How to Pronounce the Letter "O" in Brazilian Portuguese

Fernando Nonohay Nonohay Author

In this post you will learn how to pronounce words with the letter "o" in them, which can be a bit tricky for students.

In this post we'll learn the different ways you can pronounce the letter o in Brazilian Portuguese words.

Many students of Brazilian Portuguese often tell me they find it difficult to pronounce the letter o in Brazilian Portuguese, mainly because they can't actually hear the difference between the open and closed sounds of it.

1. Open sound

Like the o in the English word 'bought'. examples:

bola (ball) 

avó (grandmother)

(It's quite common for Brazilians to just say vó without the a)

vó (grandmother)

cola (glue)

pó (dust). 

Note that when the o is under the acute accent [ ´ ] it is always pronounced as an open sound, no matter where it is in the word.

2. Closed sound

It's a short 'oh' sound, similar to the o  in the English word no:

nome (name) 

avô (grandfather)

(It's quite common for Brazilians to just say vô without the a)

vô (grandfather)

ônibus (bus) 

Note that when the o is under the circumflex accent [^] is is always pronounced as a closed sound, no matter where it is in the word. 

3. oo sound

If the o is the last letter of a word, it is pronounced more like the oo in food.

dedo (finger) 

alto (tall) 

4.  Diphthongs (vowel pairs) with the letter o

io 

-> at the end of a word: both vowels blend into [ee-oo] as in you 

prédio (building) 

-> not at the end of a word: normal closed sound.

biologia (biology) 

oi 

closed o sound combined with ee

noite (night) 

oi (hello/hi) 

oa 

The o is pronounced with the oo sound

voar (to fly) 

ao

(as in cow)

ao (to) 

caos (chaos) 

oe 

closed sound (not at the end of a word)

poeta (poet) 

ou

closed sound - the u is silent.

Ele chegou. (He arrived.)

Sou  (I am) 

5.  Nasal sounds

Brazilian Portuguese has many nasal vowel sounds. They happen when a vowel is followed by the letter m (and sometimes n) or when the vowel combination has a tilde accent [~]. The sound produced is similar to the sound in English words ending in -ng (song, ping) but when the g is barely pronounced. Let's have  a look at some examples of nasal sounds with the vowel o.

ão

I've written a post, with a video as well on how to pronounce words with -ão. Click here to be taken to that post.

mão (hand) 

õe

Similar to the -oing sound in boing

Ele põe (He puts) 

om

Similar to the -ong sound in gong

bom (good) 

som (sound) 

Categories: Pronunciation