Accents in Portuguese
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You will see many accented words in Portuguese. Here's a quick list:~ (til) used to give a vowel a nasal sound. Compare the a in mau, bad [mah, oo] with the a in mão, hand [mown]` (crase) used to signal the union of a+a, the article a and the definite article the . For example, eu vou à praia, I'm going to the beach. This accent does not change the sound of the vowel.' (agudo, acute) used to change the sound of a vowel from closed to open. For example, seu, your [CEHoo] / céu, sky [as CEHoo but the e is pronounced like the a in apple].The acute accent is also used to mark a stress in the syllable. For example, impossível, impossible.^ (circunflexo, circumflex) also marks the stress in a syllable without changing the pronunciation of a vowel as in você, you.
