English Pronunciation for Portuguese Speakers: 7 Sound Fixes
ESL Pronunciation • QuickPronounce Team • 9 min read • August 21, 2026
Brazilian and European Portuguese speakers share most English trouble spots: silent-letter interference, palatalised t/d, added final vowels, and merged vowel pairs. The fixes below apply to both variants.
The Seven Sound Fixes
Each fix targets a sound English uses that Portuguese does not, or uses differently. Work through one sound per day rather than all seven at once.
/h/
The mistake: Written h is silent in Portuguese, so “hotel” becomes “o-tel” and “home” becomes “ome”.
The fix: Breathe out softly onto a mirror before the vowel: fog it, then speak. Pairs: old-hold, art-heart, I-high, ate-hate.
Practise with: hotel, home, behind, holiday
Palatalised t/d (Brazilian)
The mistake: “telephone” becomes “dji-le-fone”: t→tchi, d→dji before i-sounds.
The fix: In English, t/d stay flat on the ridge even before i: ti not tchi. Say tea-TCHI-tea alternating, locking the English version: city, party, editor.
Practise with: city, party, water, did
Added final vowels
The mistake: “dog” becomes “dogui”; “book” becomes “booki”.
The fix: End with contact and silence: place the tongue/lips for the final consonant and stop air completely. Count endings: boo-k, do-g, wi-th.
Practise with: dog, book, want, it
/ɪ/ vs /iː/
The mistake: Both reduce to Portuguese i: “heat/hit” and “live/leave” merge.
The fix: Stretch /iː/ double-length and smile; clip /ɪ/ half-beat with a looser jaw. Pairs: beat-bit, seat-sit, feel-fill.
Practise with: eat, it, these, this
/θ/ and /ð/
The mistake: “three” becomes “tri” or “sree”; “they” becomes “dey”.
The fix: Tongue tip to the top teeth, gentle airflow. Slide forward from /t/ or /s/ until contact lands on teeth. Pairs: tree-three, day-they.
Practise with: three, thank, they, other
/r/ (English r)
The mistake: Portuguese guttural or tapped r makes “red” sound French-like or flapped.
The fix: English r is a glide: tongue curled back touching nothing, lips slightly rounded. Chain: ee-er-red, run, around.
Practise with: red, right, carry, world
/æ/
The mistake: “bad/man/cat” drift to eh or ah because Portuguese lacks /æ/.
The fix: Wide jaw, front-low tongue, lips neutral. Contrast triplets: bad-bed-bud, cat-cut-cot, man-men-mun.
Practise with: man, back, family, plan
Daily Drill
Daily: “THE OTHER BROTHER drank THREE HOT COFFEES in the PARTY at the CITY HOTEL.” Dot every final consonant before reading; forbid any vowel after a dot.
Check Every Word by Ear
All practice words above exist on QuickPronounce. Search any word, play the audio in both American and British accents, then repeat it three times before moving on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Brazilian Portuguese different from European Portuguese here?
Only the t/d palatalisation differs; Brazilians over-apply tchi/dji while Europeans mostly do not. Everything else on this list applies to both.
Why does word-final e keep appearing after consonants?
Portuguese phonotactics require vowel endings, so the brain inserts one reflexively. Silent-contact endings retrain that reflex in about two weeks of daily drilling.
Related pronunciation guides
- IPA Guide: Master Pronunciation Symbols
- Connected Speech Guide for Natural Rhythm
- Word Stress Rules Guide
About the author
Krishna Golwala — Founder, QuickPronounce