Graphic accentuation consists of placing an orthographic accent to indicate the pronunciation of a vowel or to mark the stressed syllable of a word. The names of the graphic accents in the Portuguese language are:
- acute accent (´)
- grave accent (`)
- caret (^)
Graphic accents are essential elements that establish, through rules, the sound/intensity of the syllables of words.
Accentuation of oxytone words
Oxytone words are those in which the last syllable is stressed (stronger). They can be accented with the acute accent and the caret.
Oxytones that receive acute accent
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| The oxytone words ending in stressed open vowels -a, -e or -o followed or not by -s are given an acute accent. | yes, are you, already, hello; until, yeah, yeah, olé, kick(s); grandma(s), domino(s), jacket(s), only(s) |
| In the case of words derived from French and ending with the vowel -e, both acute and circumflex accents are accepted. | baby or baby; bidet or bidet; canapé or canapé; crochet or crochet; matinee or matinee |
| When conjugated with the pronouns -lo (s) or -la (s) ending with the stressed open vowel -a after the loss of -r, -s, or -z. | adore him (from adore + him) or adore them (from adore + them); do it (from do + it) or do it (from do + them) give it (to give + it) or give it (to give + it) |
| The accent is on oxytone words with more than one syllable ending in the nasal diphthong written in -em and -ens. | acém, detains, detains, entertains, entertains, harem, harems, however, comes, comes, also |
| The oxytone words are accentuated with open diphthongs written -éu, éi or -ói, followed or not by -s. | rings, baths, worshipers, papers, hat(s), islander(s), veil(s); hero(s), grinds |
Note: there is an exception in the third person plural forms of the present indicative of the derivatives of "to have" and "to come". In this case, they are given a caret (hold, sustain; come, come).
Oxytones that receive caret
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| The oxytone words ending in the stressed closed vowels written -e or -o, followed or not by -s are accentuated. | courteous, give, des (to give), read, read (to read), Portuguese, you(s); grandfather(s), put (to put), robot(s) |
| The oxytone verb forms, when conjugated with the clitic pronouns -lo(s) or -la(s) terminated with the closed stressed vowels -e or -o after the loss of the final consonant -r, -s or -z, are accentuated. | stop him(s); do it(s); candles); compose it(s); reset it(s); put it(s) |
Note: the circumflex accent is also used to differentiate the verb form "to put" from the preposition "for".
Accentuation of paroxytone words
Paroxytone words are those in which the penultimate syllable is stressed (stronger).
Paroxytones that receive acute accent
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| The paroxytones that have, in the stressed syllable, the open vowels written -a, -e, receive an acute accent, -o, -i and -u and ending in -l, -n, -r, -x and -s, and some plural forms, which become proparoxytones. | docile, docile; fossil, fossils; reptile, reptiles; cortex, cortices; chest; lichen, lichens; odd, odd |
| Double spelling is allowed in some cases. | femur and femur; onyx and onyx; pony and pony; tennis and tennis; bonuses and bonuses; onus and onus; tone and tone |
| Paroxytone words that present, in the stressed syllable, the open vowels written -a, -e, -i, -o and -u, and ending in -ã, -ão, -ei, -one, or -uns are accented in the singular and plural forms of words. | orphans, orphans; orphans, orphans; organ, organs; attic, attics; jockey, jockeys; easy, easy; bile, iris, jury, oasis, album, forum, humus and virus |
Note: the diphthongs represented by -ei and -oi of the stressed syllable of the paroxytones are not graphically accentuated:
assembly, ride, idea, onomatopoeic, protein, alkaloid, support (from the verb to support), such as support (noun), buoy, heroic, boa constrictor, moina, paranoid, zoina.
Examples of unaccented paroxytone words: nausea, grave, man, table, Tagus, see, old, flight, advance, forest; bless, angolan, brazilian, discovering, graphically and mozambican.
Paroxytones and the use of the caret
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| Paroxytone words that contain, in the stressed syllable, the closed vowels with the spelling -a, -e and -o, and that end in -l, -n, -r, or -x, as well as their plural forms, some of which become proparoxytones. | consul, consuls; textiles, textiles; plankton, plankton |
| Words containing, in the stressed syllable, closed vowels with the spelling -a, -e and -o, and ending in -ão (s), -eis or -us, also receive a circumflex accent. | Stephen, drone, scribes, anus |
| The forms of the verbs "to have" and "to come" are written with a circumflex accent, in the third person plural of the present tense ("have" and "come"). The same is applied to some derived verb forms. | abstain, arise, contain, agree, disagree, detain, entertain, intervene, maintain, obtain, originate, arise |
| No the caret is used in paroxytone words that contain a closed hiatus oral tonic with an -em ending, third person plural present tense. | believe, give, disbelieve, provide, read, predict, redeem, reread, review, see |
| No the circumflex accent is used in order to indicate the closed stressed vowel in the spelling of paroxytone words. | seasickness - noun and inflection of seasickness |
| No circumflex and acute accents are used to distinguish paroxytone words when they have an open or closed stressed vowel in homographic words from singular and plural proclitic words. | to – bending to stop. |
Stay tuned!
the caret is mandatory in the word he can in the third person singular of the past perfect tense of the indicative. This is to distinguish it from the corresponding present tense and tense verbal form: he can.
the caret is optional in the verb demos, conjugated in the first person of the present tense. This occurs to distinguish the corresponding form in the perfect tense of the indicative: demos.
It is also optional to use the caret in the noun form as a distinction from the verb to form in the second person singular imperative: form.
stressed vowels
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| The stressed vowels (i) and (u) of the oxytone and paroxytone words receive accent when they are preceded by a vowel with which they do not form a diphthong and as long as they do not constitute a syllable with the consonant Following. | Adaís – plural of Adail, there, attracted (to attract), baú, cais (to fall), Esaú, jacuí, Luís, country, lute, often, Araújo, Ataíde, attracted (to attract), attracted (id.), bay, baluster, caffeine, jealousy, selfishness, spark, spark, grown-up, influence (of influencing), judges, Luísa, kid, paradise, roots, relapse, ruin, exit and sandwich |
| Stressed vowels written with -i and -u receive acute accent, when preceded by a diphthong in the final position or followed by -s. | Piauí teú - teís tuiuiú - tuiuiús |
| The stressed vowel is given an acute accent -i of oxytone words ending in -r of ending verbs in -air and -uir, when combined with -lo(s), -la(s) considering the assimilation and loss of -r in words. | attract him (s), attract him (s) - would, possess (s) - possess (s) - would - of possess (s) - would |
| The stressed vowels (i) and (u) of the oxytone and paroxytone words no they receive an accent when they are preceded by a vowel with which they do not form a diphthong, and as long as they do not constitute a syllable with the following consonant in the cases of -nh, -l, -m, -n, -r and -z. | hem, mill, queen, Adail, Coimbra, bad, still, constituent, originating, bad, triumph, attract, influence, influence, judge and root |
| No the stressed vowels of paroxytone words in the rhizotonic forms of some verbs receive an acute accent. | arguir, redarguir, aguar, appease, appease, apropinate, investigate, drain, rinse, oblique, delinquency |
| No the tonic diphthongs written -iu and -ui receive acute accent, when preceded by a vowel. | distracted; instructed |
| No an acute accent is used in stressed vowels written in -i and -u of paroxytone words when preceded by a diphthong. | baiuca; oxen; full; skirt |
Accentuation of proparoxytone words
Proparoxytone words are those in which the third to last syllable is the stressed (strongest), all of which are accented.
Proparoxytones that receive acute accent
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| Proparoxytone words that present in the stressed syllable the open vowels written -a, -e, -i, -o and -u, starting with oral diphthong or open vowel, receive an acute accent. | arabic, caustic, Cleopatra, squalid, army, hydraulic, liquid, myopic, musician, plastic, proselyte, public, rustic, grim, last |
| The apparent proparoxytone words receive an acute accent when they present in the stressed syllable the open vowels written -a, -e, -i, -o and -u or oral diphthong beginning with an open vowel, and ending with post-tonic vowel sequences practically considered as crescent diphthongs -ea, -eo, -ia, -ie, -io, -oa, -ua and -uo). | Alea, nausea; ethereal, cloudy; encyclopedia, glory; barbarism, series; lily, prelio; hurt, stain; meager; meager, vacuum |
Proparoxytones that receive a caret
| Graphic Accent Rules | Examples of Accented Words |
|---|---|
| Proparoxytone words that present in the stressed syllable a closed vowel or diphthong with the basic closed vowel and the so-called apparent proparoxytones receive a circumflex accent. | anacreontic, camphor, computation, deveramos (of duty), dynamic, plunger, eccentric, we were (of being and going), Grândola, hermeneutics, lamp, lobrego, medlar, pleiade, eager, somnambulist, stumbling. Almond, argent, crust, Iceland, Mantua and serodium |
| Proparoxytone words, real or apparent, are given a circumflex accent when stressed vowels are spelled and/or are at the end of a syllable and are followed by the nasal consonants spelled -m or -n obeying the letterhead. | academic, anatomical, scenic, comfortable, phenomenon, gender, toponym, Amazon, Antônio, blasphemy, female, twin, genius and tenuous |
Attention!
Words derived from adverbs or adjectives no are accented
Examples:
- greedily - of greedy
- feebly - feebly
- Easily - easy
- skillfully - skillfully
- Naively - naive
- lucidly - lucidly
- only - of only
- only - of single
- Candidately - candid
- Dynamically - from dynamic
- spontaneously - spontaneously
- romantically - from romantic
Use of backline
THE back is used in the contraction of the preposition a with the feminine forms of the article or demonstrative pronoun a: à (from a + a), as (from a + as).
The crasis is also used in the contraction of the preposition "a" with the demonstrative pronouns:
- those ones)
- to that (s)
- that one
- to that other(s)
- to the other(s)
Umlaut use
The umlaut is only used in words derived from proper names.
Example:
Müller - from Müllerian
Read too:
- Emphasis Rules
- Graphic Accenting Exercises
- New orthographic agreement
- Stressed and Unstressed Syllable
