In this pronunciation lesson you will learn the pronunciation of the letter R in Brazilian Portuguese.
This video lesson is a part of the Street Smart Brazil Portuguese Starter Kit. In this series we give you important pronunciation tips to improve your pronunciation whether you are just starting out with Portuguese or want to improve your language skills.
The examples I will use in the lesson come from four Brazilian songs. Click the links below to get to the lyrics and videos:
- Ao Meu Redor, by Brazilian singer Marisa Monte, one of my favorites
- Águas de Março, by Elis Regina
- Aquarela, by Toquinho
- Velha Infância, by Tribalistas
The video for this pronunciation lesson is below. Boa aula!
The R as the first letter of the word
When the R is the first letter of the word, we pronounce it like the H in English, as in “hotel”, or the J in Spanish, as in “Jose”.
From the song Ao Meu Redor:
- Ao meu redor = around me
- Os remédios = medicine (as in drugs, not the science)
- A revista = magazine
- O rádio = radio
From Águas de Março:
- O resto = the rest
- O regato = brook, stream
- O rosto = the face
The double R: RR
We also pronounce the double RR like the H in English, such as in “hotel”, or the J in Spanish, as in “Jose”.
From Ao Meu Redor:
- O cigarro = cigarette
- O carro = car
From Águas de Março:
- A garrafa = the bottle
The R at the end of a word or syllable
When the R is the last letter of a syllable or a word, its pronunciation will vary with the different Brazilian accents. Marisa Monte and Elis Regina are from Rio de Janeiro, so they pronounce it like the English H, such as in hotel. But you will often hear this final R pronounced differently. Just keep your years open to the different ways Brazilians speak.
From Ao Meu Redor:
- O deserto = desert; deserted
- Perto = close (the opposite of far)
- O quarto = bedroom
From Aquarela:
- Chorar = to cry
- Voar = to fly
The R between two vowels
When you have a single R between two vowels, that is, when the R forms a syllable with the vowel that comes after it, the R is pronounced approximately like the American English T in words such as “party” or “quarter”. This applies throughout Brazil.
From Ao Meu Redor:
- Geladeira = refrigerator
- Janeiro = January
Learn how to say the months of the year in Portuguese!
From Aquarela:
- Aquarela = watercolor
- Amarelo = yellow
- Colorir = to color
- O muro = wall (outside a house)
Pronunciation tip: Linking words
When we have a word the ends in R followed by a word that starts with a vowel, we tend to put those together. In other words, that final R will form a syllable with the vowel that starts the next word. This happens throughout Brazil. I show you two examples in the video lesson for this post – see below!
Have fun observing the R in Brazilian Portuguese. I encourage you to learn with songs. For great tips and strategies to learn language using music and other media resources, check out Susanna Zaraysky’s book Language is Music. It is available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese on Amazon.com.
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