Lesson
p002

2 CONYERSATIONAL PORTUGUESE

3.    The accent mark (' or ") indicates the syllable that is stressed: Tomas.

(a)    The acute accent mark (') over a, e, o indicates an open pronunciation (in forming the sound there is a large opening between the roof of the mouth and the tongue): Gloria.

(b)    The circumflex accent mark (*) over a, e, o indicates a closed pronunciation (a smaller opening between the roof of the mouth and the tongue): Porto {Porto ®).

4.    The tilde (//V) (~) over a vowel indicates a nasal sound: Jodo.

B. Now listen to the names of some cities:

C. Now the names of some

Barcelona

Betom

Belo Horizonte

Brasilia

Coimbra

Lisboa

Londres

Madrid

Aiemanha (Germany)

Angola

Argentina

Brasil

Chana

Nova Iorque

Paris

Pfirto¹

Porto Alegre¹ Rio de Janeiro Roma Santos Sito Paulo

countries:

Coldmbia

Cuba

Espanba (Spain) Estados Unidos (U.S.) Franęa

Inglaterra (England) Moęambiąue Itólta    Portugal

Mćxico    Uruguai

Notice the following points (morę detailed distinc-tions will be madę later in the course):

vowels

a approximates a in ah,father. e open, as explained above: eh, best; closed, ap-proximates modified a as in case; compare fez. i as in machinę.

o open, as in ojf; closed, as in rosę. u approximates u in rułe.

CONSONANTS AND CONSONANT GROUPS

ch as ch in machinę. h is never pronounced.

Ih as lii in miUion.

m and n tend to nasalize the vowel before them; do not close your lips in pronouncing a finał m. nh as ni in onion.

s between vowels as z, or as s in rosę; initial s, or ss, as ss in lesson.

STRESS

notice:

1. Words ending in a, e, or o (or in one of these vowels and s, m, or ns) are stressed on the syllable before last:

casa pobre americano mesas

house poor

American tables

1

Porto (B>.

Porto Alegre (§).