How many letters are in the Portuguese alphabet?

26, from a to z. The 1990 Orthographic Agreement officially returned k, w and y, which had been left out. ç and the accented vowels are not counted as extra letters.

Is ç a separate letter in Portuguese?

It is c with a cedilla, not one of the 26 letters, but it has its own key on both Brazilian and Portuguese keyboards. It sounds like s and appears only before a, o and u: caça, almoço, açúcar.

Why does no Portuguese word start with ç?

Modern spelling writes s at the start of a word instead. Medieval texts did use initial ç, as in çapato, which is now sapato.

What does the tilde do in ã and õ?

It makes the vowel nasal. The tilde appears only on a and o, as in mãe, pão and põe, and began as a medieval abbreviation for an n or m written above the vowel.

What is the plural of words ending in -ão?

There are three patterns: -ões (limão → limões, coração → corações), -ães (pão → pães, cão → cães) and -ãos (mão → mãos, irmão → irmãos). Some words, like aldeão, accept more than one.

What is the crase, and when do I write à?

The crase is the merging of the preposition a with the article a, marked with a grave accent: vou à praia. It also joins aquele, aquela and aquilo: àquele, àquela, àquilo.

What is the difference between avó and avô?

avó, with an acute accent, has an open o and means grandmother; avô, with a circumflex, has a closed o and means grandfather. The acute marks open vowels, the circumflex closed ones.

Where is ç on a Brazilian keyboard?

On the ABNT2 layout ç has its own key to the right of L. Next to it is the dead key for tilde and circumflex; acute and grave share a dead key to the right of P.

How is the Portugal keyboard different from the Brazilian one?

ç is to the right of L on both. Portugal’s layout puts a key for º and ª between ç and the tilde key and moves the acute and grave key beside the + key; ABNT2 instead adds a / and ? key near the right Shift.

How do I type ã or ô on a physical Portuguese keyboard?

Accents are dead keys: press the tilde key, then a, to get ã; the circumflex shares that key, so ^ then o gives ô. Nothing appears until you type the vowel.

What happened to ü in Portuguese?

The 1990 agreement abolished the trema in Portuguese words, so lingüiça became linguiça and freqüente became frequente.

Why did ação replace acção?

The agreement removed c and p that are not pronounced, which Portugal still wrote: acção became ação, óptimo became ótimo. Where the consonant is pronounced it stays, so Portugal keeps facto while Brazil writes fato.

Is it bebê or bebé?

Both are correct. Some words keep two spellings because the vowel is pronounced closed in Brazil and open in Portugal: bebê and purê in Brazil, bebé and puré in Portugal.

Which accents did the 1990 agreement keep for telling words apart?

pôr (to put) and por (by, for), and pôde (could) and pode (can). The accent of pára (stops) was dropped, so it is now written like the preposition para.

Why are ideia and voo written without accents?

The agreement dropped the acute on the open diphthongs ei and oi in words like ideia and jiboia, and the circumflex on double vowels, so vôo became voo and lêem became leem.

When did the Orthographic Agreement become compulsory?

It was signed in Lisbon on 16 December 1990. It became compulsory in Portugal on 13 May 2015, in Cabo Verde on 1 October 2015 and in Brazil on 1 January 2016.

What is the oldest document in Portuguese?

The will of King Afonso II, dated 27 June 1214, is celebrated as the first state document written in Portuguese. The original parchment is in the Torre do Tombo archive in Lisbon.

Which countries belong to the CPLP?

Nine: Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tomé and Príncipe founded it in 1996; Timor-Leste joined in 2002 and Equatorial Guinea in 2014.

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The oldest dated royal document written in Portuguese is the will of King Afonso II, drawn up on 27 June 1214 and kept today in the Torre do Tombo archive in Lisbon. Medieval scribes saved space by writing a small n or m above a vowel; that mark became the tilde of ã and õ, which now shows a nasal vowel. The cedilla was used more freely then, and old texts spell çapato where the modern word is sapato. Over the centuries the spelling of Portugal and Brazil drifted apart, and on 16 December 1990 Portugal, Brazil and five African countries signed in Lisbon the Orthographic Agreement meant to bring them back together. It entered into force in Portugal on 13 May 2009 and became compulsory there on 13 May 2015; Brazil applied it from 2009 and made it compulsory on 1 January 2016. The agreement put k, w and y back into an alphabet of 26 letters, dropped the trema (lingüiça became linguiça) and removed the silent c and p that Portugal still wrote (acção became ação). Brazil's education ministry said it changed 0.8% of words in Brazil and 1.3% in Portugal. Angola had still not ratified it in 2016.

Portuguese marks nasal vowels with a tilde, and only on a and o: mãe (mother), pão (bread), irmã (sister). The ending -ão is common enough to have three plurals: mão → mãos, pão → pães, limão → limões. The other accents each do a separate job. The acute marks an open vowel and the circumflex a closed one, so avó is grandmother and avô is grandfather. The grave accent has a single task, the crase, where the preposition a merges with the article a: vou à praia (I am going to the beach). And ç, which sounds like s, stands only before a, o or u and never begins a word.

Portuguese has two national keyboards, and both put ç to the right of L. Brazil uses ABNT2, named after variant 2 of the Brazilian standard ABNT NBR 10346. On it the acute and grave accents share a dead key to the right of P, and the tilde and circumflex share one to the right of ç, so ã is typed as ~ and then a. ABNT2 also adds a key for / and ? next to the right Shift. Portugal’s layout keeps ç in the same place but fits a key for the ordinals º and ª between ç and the tilde key, and puts the acute and grave dead key beside the + key. The letters match; the accent keys are what move. In chats, Brazilians shorten você to vc and também to tbm, and laugh with kkkk, since k is read “ka”. Spelling still differs in places after the agreement: Brazil writes bebê and fato, Portugal bebé and facto, and both are correct. This keyboard gives the 26 letters and ç their own keys and keeps the eleven accented vowels á à â ã é ê í ó ô õ ú one step from their base letter, so the same page types for São Paulo, Lisbon, Luanda or Maputo.

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The Tilde That Sends Vowels Through the Nose

ã and õ are nasal vowels

-ão becomes -ãos, -ães or -ões

à is a + a

ç never starts a word

Frequently Asked
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Free Keyboards, All Online

Portuguese Keyboard OnlineTeclado português

One click to insert — or copy straight to clipboard

How To Use

Type

Copy

Paste

Portuguese Keyboard for Any App

Snapchat

WhatsApp

Instagram

TikTok

Free Portuguese Keyboard Online.Type from any device — no download, no install.

The Tilde That Sends Vowels Through the Nose

ã and õ are nasal vowels

-ão becomes -ãos, -ães or -ões

à is a + a

ç never starts a word

Frequently AskedQuestions

Free Keyboards, All Online

Free Portuguese Keyboard Online.
Type from any device — no download, no install.

Frequently Asked
Questions