In this pronunciation lesson you will learn the pronunciation of the letter G in 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 com the following Brazilian songs:
- 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
In this lesson, we will cover the sounds of the G when followed by a vowel. We will not cover the sounds of the G when it is followed by a consonant as in grande, but here is a tip: In these cases you have the hard G such as in the syllables GA, GO, and GU that you will learn here.
The video for this pronunciation lesson is below. Boa aula!
G before A, O, and U
The letter G has the same sound in the syllables GA, GO, and GU. It is what I call the hard G.
Let’s see a few words:
GA
From the song Ao Meu Redor:
- A gaveta = drawer
- O cigarro = cigarette
From the song Águas de Março:
- O regato = brook, stream
- A garrafa = bottle
GO
In the examples that I will give you, you may notice that the sound of the letter “o” varies when it is the last letter of the word. Our focus here, however, is on the sound of the G.
From the song Velha Infância:
- Eu gosto de você = I like you
- Eu sigo = I follow
GU
Here we will cover the sound of the GU when it is not followed by another vowel.
From the song Aquarela:
- Alguns = some
- Segundo = second
G before E and I
The G is soft when you have GE or GI, and sounds just like the letter J in Portuguese. Visit our lesson about the letter J!
GE
From the song Ao Meu Redor:
- A geladeira = refrigerator
- A garagem = garage
From the song Aquarela:
- A gente = we
A gente is the most common way to say “we” in Brazilian Portuguese. The conjugation, however, is not the same as with “nós”. Learn more! Visit our lesson: Using ‘A Gente’ – Make Your Portuguese Even Smarter
GI
From the song Aquarela:
- Imaginar = to imagine
- Eu giro = I revolve, I spin, I rotate
Great! Now you know how to pronounce the letter G in Portuguese. 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.
Street Smart Brazil teaches Portuguese via webcam. Please visit our website to meet our amazing team, learn about our teaching approach, and book a trial session with us.
