Have you ever felt asked about why of the letter “u” sometimes being accented, sometimes not?Regardless of your answer, in our meeting we will discover a little more about those little mysteries that the Portuguese language has in store for us. For this, we need to analyze together some words that are part of our daily lives:
TRUNK
CASHEW
ITAÚ
VULTURE
JAU
PACAEMBU
Well, in every word, the syllable most strongly pronounced is always the last one. But the question is: why are some accented and others not?Now, to unravel this enigma, I invite you to separate the syllables from all, without exception. Come on?
The accentuation or not of the letter "u" is related to the syllabic separation
TRUNK
CASHEW
I - TA - U
VULTURE
JA - Ú
PA - CA - IN - BU
Even though the last syllable is the one pronounced with the most intensity, according to the accentuation rules, we never accentuate oxytones ending in “u”. That is why “caju”, “vulture” and “Pacaembu” do not receive a graphic accent.
Now, as you can see, the words “baú”, “Itaú” and “Jaú” were accented. Do you know why?
Well, it's simple: because, according to those same rules, which we've already talked about, the tonic letters “u” and “i” of the hiatus are accented when isolated in the syllable or accompanied by “s”.
Did you like the brilliant discovery we made? Now, surely you won't have any more doubts, won't you?
By Vânia Duarte
Graduated in Letters
