Como pronunciar o S português

0:00 Hello and welcome back to Portuguese With Leo and another Portuguese lesson!

0:07 Earlier this year, I launched my B1 level course,

0:11 and a few months ago I started receiving videos from students

0:15 who had completed the course and gave me their feedback.

0:20 All the students' opinions were very positive, which made me very happy,

0:24 and it was an opportunity for me to get to know

0:27 the people who buy my course better and to assess their Portuguese level.

0:34 Overall, I was very satisfied because everyone spoke Portuguese very well,

0:40 but I noticed a pronunciation difficulty that almost everyone had:

0:44 the pronunciation of the letter S.

0:48 So I thought it would be a good idea to make a video explaining once

0:53 and for all in which situations the letter S makes each of its 4 sounds!

1:00 Yes, in European Portuguese the letter S can represent four different sounds:

1:05 the [s] sound, as in sim (yes);

1:09 the [z] sound, as in casa (house);[ʃ] as in lápis (pencil);

1:14 and the[ʒ] sound, as in esmola (alms).

1:18 In this video, we'll learn how to produce each of these four

1:22 sounds and in what situations the letter S represents each one.

1:26 By the end, you'll be able to pronounce phrases like

1:30 "The wild snake sneaks stealthily among the dry leaves." As always,

1:36 you can download a PDF with a summary of this lesson

1:40 and example sentences to practice by clicking the first link in the description.

1:45 We begin with the [s] sound, which is a voiceless sound,

1:49 meaning that in this sound we don't vibrate the vocal cords.

1:54 To produce this sound,

1:55 we relax the tongue and touch the tip to the back of the lower teeth.

2:00 Then we close our mouth until the upper and lower teeth lightly touch,

2:07 keep our lips slightly parted,

2:10 and exhale without vibrating the vocal cords: [s].

2:16 This sound exists in almost all languages,

2:18 so you probably already know how to make it.

2:22 However, if your native language is Spanish from Spain,

2:27 Greek, or Finnish, you probably make this sound differently.

2:31 In these three languages, and probably in others as well,

2:36 this sound is made by touching the tip of the tongue

2:40 behind the upper teeth and is slightly more sibilant: [s].

2:44 If in your native language the [s] sound is pronounced this way,

2:50 it's important that you correct this by placing

2:53 your tongue behind your lower teeth,

2:56 because the [s] sound is the basis for pronouncing

2:59 the other sounds we will learn in this lesson.

3:03 And when does the letter S make this sound?

3:07 In three situations: When it is the first letter of a word, as in "juice".

3:13 When it comes after a consonant and before a vowel, as in "observe".

3:20 And when we have a double S between two vowels, as in "classic".

3:27 Now we move on to the [z] sound, which is made in the same way as the [s] sound,

3:33 but with vibration of the vocal cords.

3:35 Therefore, to make this sound we start from the [s]

3:40 sound and vibrate the vocal cords: [s] [z].

3:44 The difference between these two sounds is important

3:47 to distinguish words like "hunt" and "house", for example.

3:51 And when does the letter S make the [z] sound?

3:55 In one situation, it's when it's in the middle

3:58 of two vowels and it's not a double S, like in "casa" or "coisa".

4:04 Our third sound is the[ʃ] sound, which is very typical of European Portuguese.

4:11 To produce this sound, we start again from the first sound, the [s] sound,

4:16 with the tongue touching the teeth below,

4:19 and we contract the corners of the mouth, [s][ʃ].

4:25 The letter S makes this sound in two situations:

4:30 When it comes at the end of the word, as happens in all plurals.

4:35 For example, the word "plurais" itself.

4:38 And when it comes before a voiceless consonant, that is,

4:42 a consonant in which there is no vibration of the vocal cords.

4:47 More specifically, when it comes before the letters C, F, P, Q, or T.

4:53 For example, we see this in the words "bishop" and "install".

4:58 Finally, we arrive at the[ʒ] sound,

5:00 which is made in the same way as the[ʃ] sound,

5:04 but with vibration of the vocal cords.

5:06 Therefore, to make this sound,

5:08 we start from the[ʃ] sound and vibrate the vocal cords:[ʃ][ʒ].

5:13 The difference between these two sounds is important for distinguishing

5:19 words like chá (tea) and já (already), for example.

5:23 And when does the letter S represent the sound[ʒ]?

5:27 In only one situation, which is when it comes before a voiced consonant,

5:31 that is, a consonant in which there is vibration of the vocal cords.

5:37 More specifically, when it comes before the letters B,

5:41 D, G, J, L, M, N, R, or V.

5:46 For example, we see this in words like desde (since) and mesmo (same).

5:52 I'll recap these rules again, but in a more visual way,

5:58 to make it perfectly clear: When S is the first letter of a word,

6:03 it always makes the [s] sound, as in the word suco (juice);

6:07 and when it's the last letter,

6:09 it always makes the[ʃ] sound, as in the word plurais (plurals).

6:14 When S is in the middle of a word, things get complicated:

6:19 When it comes after a consonant and before a vowel,

6:23 it always makes the [s] sound, as in the word observar (observe).

6:27 When it comes between two vowels,

6:30 it makes the [s] sound if it's a double S and the [z] sound if it's a single S.

6:37 Examples include the words clássico (classic) and casa (house).

6:41 And finally, when it comes before a consonant,

6:44 it makes the[ʃ] sound if that consonant is voiceless,

6:48 that is, without vibration of the vocal cords, as in the word bispo (bishop),

6:53 and it makes the[ʒ] sound if that consonant is voiced,

6:58 with vibration of the vocal cords, as in the word mesmo (same).

7:03 Okay, we learned to pronounce the four sounds of the letter S,

7:08 the sibilant sounds, and we learned when each of them appears.

7:13 But so far I've only shown you words with a single S.

7:17 The real difficulty is when we have

7:20 to pronounce a word or phrase with several S's,

7:23 and each one makes a different sound.

7:26 For example, the phrase I said at the beginning of the video:

7:30 "The wild snake sneaks stealthily among the dry leaves."

7:36 The best way to improve your pronunciation of words

7:40 and phrases with several consecutive sibilant sounds is

7:43 by practicing the pronunciation of this type of phrase.

7:47 First slowly, and then, when you can pronounce them well, increase the speed.

7:54 Therefore, to conclude today's lesson,

7:57 I'm going to give you some phrases to practice with me.

8:02 But before we move on to the phrases, if you liked this lesson and are

8:06 interested in improving your Portuguese pronunciation,

8:09 this lesson is just a small sample of what I teach in my pronunciation course,

8:16 in which I teach you how to pronounce each sound of the Portuguese language,

8:21 teach the situations in which each letter represents each sound,

8:26 and give you several exercises to train

8:29 your ability to recognize and pronounce the various sounds.

8:33 If you're interested in the course,

8:36 you can get more information by clicking the second link in the description!

8:42 Okay, so let's practice the letter S

8:45 with three sentences that include its various sounds.

8:49 For each sentence, you'll first have a few seconds

8:52 to read it and try to identify the sounds, and then repeat the sentence with me.

8:59 First slowly, and then faster.

9:02 First sentence: First slowly.

9:13 Susana spent hours taking apart the pieces.

9:33 Now faster.

9:43 Second sentence: First slowly.

9:55 The secret garden hid interesting surprises.

10:11 Now faster.

10:24 Third sentence: First slowly.

10:35 The wild snake sneaks stealthily among the dry leaves.

10:59 Now faster.

11:18 If you liked this video, I recommend this video here,

11:21 where I give you 3 pronunciation tips

11:24 to help you speak more like a Portuguese speaker.

11:27 One of the tips is related to the letter S!

11:32 Remember that you can download the free PDF with the summary

11:35 of this lesson by clicking the first link in the description,

11:39 and as a reward for watching until the end,

11:42 I'll give you a tongue twister to practice these sibilant sounds:

11:47 Dirty house, dirty floor.