Portuguese → English
English uses 43 sounds. You already own 18 of them from Portuguese. The other 25 are the work — and 21 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: palatal → velar
English: sing · written "ng", "n before k"
Your /ɲ/ is the one in vinho (wine).
the move: labiodental → dental
English: think · written "th"
Tongue between the teeth, no voice.
Your /f/ is the one in falar (to speak).
the move: labiodental → dental
English: this · written "th (function words, between vowels)"
the, this, that, they, mother, breathe.
Your /v/ is the one in verde (green).
the move: close → near-close
English: sit · written "i", "y", "e (unstressed)"
Your /i/ is the one in vida (life).
the move: open-mid → near-open
English: cat · written "a"
Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide.
Your /ɛ/ is the one in pé (foot).
the move: close → near-close
English: book · written "oo (book)", "u (put)", "oul (could)"
Your /u/ is the one in tudo (everything).
the move: longer
English: see · written "ee", "ea", "e_e", "ie"
Your /i/ is the one in vida (life).
the move: longer
English: law · written "or", "aw", "au", "al"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in avó (grandmother).
the move: longer
English: food · written "oo", "u_e", "ew", "ou (soup)"
Your /u/ is the one in tudo (everything).
the move: unrounded
English: cup · written "u", "o (son, love)", "ou (young)"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in avó (grandmother).
the move: open-mid → open
English: hot · written "o", "a after w"
American: /ɑ/.
Your /ɔ/ is the one in avó (grandmother).
the move: near-open → mid
English: about · written "any unstressed vowel"
The commonest English vowel. banana = /bəˈnɑːnə/.
Your /ɐ/ is the one in cama (bed).
the move: near-open → open-mid, longer
English: bird · written "er", "ir", "ur", "ear (earth)"
American: /ɝ/ with the r.
Your /ɐ/ is the one in cama (bed).
the move: fricative → affricate
English: church · written "ch", "tch", "tu (nature)"
Your /ʃ/ is the one in chave (key).
the move: fricative → affricate
English: judge · written "j", "g (e,i,y)", "dge"
Your /ʒ/ is the one in hoje (today).
the move: tap → approximant
English: red · written "r", "rr", "wr"
Silent after vowels in British English (car /kɑː/); pronounced in American.
Your /ɾ/ is the one in caro (expensive).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: make · written "a_e", "ai", "ay", "ei (eight)"
Your /e/ is the one in medo (fear).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: time · written "i_e", "igh", "y", "ie (pie)"
Your /a/ is the one in pá (spade).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: boy · written "oi", "oy"
Your /ɔ/ is the one in avó (grandmother).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: house · written "ou", "ow"
Your /a/ is the one in pá (spade).
Words you may say identically
Two or more English sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Portuguese sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
house
Closest thing you own: — but labiodental → glottal.
near
American: /ɪr/.
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close → near-close.
car
Closest thing you own: — but near-open → open, central → back, longer.
home
American: /oʊ/.
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, near-open → mid.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Portuguese | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Stress-timed (Portugal) | Stress-timed |
| Stress | Contrastive and written. The default is the second-to-last syllable; anything else takes an accent, and the accent also picks between open and close vowels — avó /ɔ/ is a grandmother and avô /o/ is a grandfather. | Contrastive, and unmarked in writing — the single most common cause of not being understood. Dozens of noun/verb pairs differ only in where the stress goes, and every unstressed vowel collapses to /ə/. |
What you have that English doesn't
17 sounds with no job in English. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Portuguese has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned English from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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