Marks on letters / accents: ` ´ ^ ~

1. You don’t need to master these marks at this level. This is just for general awareness. Having said that, we find it useful if you can start including them on the simple words / sentences you will be writing.

Acento = accent (as in this context)

Sotaque = accent (a way of pronouncing the words of a language)

2. The marks are the following:

(1) ` = o acento grave

It goes only with ‘a’: à. It is not used very often. Example:

Eu vou à praia. = I am going to go to the beach.

(2) ´ = o acento agudo

It goes with any vowel: á, é, í, ó , ú. Examples:

Itália = Italy

México = Mexico

Exercício = exercise

Avó = grandmother

Número = number

(3) ^ = o acento circunflexo

It goes with these vowels: â, ê, ô. Examples:

Câmera = camera

Português = portuguese

Avô = grandfather

(4) ~ = o til

It goes with these vowels: ã, õ. Examples:

Mãe = mother

Soluções = solutions

3. Spelling a letter that has an accent:

Glossary: com = with

Avô Listen: a – v – o com acento circunflexo.

Avó Listen: a – v – o com acento agudo.

4. Pronunciation tip.

If you follow this one tip, your pronunciation can improve from the start. Every time you see one of these marks on a letter, it is where the stress goes on the word. Usually, there can be only one mark on a word.

Example: The Brazilian purple berry is called açaí, not açai. Hear the difference: Listen: Açaí (the stress is on í) – açai (the stress is on ça).

There is a small number of exceptions where ~ appears with another mark. In this case put the stress on the other mark. Example:

órgão = organ. The stress goes on ó.