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In this lesson, you will learn to perfectly pronounce the phrases “Boas Festas” (Happy Holidays), “Feliz Natal” (Merry Christmas) and “Feliz Ano Novo” (Happy New Year).
Boas Festas! (Happy Holidays!)
- Remember to always pronounce the two vowels of the word “boas” (good). Even if you speak quickly, it’s important to pronounce the two vowels: bo-as.
- The stress of each word is in the first syllable, in the letter O in “boas,” and in the letter E in “festas”: Boas Festas. The beginning of the word is strong, and the end is weak: BO-as FES-tas.
- The letter S is always pronounced in Portuguese. Therefore, remember to pronounce all the S: BoaS FestaS!
Feliz Natal! (Merry Christmas!)
- The letter Z at the end of words “feliz” is pronounced like an S: “FeliS”
- Unlike the phrase “Boas Festas” in the phrase “Feliz Natal,” the stress of each word is in the last syllable, in the letter I in “feliz” and in the last A in “natal”: Feliz Natal. The beginning of the word is weak, and the end is strong: Fe-LIZ Na-TAL.
- The letter L at the end of syllables is pronounced as W in Brazilian Portuguese. There is no pronunciation of L: “Nataw”.
Feliz Ano Novo! (Happy New Year!)
- Remember I said the letter Z is pronounced as an S at the end of words?However, if the next word starts with a vowel, we link the two words, in which case the letter Z must be pronounced like Z: FeliZ_Ano Novo!
- In the word “ano” (year), the letter A is slightly nasal. Usually, vowels followed by the letters N or M are nasalized in Portuguese: Ãno.
- The letter O at the end of the word is weak and sounds like a soft U. This only happens when the letter O has no graphic accent and is found in unstressed (weak) syllables. This happens in the two words “anu novu”.
- Note that the word “novo” (new) has two letters “Os”. The first O is in a stressed (strong) syllable. Hence, it is pronounced strongly: novo.
- The second O is in a weak syllable at the end of the word. For that reason, it is pronounced as a soft U: “novu”.
That’s it, everybody!
Now it’s homework time! Your homework is to practice the phrases out loud several times: “Boas Festas” (Happy Holidays), “Feliz Natal” (Merry Christmas) and “Feliz Ano Novo” (Happy New Year).
Até a próxima!
Your teacher,
Virginia
