European Portuguese is written in the Latin alphabet with a distinctive system of diacritics, digraphs, and nasal markers. Most of the orthography is transparent — once you learn the spelling rules, you can read aloud almost any unfamiliar word and arrive close to the right pronunciation. The opposite direction (going from sound to spelling) is somewhat trickier because the language has merged a handful of sounds in modern speech but kept their historical spellings.
This page is the orienting tour. It introduces the alphabet, the five diacritics, the digraphs that act as single sounds, the nasal-vowel marking system, and — most consequentially — the Acordo Ortográfico 1990 (AO90), the spelling reform that became official in Portugal in 2009 and mandatory in 2015. The reform changed enough words that any post-2009 PT-PT text looks different from a pre-2009 one, and learners need to recognise both. Detailed treatments of each topic live in the dedicated sibling pages (linked throughout); this overview is the map.
The alphabet
European Portuguese uses the standard 26-letter Latin alphabet:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.
The letters k, w, and y were officially incorporated by the Acordo Ortográfico 1990. Before AO90 they were considered "foreign" letters used only in proper names (kafkiano), abbreviations (km, kg), and direct loans (windsurf, yoga). The 26-letter alphabet is now the standard count in Portuguese dictionaries and grammars.
In practice, k, w, and y still appear almost exclusively in:
- Loanwords: kiwi, whisky, yoga, yacht, kebab.
- Proper names: Kafka, Washington, Nayef.
- Symbols and units: km, kg, kW, yd.
O kebab é uma comida típica da Turquia.
Kebab is a typical food from Turkey.
O Kafka morreu em 1924.
Kafka died in 1924.
A loja fica a três quilómetros daqui.
The shop is three kilometres from here.
Diacritics: the five marks
European Portuguese uses five diacritic marks. Each has a precise role; mixing them up changes meaning.
Acute accent ( ´ ) — open vowel, stressed
The acute marks a stressed open vowel. On a, e, o it indicates the open quality (á = open a; é = open e like English bed; ó = open o like English got). On i and u it marks stress only (those vowels have no open/closed contrast).
café, árvore, página, chá
coffee, tree, page, tea (acute marks open *a/e*)
público, médico, rápido, último
public, doctor, fast, last
só, avó, herói, miúdo
only, grandmother, hero, kid
Quando vens tomar um café?
When are you coming for a coffee?
A árvore mais alta do parque é uma sequoia.
The tallest tree in the park is a sequoia.
Circumflex ( ^ ) — closed vowel, stressed
The circumflex marks a stressed closed vowel on a, e, o (â, ê, ô). The PT-PT inventory has â (closed a, schwa-like in unstressed contexts), ê (closed e), and ô (closed o). The circumflex is rarer than the acute but indispensable.
você, três, mês, cortês
you (formal), three, month, courteous
avô, pôr, robô
grandfather, to put, robot (closed ô)
câmara, lâmpada, ânimo
chamber/council, lamp, spirit
O Rui visita o avô todos os domingos.
Rui visits his grandfather every Sunday.
Trouxe três mochilas: a azul é minha.
I brought three backpacks: the blue one is mine.
Grave accent ( ` ) — crase only
In modern PT-PT spelling, the grave accent has only one function: marking the contraction (called crase) of the preposition a + the feminine definite article a / as → à / às. It is not a stress mark and never appears on any other vowel.
Vou à praia amanhã.
I'm going to the beach tomorrow. (a + a → à)
Saímos às oito.
We're leaving at eight. (a + as → às)
Devolvi o livro à professora.
I gave the book back to the teacher.
Refiro-me àquele dia em julho.
I'm referring to that day in July. (a + aquele → àquele)
The crase also fuses a with the demonstratives aquele/aquela/aqueles/aquelas/aquilo → àquele, àquela, àqueles, àquelas, àquilo.
Tilde ( ~ ) — nasalisation
The tilde marks nasalisation on a and o (giving ã, õ). The combinations ãe, ão, õe are nasal diphthongs — single syllabic units pronounced through the nose.
mãe, pão, irmão, coração
mother, bread, brother, heart
lições, opiniões, melões
lessons, opinions, melons
A minha mãe faz o melhor pão de Portugal.
My mother makes the best bread in Portugal.
Tenho dois irmãos e uma irmã.
I have two brothers and one sister.
The tilde can carry stress or not — it is the nasalisation that the tilde signals, and stress is determined separately. Most often the tilde-bearing vowel is also the stress-bearing one, but not always (órfão, with stress on the ó, has the tilde only marking nasal ã).
Cedilla ( ¸ ) — soft ç
The cedilla under c (giving ç) signals the /s/ sound before a, o, u. Without the cedilla, c before these vowels would sound /k/ (casa, copo, cuco); with the cedilla, it sounds /s/ (caça, coração, açúcar).
caça, açúcar, coração, força
hunt, sugar, heart, strength/force
começar, abraço, faço
to begin, hug, I do
O coração da cidade é a Baixa pombalina.
The heart of the city is the Pombaline Downtown.
Acrescenta açúcar ao café, por favor.
Add sugar to the coffee, please.
The cedilla never appears before e or i — there c is already /s/ (cinco, certo), so no diacritic is needed.
Digraphs: two letters, one sound
A few combinations of letters consistently represent a single sound. Treat them as inseparable units.
| Digraph | Sound (IPA) | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| ch | /ʃ/ (sh) | chave, chuva, chá |
| lh | /ʎ/ (palatal l) | filho, mulher, ilha |
| nh | /ɲ/ (palatal n) | vinho, manhã, sonho |
| rr | /ʁ/ or /ʀ/ (uvular r) | carro, terra, ferro |
| ss | /s/ | passo, isso, missa |
| qu (before e/i) | /k/ | quente, quinze, queijo |
| gu (before e/i) | /g/ | guerra, guitarra, seguir |
A chave do carro está em cima da mesa.
The car key is on top of the table.
O filho da Ana já fala três línguas.
Ana's son already speaks three languages.
O vinho desta região é muito apreciado.
The wine from this region is very appreciated.
Comprámos um carro novo no mês passado.
We bought a new car last month.
Esse queijo é da Serra da Estrela.
That cheese is from the Serra da Estrela.
Nasal spelling: m, n, and the tilde
European Portuguese marks nasal vowels in three different ways depending on context.
Before p and b: write m
campo, samba, embalar, ambiente
field, samba, to wrap, environment
Before any other consonant: write n
canto, dente, tinta, monte
corner, tooth, ink, mountain
Word-finally, with no following consonant: tilde on the vowel
mãe, pão, irmão, atenção
mother, bread, brother, attention
This three-way distribution is consistent: m before lip consonants, n elsewhere internally, and the tilde at word ends or where no nasal-blocking consonant follows.
Compara: campo (com m, antes de p) e canto (com n, antes de t).
Compare: campo (with m, before p) and canto (with n, before t).
O som final do meu nome é nasal: João, Joaquim, Estêvão.
The final sound in my name is nasal: João, Joaquim, Estêvão.
For more on nasal vowels and diphthongs, see Nasal Vowels and Nasal Diphthongs.
Stress and orthographic accent
The general rule: a stressed syllable that does not fall on the default stress position takes an accent mark. Most Portuguese words are stressed on the second-to-last (penultimate) syllable; words stressed elsewhere are usually marked.
| Default stress | Accent if stressed elsewhere | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Penultimate (most words ending in vowel) | — | casa, vida, falo, livro |
| Final (most words ending in r, l, z) | — | falar, papel, rapaz, doutor |
| Antepenultimate (proparoxytones) | always accented | público, rápido, médico, último |
| Final ending in vowel (oxytones) | accented | café, sofá, jacaré, avó |
café, sofá, jacaré (stress on final syllable, written acute)
coffee, sofa, alligator
público, médico, último (stress on third-from-last, written acute)
public, doctor, last
The full system is treated at Stress Patterns and Accent Marks.
The Acordo Ortográfico 1990 (AO90)
The most important development for any modern PT-PT learner is the Acordo Ortográfico 1990 — the spelling reform that took official effect in Portugal in 2009 and became fully mandatory in 2015. The reform was designed to harmonise spelling between Portuguese-speaking countries (PT-PT, PT-BR, and the Lusophone African nations). It changed several thousand words in PT-PT, and any text written or republished after 2009 follows the new rules.
The four main areas of change:
1. Silent consonants dropped
Before AO90, PT-PT preserved silent consonants in many Latinate words even though they were no longer pronounced. AO90 dropped these silent consonants in writing.
| Pre-AO90 | AO90 (current) | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| acção | ação | action |
| óptimo | ótimo | excellent |
| projecto | projeto | project |
| recepção | receção | reception |
| actor | ator | actor |
| director | diretor | director |
| adoptar | adotar | to adopt |
| excepcional | excecional | exceptional |
| arquitecto | arquiteto | architect |
| óptica | ótica | optics |
A ação social do município é exemplar.
The municipality's social action is exemplary.
O projeto foi aprovado pelo conselho.
The project was approved by the council.
O ator português ganhou o prémio.
The Portuguese actor won the prize.
Crucial caveat: not all silent-looking consonants were dropped. Letters that are still pronounced in PT-PT (even though they are silent in PT-BR) are kept. The most famous case: facto (fact) keeps its c in PT-PT because the c is genuinely audible in EP pronunciation. The PT-BR spelling is fato. Similarly, contacto (contact) is the PT-PT form (with audible c), against PT-BR contato.
Mantenham-se em contacto comigo.
Stay in contact with me. (PT-PT, with c)
This is the principle of double spelling: a letter is dropped only if it has truly become silent in the relevant variety. Where the letter survives in pronunciation, it survives in spelling.
2. Accent marks dropped from certain homographs
Before AO90, accent marks were used to disambiguate words that would otherwise be spelled identically. AO90 removed many of these "differential accents," judging that context disambiguates.
| Pre-AO90 | AO90 (current) | Distinction lost |
|---|---|---|
| pára (verb form) | para | was distinguished from preposition para |
| pêlo (hair) | pelo | was distinguished from pelo (per the) |
| pélo (I peel) | pelo | was distinguished from pelo (per the) |
| pólo (pole) | polo | was distinguished from polo (per the, archaic) |
O autocarro para na próxima paragem.
The bus stops at the next stop. (verb 'parar', no accent under AO90)
O cão tem pelo macio.
The dog has soft fur. (no accent under AO90)
Vou pelo caminho mais curto.
I'll go via the shortest route. (preposition contraction)
A few third-person plural verb forms also lost their circumflex: vêem (they see) → veem; lêem (they read) → leem; crêem (they believe) → creem. The hiatus is now written without the accent.
Eles veem o filme todas as semanas.
They see the film every week.
As crianças leem em silêncio.
The children are reading in silence.
3. Hyphenation simplified
AO90 rationalised the hyphen rules for prefixed words. The general principle: hyphen only when the prefix-final letter equals the stem-initial letter, or when the stem begins with h. Otherwise solid (often with consonant doubling).
| Pre-AO90 | AO90 | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| auto-estrada | autoestrada | motorway |
| auto-ajuda | autoajuda | self-help |
| anti-semita | antissemita | antisemitic |
| contra-senha | contrassenha | countersign |
| hidro-eléctrico | hidroelétrico | hydroelectric |
| co-autor | coautor | co-author |
| micro-organismo | micro-organismo | microorganism (kept hyphen — same vowel) |
The full prefix-by-prefix rules are at Common Prefixes. The short version: when in doubt, look it up — the hyphen rules are mechanical, but the inventory of cases is large.
4. Other minor simplifications
A scattering of smaller changes:
- The trema (¨) over u in qu and gu (formerly used in BR for seqüência, lingüista) was abolished. PT-PT had already abolished it in 1945, so for PT-PT this is a non-change.
- Some compound words with hyphens were unified: fim-de-semana → fim de semana (no hyphens), but guarda-chuva (umbrella) keeps its hyphen.
- Double letters (planta) rationalised; double vowels (reeleger, cooperar) explicitly written without a hyphen.
Pre-AO90 vs AO90: how to tell
Any text from before about 2009 uses pre-AO90 spellings. Any text written or revised after 2015 follows AO90. In between is a mix. PT-PT publishers, newspapers, and government documents now use AO90 universally; some literary authors and academic conservatives continue to use pre-AO90 in personal writing. Both are mutually intelligible — no Portuguese speaker is confused by either system — but learners should follow AO90 in their own writing.
Pre-AO90: 'O facto é que o projecto não teve a recepção esperada.'
Pre-2009 spelling — would now be: 'O facto é que o projeto não teve a receção esperada.'
AO90: 'O facto é que o projeto não teve a receção esperada.'
The fact is that the project did not have the expected reception. (current PT-PT spelling)
Capitalisation: lowercase by default
European Portuguese is more sparing with capital letters than English. Months, days of the week, and seasons are lowercase.
janeiro, fevereiro, março, abril, maio, junho
January, February, March, April, May, June (always lowercase)
segunda-feira, terça-feira, quarta-feira, quinta-feira, sexta-feira, sábado, domingo
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday
primavera, verão, outono, inverno
spring, summer, autumn, winter
Vamos para a Madeira em julho.
We're going to Madeira in July.
Reunimos sempre à terça-feira de manhã.
We always meet on Tuesday morning.
Capitalised: proper names of people and places, organisations, languages of titles only at the first word, geographical features (o Tejo, a Serra da Estrela, Lisboa).
A Maria nasceu em Coimbra mas mora em Lisboa.
Maria was born in Coimbra but lives in Lisbon.
Lowercase: nationalities, religions, language names, points of the compass.
Sou portuguesa e falo inglês razoavelmente.
I am Portuguese and speak English reasonably well.
O sol nasce a leste.
The sun rises in the east.
Punctuation notes
Two PT-PT specifics worth flagging early:
The serial comma is generally not used
In a list ending with e (and) or ou (or), no comma precedes the conjunction.
Comprei pão, queijo, fiambre e azeitonas.
I bought bread, cheese, ham and olives.
Posso ir de carro, de comboio ou de autocarro.
I can go by car, by train or by bus.
Quotation marks: « » in literary PT-PT
European Portuguese literary tradition uses angle quotation marks (« »), called aspas latinas or aspas francesas, for direct speech and quotation. Modern journalism and digital text increasingly use the curly English quotes (" "), but classical and literary PT-PT keeps the angles.
«Não posso acreditar», disse ele, calmamente.
"I can
"Não posso acreditar", disse ele, calmamente.
"I can
For dialogue in novels, PT-PT also uses the dash (—) at the start of each speaker's turn:
— Já chegaste? — perguntou ela. — Acabei agora mesmo.
"Have you arrived?" she asked. "I just got here this very moment."
PT-PT vs PT-BR: a brief orientation
The Acordo Ortográfico 1990 was designed to reduce the spelling differences between PT-PT and PT-BR, and it succeeded considerably — but a handful of differences remain because of genuine pronunciation differences between the two varieties.
| PT-PT | PT-BR | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| facto | fato | fact (PT-BR fato = suit; PT-PT fato = suit) |
| contacto | contato | contact |
| receção | recepção | reception (BR keeps the p) |
| excecional | excepcional | exceptional (BR keeps the p) |
| António | Antônio | Anthony (acute vs circumflex) |
| quotidiano | cotidiano | daily |
The principle is consistent: where a letter is genuinely pronounced in one variety and silent in the other, the spelling reflects that. It is one of the last places where the two varieties remain visibly different on the page.
Common mistakes
❌ café (without accent)
The acute accent on *café* is mandatory — final stressed *e* must be marked.
✅ café
coffee
❌ avo for grandmother
Without the accent, *avo* doesn't mean grandmother (it would be ambiguous). Both *avó* and *avô* must keep their accents — they are minimally distinct words.
✅ avó (grandmother), avô (grandfather)
Two distinct words distinguished by the accent.
❌ a praia (when meaning 'to the beach')
The contraction of preposition *a* + article *a* must be written *à* with the grave accent. Without it, you've written 'the beach' (the article 'a' alone).
✅ Vou à praia.
I'm going to the beach.
❌ Janeiro, Segunda-feira
Months and days of the week are lowercase in PT-PT, unlike English.
✅ janeiro, segunda-feira
January, Monday (lowercase in Portuguese)
❌ acção, projecto, recepção, actor (using pre-AO90 spelling in modern writing)
Pre-2009 spellings. AO90 forms: ação, projeto, receção, ator.
✅ ação, projeto, receção, ator
action, project, reception, actor
❌ Writing 'fato' to mean 'fact'
In PT-PT, *fato* means *suit* (clothing). For *fact*, write *facto* with the c.
✅ O facto é que ele tem razão.
The fact is that he is right.
❌ Maõe, paõ for mother, bread
The tilde marks nasalisation; the 'm' or 'n' is not added. Just *mãe*, *pão*.
✅ mãe, pão
mother, bread
❌ acucar for sugar (no cedilla)
The cedilla on *ç* is not optional. Without it, *acucar* would read with /k/, not /s/.
✅ açúcar
sugar
Key takeaways
- The PT-PT alphabet is the standard 26-letter Latin set; k, w, y are official under AO90 but mostly limited to loanwords and proper names.
- Five diacritics: acute (´, open stress), circumflex (^, closed stress), grave (`, crase only — à), tilde (~, nasalisation — ã, õ), cedilla (¸, soft ç).
- Digraphs ch, lh, nh, rr, ss, qu, gu represent single sounds and behave as units.
- Nasal spelling: m before p/b, n before other consonants, tilde at word-finals or hiatus-bearers.
- The Acordo Ortográfico 1990 is mandatory in PT since 2015. It dropped silent consonants in many words (acção → ação), removed some differential accents (pára → para), and rationalised hyphen use.
- Crucial PT-PT specifics: facto (with c) for "fact"; contacto (with c) for "contact" — these letters are pronounced in PT-PT, so they survive in spelling, unlike in PT-BR (fato, contato).
- Lowercase by default: months, days, seasons, nationalities, languages — all lowercase.
- For literary register, use the angle quotation marks « » and the em-dash for dialogue.
Related Topics
- European Portuguese Pronunciation OverviewA1 — A tour of the sound system of European Portuguese — the vowels, the consonants, the stress patterns, and the features that give the Lisbon standard its unmistakable compressed, consonant-rich character.
- 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.
- Stress Patterns and Accent MarksA1 — How Portuguese word stress works — the three stress positions, the default rules based on the final syllable, and why accent marks appear exactly when they do.
- Nasal Vowels and Nasal DiphthongsA1 — Portuguese has five phonemic nasal vowels and four nasal diphthongs — how to recognize them in spelling, produce them with the nose, and avoid the over- and under-nasalization mistakes that English speakers routinely make.
- Common Spelling ErrorsA2 — The Portuguese spelling rules learners get wrong most often — ss vs ç, when to use h, silent letters, and the full system of accents (post-1990 orthography).
- Accent Mark ErrorsA2 — Missing, misplaced, and misidentified accents in European Portuguese — and the top twenty words learners spell wrong.