (z)