Accentuation and Graphic Signs
(Acentuação e Sinais Gráficos)
 
 
Graphic Accents (Acentos gráficos)
 
Accent Usage Examples
Acute
(Agudo)
(´)		 indicates:
  • the accentuated closed vowels i and u;
  • the accentuated opened and semi-opened vowels a, e and o
impossível impossible
alaúde  musical instrument
chá  tea
fácil  easy
café  coffee
dissésseis sixteen
mó  mob
herói  hero
Grave
(Grave)
(`)		 indicates the accentuated opened vowels in the contracted forms of the preposition a to(wards), at
with the feminine forms of the definite article (a, as) and with the demonstrative pronouns a(s), aquele(s), aquela(s), aquilo;		 à < a+a
às < a+as
àquele < a+aquele
àquela < a+aquela
àquilo < a+aquilo
àqueles < a+aqueles
àquelas < a+aquelas
Circumflex
(Circunflexo)
(^)		 indicates the middle timbre of the accentuated vowels a, e and o:
câmara  chamber
você  you
avô  grandfather
brônquios  bronchi
Tilde
(Til)
(~)		 indicates the nasalization of the vowels a and o:
mãe  mother
órfão orphan
irmão  brother
põe  (he) puts
 
 
Graphic Signs (Sinais gráficos)
 
Sign Usage Exemplos
Apostrophe
(Apóstrofo)
(')		 indicates the suppression of a sound (usually a vowel) minh'alma
n'os Lusiadas
Sant'Ana
Cedilla
(Cedilha)
(,)		 indicates the reading of the letter c as [s]-se before a, o and u: força force
terço 1/3 part
açúcar sugar
Hyphen
(Hífen)
(-)		 in compound words: alto-forno
guarda-redes
in some words derived by prefixation vice-rei
supra-renal
between the monosyllabic forms of haver to have and the preposition de of hei-de
hão-de
between the verbal forms and the pronouns in the  pronomial and reflexive conjugations amam-se
visto-me
in compound toponyms, where the two elements are connected by an article Trás-os-Montes
Idanha-a-Nova
dividing the words at the end of a line of print liga-/ção
ligam-/-se
 
 
Rules of Accentuation (Regras de Acentuação)
 
Type of Word
Use of Accent
Examples
Oxytones
 when the words
  • are terminated by opened vowels a, e, o (acute accent) and by middle e and o ( circumflex accent);
  • are terminated by opened diphthongs ei, oi, eu;
  • are of two or more syllables and are terminated by em and ens;
  • are terminated by the vowels i e u that are not forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel and may be followed or not by an s.
 sofá, pés, após
lê, três, avô, pôs;
anéis, herói, céu;
alguém, parabéns

aí, país, baú
Paroxy-
tones
 exceptionally, where the lack of accent could lead to mistake or difficulty:
  • when the words are terminated by i and u, by diphthong (oral or nasal), by nasalized vowel and by l, n, r or x;
  • words with stressed i or u not-forming diphthongs with the preceding vowel;
  • some homographic words.
 

lápis, bónus, túneis, seríeis, órgão, amável, âmbar

cafeína, heroína

pára, pêlo, pôde
Propar-
oxytones
 always rápido, fenómeno, ânfora, fôssemos, área, ignorância, inócuo
 

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