Portuguese spelling looks forbidding at first — there are accented letters everywhere, strange digraphs like lh and nh, the same sound [s] spelled four different ways, and silent letters that hang around for historical reasons. But the system is almost entirely regular once you understand the rules behind it. This page walks through the spelling patterns learners misapply most often, with the logic for each one. All rules follow the post-1990 Acordo Ortográfico, the current standard in Portugal since 2009.
If you get these right, your writing will look immediately more native. If you get them wrong — especially missing accents — your Portuguese will read like a child's schoolbook with red ink in the margin.
The /s/ sound has four spellings
This is the single biggest source of spelling errors in Portuguese. The sound [s] (as in English "see") can be written s, ss, c, ç, and choosing between them is governed by a mix of position, the following letter, and etymology. Here is the core logic.
| Spelling | When to use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| s | At the start of a word, or after a consonant | saber, pensar, falso |
| ss | Between two vowels (never at word start or after a consonant) | passar, missão, pássaro |
| c | Before e or i only | cedo, cinema, doce |
| ç | Before a, o, u only (never before e or i) | caçar, coração, açúcar |
The two iron rules:
- ss only between vowels. You will never see ss at the start of a word, at the end of a word, or next to another consonant. sseguir, falsso, conss — all impossible.
- ç never before e or i. Before e or i, the sound [s] is written with plain c. Before a, o, u, it's written ç. This is why the verb começar is spelled começo in the first-person present (começ-o) but comece in the present subjunctive (começe would be wrong — the e takes plain c).
Começo o trabalho às nove, mas só acabo depois das sete.
I start work at nine, but I only finish after seven.
Ela caçou o melhor preço para o bilhete de avião.
She hunted down the best price for the plane ticket.
Passámos pela praça e vimos o concerto.
We passed through the square and saw the concert.
❌ Eu começe o trabalho às nove.
Wrong — ç cannot appear before e
✅ Eu começo o trabalho às nove.
I start work at nine.
❌ Ela caçsou um preço melhor.
Wrong — ss cannot appear after a consonant
✅ Ela caçou um preço melhor.
She hunted down a better price.
/z/ between vowels: usually s, sometimes z
In Portuguese, a single s between two vowels always represents [z] (the buzzing sound in English "zoo"), not [s]. This is why casa is pronounced [ˈka.zɐ] but spelled with s. The letter z also exists and also represents [z], so learners get confused about when to use each.
A minha casa fica perto da universidade.
My house is near the university.
Ele disse-me que não vinha hoje.
He told me he wasn't coming today.
O juiz decidiu arquivar o processo.
The judge decided to shelve the case.
There is no purely mechanical rule — you must learn which words take s between vowels and which take z. A rough guide: many verbs ending in -izar come from Greek/Latin -izein roots and keep the z (civilizar, organizar, realizar), while verbs formed from nouns already containing s keep the s (analisar from análise, pesquisar from pesquisa). Abstract nouns formed from adjectives usually take -ez / -eza with z (rapidez, beleza, pobreza, clareza). Learn the high-frequency cases by memorisation.
The sc and xc digraphs
The [s] sound before e or i can also be written sc or xc in a small set of words, almost all Latin-derived. Learners sometimes simplify them to a single c, producing misspellings.
| Spelling | Common words |
|---|---|
| sc (before e/i) | descer, nascer, crescer, piscina, discípulo, fascinar |
| xc (before e/i) | exceção, excelente, excêntrico, excerto, excesso |
Os preços excedem o nosso orçamento, infelizmente.
The prices exceed our budget, unfortunately.
O bebé está a crescer muito depressa.
The baby is growing very quickly.
❌ Ele é um aluno ecelente.
Wrong — the word is *excelente* with *xc*
✅ Ele é um aluno excelente.
He's an excellent student.
❌ Vamos decer as escadas.
Wrong — the verb is *descer* with *sc*
✅ Vamos descer as escadas.
Let's go down the stairs.
Under the 1990 orthographic agreement, some previously written cc and ct silent-consonant clusters were simplified (acção → ação, directo → direto). The sc and xc digraphs were not affected — they remain as they were.
Silent h at the start of words
Portuguese has inherited a set of words that begin with a silent h from Latin and Greek: hoje, hora, homem, haver, hotel, história, hospital, honra, humano. The h is not pronounced, ever — but it must be written.
Hoje é o aniversário da minha mãe.
Today is my mother's birthday.
Há muita gente à espera do autocarro.
There are a lot of people waiting for the bus.
❌ Oje vou ao ospital.
Wrong — the *h* is silent but must be written
✅ Hoje vou ao hospital.
Today I'm going to the hospital.
A useful memory hook: almost all of these words have Romance cognates that also start with h (Spanish hoy, hora, hombre; French hôtel, hôpital, histoire). The h is a spelling fossil — its job is to connect the word visually to its etymology.
h inside digraphs: lh, nh, ch
The letter h also appears inside digraphs: lh (palatal /ʎ/, as in filho), nh (palatal /ɲ/, as in manhã), and ch ( /ʃ/, as in chave). Here the h isn't silent — it is part of the digraph that represents the sound. Dropping it changes the word.
A chave da minha casa está no bolso do casaco.
The key to my house is in my coat pocket.
O meu filho já tem sete anos.
My son is already seven years old.
Tenho de ir de manhã cedo ao mercado.
I have to go to the market early in the morning.
❌ O meu filo adora nadar.
Wrong — without the *h*, *filo* is a different word
✅ O meu filho adora nadar.
My son loves swimming.
The letter x has four sounds
Portuguese x is notoriously multi-valued. Depending on the word, it can be:
| Sound | Example word | English comparison |
|---|---|---|
| /ʃ/ (sh) | xarope, caixa, deixar, peixe, texto | English "sh" |
| /ks/ | táxi, fixo, anexo, léxico | English "ks" in "taxi" |
| /s/ | próximo, máximo, sintaxe, auxílio | English "s" |
| /z/ | exame, exemplo, exato, exército (before a vowel) | English "z" |
Most initial ex- words before a vowel take /z/ (exame, exemplo, exato). Words where x sits between a vowel and a consonant often take /ʃ/ (texto, experiência). Words of Greek or scientific origin often take /ks/ (táxi, oxigénio). There is no way to tell from spelling alone — you learn by hearing.
O exame de matemática foi mais fácil do que eu esperava.
The maths exam was easier than I expected.
A próxima paragem fica perto do teatro.
The next stop is near the theatre.
qu and gu: with and without a glide
The digraphs qu and gu before e or i usually represent plain /k/ and /g/, with the u silent. Before a or o, they can represent /kw/ and /gw/, with the u actually pronounced.
| Digraph + vowel | Sound | Example |
|---|---|---|
| qu + e/i | /k/ (u silent) | quero, quilo, aquele |
| qu + a/o | /kw/ (u pronounced) | quatro, quadro, quota |
| gu + e/i | /g/ (u silent) | guerra, guia, seguir |
| gu + a/o | /gw/ (u pronounced) | água, guardar, aguentar |
Quatro amigos ficaram na sala a falar até tarde.
Four friends stayed in the room talking until late.
Quero guardar estes documentos num sítio seguro.
I want to keep these documents somewhere safe.
A minority of words have qu before e/i where the u IS pronounced — cinquenta (/sĩˈkwẽtɐ/), tranquilo — but these are rare. If you see qu before e or i, default to silent u.
Accents: the three marks and what they do
Portuguese uses three diacritics: acute (´), circumflex (^), grave (`), and a tilde (~) for nasalisation. Under the 1990 orthographic reform, Portugal saw several changes: silent consonants were dropped in cognate-facing words (acção → ação, directo → direto, óptimo → ótimo, actualmente → atualmente), and the circumflex was removed from a handful of minimal-pair words (pêlo → pelo, pára → para). The core accent system is otherwise intact.
| Accent | Role | Example |
|---|---|---|
| acute (´) | Marks stress and signals an open vowel quality | café, até, José, será, chapéu |
| circumflex (^) | Marks stress and signals a closed vowel quality | avô, português, lâmpada |
| grave (`) | Only on à / às / àquele — marks the fusion of a + a | vou à praia, às cinco |
| tilde (~) | Marks nasal vowels | não, mãe, coração, põe |
The classic minimal triple: avo, avô, avó — avo means unit (as in a fraction); avô means grandfather (closed vowel); avó means grandmother (open vowel). Same three letters, three different words, differentiated only by the accent.
O meu avô fez noventa anos no mês passado.
My grandfather turned ninety last month.
A minha avó ainda faz o pão todas as semanas.
My grandmother still makes bread every week.
❌ Minha familia e eu vamos a praia amanha.
Three missing accents: família, à, amanhã
✅ A minha família e eu vamos à praia amanhã.
My family and I are going to the beach tomorrow.
Common mistakes
❌ Comeci o novo trabalho na semana passada.
Wrong — the preterite of começar is *comecei* with c before e and stress on the final i
✅ Comecei o novo trabalho na semana passada.
I started the new job last week.
❌ Vamos cresser juntos nesta empresa.
Wrong — *crescer* uses *sc*, not *ss*
✅ Vamos crescer juntos nesta empresa.
We're going to grow together in this company.
❌ Ele está na caza do Pedro a fazer o jantar.
Wrong — *casa* is spelled with *s* between vowels, pronounced /z/
✅ Ele está na casa do Pedro a fazer o jantar.
He's at Pedro's house making dinner.
❌ A minha mae chegou ontem de viagem.
Missing tilde — *mãe*, not *mae*
✅ A minha mãe chegou ontem de viagem.
My mother arrived from her trip yesterday.
❌ Oje a as cinco tenho uma reunião.
Missing *h* in *hoje*; missing contraction and grave accent in *às*
✅ Hoje às cinco tenho uma reunião.
Today at five I have a meeting.
Key takeaways
Portuguese spelling is almost entirely rule-governed once you know the rules: ss only between vowels, ç never before e or i, silent h only at the start of a handful of Latin-derived words, and sc/xc in a closed list of words you'll learn through exposure. The /s/ and /z/ distinctions between vowels are etymological and have to be memorised word by word, but they are limited in scope. Accents are not decoration — they carry semantic weight (avô vs avó), and missing them is a spelling error, not a stylistic choice. Get these rules right and Portuguese will reward you with one of the more regular spelling systems in Europe.
Related Topics
- Accent Mark ErrorsA2 — Missing, misplaced, and misidentified accents in European Portuguese — and the top twenty words learners spell wrong.
- S and Z SoundsA2 — The four pronunciations of s in European Portuguese — [s], [z], [ʃ], and [ʒ] — plus the spelling patterns of ss, c, ç, and z that make the sibilant system work.
- The Consonant SystemA1 — A systematic tour of the consonant inventory of European Portuguese — stops, fricatives, nasals, liquids, and the palatal and uvular sounds that give Lisbon Portuguese its distinctive texture.
- Accent Marks: Á, À, Â, Ã, É, Ê, Í, Ó, Ô, Õ, ÚA1 — A field guide to the four diacritics of Portuguese — acute, circumflex, tilde, and grave — and what each one tells you about pronunciation, stress, and vowel quality.
- The Palatal Consonants lh and nhA1 — Pronouncing the palatal consonants of European Portuguese — the single-gesture [ʎ] and [ɲ] that English speakers instinctively split into two sounds.
- Common Pronunciation ErrorsA1 — The ten most common pronunciation mistakes English speakers make when learning European Portuguese — with diagnostics, examples, and targeted remediation for each.