How To Pronounce and Read European Portuguese like a Native!

Reading Exercise – https://staging-public.portuguesewithcarla.com/read
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Other Videos:
How to pronounce the R -https://youtu.be/B_xaE9jOaL8
Alphabet and sounds – https://youtu.be/_pYwFUiARJw
Tricky Sounds – https://youtu.be/8BejgsnJjns



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94 Comments

  1. Can you take closer look video of your face so that we can see clearly of your face and mouth movement when you speak. ?

    1. @ogator I am a Portuguese native speaker. Portuguese is second nature to me.
      I don’t think about the rules while I am speaking.
      For instance, I pronounce the word ” Economia” a bit different than Carla. I pronounce the two oo like u
      Good- like those oo.
      Do you think of these rules when you speak in your native language?

    2. @European Portuguese with JosĆ© AtĆ© em portuguĆŖs, digo uma palavra como a ouvi ser dita. ƀs vezes, acho que todo mundo tem seu portuguĆŖs. Acho que os portugueses comeƧaram a fazer isso para enlouquecer os espanhóis.

    3. @ogator NinguƩm enlouquece a ninguƩm. Cada lingua Ʃ diferente.
      Dentro de cada lingua hĆ” sotaques e dialetos.
      Em portugal, todos falamos mais ou menos da mesma maneira, embora haja algumas diferencas na gramÔtica, vocabulario ou até mesmo na pronuncia. Eu tenho o meu português, eu uso o vós com muita frequencia.
      Para alguns portugueses, os do norte do país, falam uma linguagem arcaica. Em espanhol hÔ duas letras que tornam malucos/as a qualquer aprendente que quer aprender o espanhol. Essas letras são B e v, hÔ duas mais que soam igual até certo ponto.
      C e z- Zoo, cereza. A c de casa Ć© diferente a essa c de cerveza. O chino Ć© muito mais dificil que a minha lingua, jĆ” que eles usam tons.
      Por não falar da lingua arabe. Eles não falam a lingua oficial. Em cada cidade fala-se duma maneira muito diferente.
      Os dialetos amendrontam-me

    4. @ogator obrigada eu por assistires ao vídeo e partilhares a tua opinião.
      No, the Portuguese don’t think of these rules when they’re speaking, even because we learn to speak before we learn to read. However as they learn to read and, as you say, encounter words for the first time in the written form, then they may have to pause for a sec and refer back to these rules, even if they don’t actually and consciously know them, the unconscious brain should have a pretty good idea.
      As for those learning to read Portuguese as a foreign language, the tendency, and especially when seen for the first time, is to subconsciously apply the rules of their mother tongue to the reading of words in the target language. Hence the reason for this video šŸ™‚ And thanks again for commenting šŸ‘šŸ½

    5. Kn Ng, sorry but I can’t change this video now. But we’ll take your suggestion into consideration for next time šŸ‘šŸ½ Either way, I hope you enjoyed the video šŸ™‚

  2. 2:08 it’s funny the way you pronounce ” Economia”. I pronounce the two oo like u.

    1. Oh really? That is funny šŸ˜„ I generally hear it it being pronounced they way I did, even in the north of the country. Saying that, you’re way also sounds ok to me šŸ‘šŸ½

    2. @Portuguese With Carla Eu pronuncio essa palavra desta maneira ā€œ Ecunumiaā€ – Economia- um bocadinho diferente a tua pronĆŗncia.

    1. OlĆ” Bonnie and thank you for your comment šŸ™‚ I guess I didn’t think of it because that was not the element of the language I was trying to teach, but I agree it would help you even more. Saying that, you could create an exercise from it as it’s going to have an even greater impact on your memory if you yourself write a list of the words (nouns) mentioned here; look them up on infopedia.pt, look for ā€œmasc.ā€ (masculine) and ā€œfemā€ (feminine) and then add the correct article to each one of them šŸ™‚

  3. For me this is where language starts very important thank you very much Carla. Anymore on the Portuguese IPA would be greatly appreciated. After which if it’s possible incorporating verb/noun phrases with these sounds to learn the sound & vocabulary. Sorry I’m needy. Then the little bits that are often used…joining words, pronoun, positioning etc to make sense of the sentence. Maybe you’ve already done this or maybe this is part of a paid course.. I realize your time is valuable. TY again.

    1. OlĆ” William, we’re glad you’ve enjoyed this video šŸ™‚ most of what you’ve mention is included in our members only program, The Journey. You can learn more about it here: portuguesewithcarla.com/start

    1. Co-meu has 2 syllables and because the ā€œuā€ is at the end we put emphasis on the ā€œmeuā€ part which counts as one syllable. For instance the masculine word for ā€œmyā€ is ā€œmeuā€ and that’s a 1 syllable word (em Portuguese: palavra monossilĆ”bica) šŸ‘šŸ½

  4. So clear and well explained. I was always curious about why Portuguese lyrics of songs appeared/sounded so different from what was written. I’m subscribing so I can learn more.
    I want to ask you about you accent in English: It sounds like UK Midlands, but with traces of Australian. Which is it?

  5. Good teaching. Suppose it’ll be more helpful to demonstrate how the strong syllable reads, or sounds, in a sentence.

  6. Carla, is a great thing to keep all these suggestions in mind! Obrigado pelo empenho e paciĆŖncia! Ɖ um grande prazer ouvir-te! šŸ˜‰ Keep the good work! šŸ‘šŸ½šŸ‘šŸ½šŸ‘šŸ½

  7. OlÔ amiga! Tenho dificuldades de pronunciar as palavras em português de Portugal. No nosso caso nós Timor-Leste temos muitos dialetos por isso dificulata- nos a pronunciar. Sou timorense, nosso país fica localizado no Sudeste asiatico e nosso país eis colÓnia portuguesa. Pode me passar o seu IG. Queria melhoras o meu português com Amiga.

    1. @SebastiĆ£o da Costa do you mean my Instagram? If so, it’s ā€œportuguesewithcarlaā€.

  8. There are exceptions to the diacritics rule: Ć quela, Ć quele, Ć quilo or Ć queloutro and their declensions are still stressed in the antepenultimate syllable.

    1. Just as they say: there are no rules without exceptions! Thanks for pointing that out šŸ‘šŸ½

    2. @Portuguese With Carla One can argue that these are not exceptions as Ć quela, Ć quele, etc are simply contractions of “a aquela, a aquele , etc”. This is the only way to reproduce the sound of what would happen in spoken Portuguese. Just a thought.

  9. Congratulations Carla! Besides being an excellent teacher you have the best standard European Portuguese pronunciation that I have heard in a long time. Your British accent is also very pleasant and clear. I vote that your way of speaking become the standard worldwide versions for Portuguese and English.
    The other day I noticed that you pronounced “frio” in a manner that I did not expect but that I had heard before. This lesson seems to support the most common alternative pronunciation. You may be correct and normally I would not have noticed it, except that nowadays I listen critically to Portuguese in an attempt to restore my former purist knowledge. Only for me. I am fine with Brazilian Portuguese and in many ways it is a more pleasant sounding version of Portuguese. I admit to being biased but no other language is as pleasant, to my ears, as standard European Portuguese when spoken by a good speaker. Keep up the good work!

  10. Wooow,this is so so so clear ,Never understood this till now, thanks alot,I feel like I know have a strong base after this video

  11. Como professor e nortenho, considero que chamar o PortuguĆŖs do norte de Portugal um “nĆ£o standard” Ć© um overstatement… mas se for pela quantidade de pessoas que o fala, entĆ£o sim, podemos considerar que o sotaque do Centro-Lisboa-Sul Ć© mais standardizado porque mais pessoas o tĆŖm.

  12. Nice video. If they overrule all other pronunciation rules, should have started the lesson with the diacritics!

    1. Obrigada šŸ™‚ since most words do not have diacritics I decided to start the lesson with those!

  13. This video explained it really clearly! That was awesome! I was looking for something like this. Also, for some reason I thought it was really funny when you said the word “fazem” with the wrong emphasis. I literally laughed out loud!

  14. This is amazingly helpful! Have been studying Portuguese at home for some time now and was a bit afraid I would never be able to pronounce it correctly since I’m learning it from a book and not from a teacher.

    Muito obrigada!

    1. Happy to know it helps you, Nadia šŸ¤— our podcasts may be of help too, especially when it comes to pronunciation! You can find them all here:
      Portuguesewithcarla.com/podcasts

    1. Im really pleased to hear that and wish you all the best with your learning journey šŸ¤—

  15. HI! My name is Celio. I’m from Brazil, I’m learning English and I need to speak English native with from USA.

    1. I wish you all the best with your English learning, CĆ©lio ā˜ŗļø you just need to make sure you have plenty of exposure to the language and try to practice regularly (daily, if possible!)šŸ‘ŒšŸ½

  16. Muito obrigado Carla! I love everything about this video: the clear explanation, the examples, the pace, your voice. Top quality content šŸ‘šŸ‘šŸ‘

  17. Na escola primÔria a minha professora ensinou nos a descobrir qual a silaba tónica se gritasse mos a palavra

  18. Hello Carla, found your channel and decided to watch it all the way. We will be visiting Portugal in October for the first time. Looking forward to visiting your beautiful country. Thanks for the lesson! Oh, I just subscribed too.

    1. OlĆ” 😊 thanks for subscribing! And very happy to hear you’re watching all our videos – I’m sure this will help you a lot with your trip to Portugal šŸ¤—

  19. Ola Carla
    I am new to your channel still not getting my reading in order. This video is a big help and if you can do something with more examples will be amazing

  20. Thanks Carla for your amazing videos.
    I“m a big beginner, new to Portugal, only 3 months. And I really need to learn this language.
    I have started learning on youtube but I need to have people to speak with.
    would somebody like to meet and practice sometimes?

    Carla, if I want you to teach me, is it possible in person (I am in Lisbon) or you only have online classes?

    1. OlĆ” šŸ‘‹šŸ½ muito obrigada 🄰 I’d would be happy to teach you, but I don’t live in Portugal and even for the online 1-1 lessons I’m not taking on any new students as we’ve been focusing more on our online course The Journey which many feel is very personalised. If you wish to receive more info on that go to: https://staging-public.portuguesewithcarla.com and register your interest (bottom of the page).

  21. Absolutely great video, Carla! Thank you. I have subscribed to enjoy and benefit from your teaching. šŸ™‚

  22. This is unbelievably useful! I’ve only just started Portuguese today and the pronunciation is a little bit overwhelming so far.

    1. Pronouncing Portuguese words can be tricky.. šŸ˜… but I’m super glad to know you found the info in this video helpful 😊

  23. Like the way you approach the subject. Just enough but not too much analysis, makes it pretty easy to understand and remember.

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