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Lesson Transcript

Braden: Hi, everyone and welcome back to Pronunciation lesson 2 - Portuguese consonant sounds, part 1.
Thássia: Pronunciation 2, part 1.
Braden: It's because now we're going to start on the consonants. We did the vowels the first time.
Thássia: Ahh. Luckily, most of the consonant sounds are the same or extremely similar to English consonants.
Braden: Yes. There are a few however that are quite different. We'll start going over those in this lesson and finish up in the next lesson.
Thássia: Sounds good!
Braden: Quick review. how many vowels are there in Portuguese?
Thássia: Five.
Braden: Which are?
Thássia: A, E, I, O, U.
Braden: Okay. So, we went over the vowels and their rules in lesson one. In this lesson, you'll learn 10 more consonant sounds. Now, if you have the lesson notes, it's probably a good idea to read them as you listen, so that you can see what sounds we're talking about.
Braden: Most of the rules are not complicated, but they can make you think.
Braden: That's true. I had to go over these quite a bit before I got them down.
Thássia: Okay. First, we'll go over the H sound, and then the CH.
Braden: Thássia, could you tell us what sound the H makes in Portuguese?
Thássia: The Portuguese H at the beginning of a word is silent.
Braden: That's true. Actually, it's almost always silent, right?
Thássia: Yes. That's a good way to look at it actually. Sometimes, when it's combined with other consonants, like CH helps in making several different sounds. But, by itself, it doesn't make a sound.
Braden: Could you give us some examples of the letter H?
Thássia: Sure. Hora, spelled H-O-R-A, means "hour." Hábito, spelled H-A, with an accent, B-I-T-O, means "habit." And Bahia, spelled B-A-H-I-A, is the name of a Brazilian state where Salvador is located. What's next?
Braden: The CH sound. The rule for CH is very simple it always sounds like the English SH.
Thássia: Some examples are chorar, which means "to cry." Achar, which means "to find." And, chover, which means "shower."
Braden: Awesome! What's next?
Thássia: The next consonant we'll look at are the C, G, and Qu.
Braden: Nice! These three consonants are similar in that each is pronounced in one way when followed by an E or an I. And another way when followed by any other letter.
Thássia: That's right. The Portuguese C acts just like the English C. In that, it has an S sound when it appears before the vowels E and I.
Braden: Like in the words…
Thássia: Centro.
Braden: Which means "center" or "downtown," depending on context. Or…
Thássia: Cimento.
Braden: Which means "cement."
Thássia: And a K sound before all other letters.
Braden: Like…
Thássia: Carta, corda, culpa, cru, and claro.
Braden: Which mean "letter," "rope," "guilt," "raw," and "clear," respectively. Next, we have the letter G.
Thássia: The letter G in Portuguese makes a /j/ sound before the vowels E and I.
Braden: Like the English word "pleasure." That /j/ right there in the middle, "pleasure."
Thássia: And it has a hard G sound before all other letters.
Braden: Some examples of the first rule are…
Thássia: Gelo.
Braden: Which means "ice," and…
Thássia: Giz.
Braden: Which means "chalk."
Thássia: And, the second rule can be seen the words like gato, which means "cat." Globo, which means "globe," and agora, which means "now."
Braden: There's also a little sub-rule for when the G is followed by the letter U.
Thássia: That's right. The GU before an A has a gua sound.
Braden: Some examples are…
Thássia: Guarda.
Braden: Which means "guard."
Thássia: And agua.
Braden: Which means "water."
Thássia: And when Gu is followed by E or I, the U is silent.
Braden: Like in…
Thássia: Guia.
Braden: Which means "guide," or…
Thássia: Guerra.
Braden: Which means "war."
Thássia: Now, we'll look at the Qu.
Braden: The Portuguese Q is always followed by the letter U.
Thássia: That's right. Qu has a /k/ sound before the vowels E and I.
Braden: Like in the words…
Thássia: Querer.
Braden: Which means "to want," or…
Thássia: Quinze.
Braden: Which means "fifteen."
Thássia: And a /kw/ sound before A and O.
Braden: Like in the word…
Thássia: Quarto.
Braden: Which means "bedroom," or…
Thássia: Quarenta.
Braden: Which means "forty."
Thássia: Okay. To wrap things up, let's go over the R and the double R.
Braden: These are a bit more complicated than the others mostly because the R can change so much depending on which region of Brazil you are in.
Thássia: Yes! But most Brazilians follow at least these next rules.
Braden: A single R between two vowels or after a consonant is pronounced like the D in "ladder" or "meadow."
Thássia: You don’t kind of tap the roof of your mouth.
Braden: Could you give us some examples?
Thássia: Well, the word for "expensive" is caro. And the word for "three" is três.
Braden: The double R makes an /h/ sound like in "house," "hill," or "heart." Could you give us some examples of that?
Thássia: Sure. The word for "help" is socorro. And, the word for "tower" is torre.
Braden: So, Thássia, are there any other rules we should be aware of?
Thássia: Uh-hmm. When the R is at the beginning or end of a word or before a consonant, the single R makes the same sound as a double R.
Braden: We'd better give some examples for that.
Thássia: You're right. The word for "rat" is rato. And the word for "tree" is árvore. And the word for "walk" is andar.
Braden: Okay. You know, in the past two lessons, we've covered 18 new sounds.
Thássia: Whoa! We really are going fast. Thanks for joining us, everyone.
Braden: Keep practicing that pronunciation, and we'll see you next time.
Thássia: Até mais!
Braden: See you later!

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