How does one spell out loud accented vowells and the ^ symbol

Oi!

I really like the typing portion and display of Portuguese words with the audio.  I want to say out loud the letter of each word.  I know how to say the Portuguese alphabet.  But, how do I spell out loud the accented a in está?  How do I spell out loud the ^ symbol over the e in portuguêse?

Obrigado pela sua ajuda!

Ken

Hi Kenneth-mH!

Thank you for your question! To give you the full picture, here is a quick breakdown of the five diacritical marks in Portuguese and how they work:

• Ç: the cedilla. This only goes on the letter C and makes it soft, so that it sounds like an S.
• Á, É, Í, Ó, Ú: the acute accent. This shows where the stress in the word is and it gives the vowel a more open sound.
• Â, Ê, Ô: the circumflex accent. This accent also shows stress, and it gives the vowel a more closed, nasal sound.
• Ã, Õ: the tilde. This accent also gives a nasal sound to the vowel, and makes it a bit guttural too - to the point that you can feel the top part of your throat vibrating when you pronounce the vowel.
• À: the grave accent. This accent is usually only used on the letter A and it actually doesn’t affect the pronunciation of the word at all! It’s just there to show that two vowels have been squished into one as words are combined - for example, a + aquilo = àquilo.

If you keep these pointers in mind as you listen to the native speaker audio of words like está and portuguêse, you should be able to get a feel for exactly what each diacritical mark is doing to the pronunciation of the word. 

I hope that this is helpful!

Kind regards,

Liss

I asked a native Portuguese speaker for the Portuguese words for these diacratic symbols this was their response:

não = ~ til

á = acento agudo

ê in você = acento circunflexo

à = is called a crase. It is not commonly used.

I wanted to spell my words in Portuguese also including the Portuguese names for the diacratics.

Thanks for the help!

Ken

Hi Ken,

Oh, I see - it looks like I had misunderstood your question before! My apologies for that. But I'm glad that you were able to find the answers you were seeking from your Portuguese-speaking friend! 

Kind regards,

Liss

No problem.  Thanks to your help, I could have asked a better question like: “How do I say the diacratic marks in Portuguese?”