Lesson p010

10 CONYERSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

4. Tnitial s, s after a consonant, and ss, as s in see, as ss in pas sagę:

sempre sempre sempre always

falso falso falso false

passar passar passar to pass

5. t before e or i is pronounced very forcefully by some cariocas, approximating the ch in church:

tinteiro tinteiro tinteiro inkwell

TOWELS

1. a in a stressed position is “open” like the a in father; in unstressed positions and with the article a (“the”) it tends to be morę “closed” like the finał a in America; this is particularly true in Portugal and in generał with unstressed finał a:

matar matar matar to kill

a data a data a data the datę

2. e, in addition to the pronunciation indicated in Lesson 1, in a finał unstressed position varies be-tween the i in did and the i in machinę in Braził; it is clipped sharply in Portugal, being like a mute e, or is dropped:

breve breve breve brief

verdade verdade verdade truth

Stressed e before j, ch, Ih, nh in Portugal can have the sound of finał a in America, or of closed e:

cereja	cereja	cereja	cherry
igreja	igreja	igreja	church
fecha	fecha	fecha	he closes
venho	venho	venho	I come

e in an unstressed position is sometimes pro-nounced as e in be, in parts of Brazil, as mute e in Portugal, or as i in did in both:

exerddo

devagar

pedir

respeito

exerddo

devagar

pedir

respeito

exercfdo

devagar

pedir

respeito

exerdse slowly to ask respect

3. o, in addition to the pronundation already indi-cated in Lesson 1 (“open” as o in off, and “closed” as o in oh), is also pronounced like oo in boot in an unstressed position, quite regularly in Portugal, and less consistently in Brazil (for ex-ample, less so in Sao Paulo than in Rio de Janeiro); this applies also to the pronundation of the definite article o (“the”), and to o in a finał unstressed position:

todos todos todos all

o morimento o morimento o movimento

the movement

, os portugu^ses os portugu&es os portugueses 0

the Portuguese