How many letters are in the Portuguese alphabet?

Since the 1990 Orthographic Agreement, the Portuguese alphabet officially has 26 letters. The letters k, w, and y were formally readmitted, having previously been used only in foreign names, symbols, and abbreviations.

What diacritics does Portuguese use?

Portuguese uses the acute accent (á é í ó ú), the circumflex (â ê ô), the tilde for nasal vowels (ã õ), the grave accent for contractions (à), and the cedilla under c (ç). Each marks pronunciation or grammar.

What does the tilde do in Portuguese?

The tilde marks nasal vowels, so ã and õ are pronounced through the nose. It appears in common words like pão, mãe, and irmão, and is a defining feature of Portuguese spelling not shared with Spanish vowels.

Why was k, w, y added in 1990?

Before the 1990 Orthographic Agreement, k, w, and y were not counted among the official letters and appeared only in loanwords, scientific symbols, and proper names. The agreement standardised the alphabet at 26 letters across Portuguese-speaking countries.

Portuguese Alphabet Reference

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The Portuguese alphabet has 26 letters since the 1990 Orthographic Agreement formally readmitted k, w, and y. Portuguese also uses a rich set of diacritics, including the distinctive nasal tilde and the cedilla.

How it works

The 26 letters are the full Latin set:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Diacritics mark pronunciation and grammar:

acute (´)      – á é í ó ú : stressed open vowels
circumflex (^) – â ê ô      : stressed closed vowels
tilde (~)      – ã õ        : nasal vowels (pão, irmão)
grave (`)      – à          : contraction a + a
cedilla (¸)    – ç          : soft /s/ before a, o, u

Example and notes

coração shows both the cedilla in ç and the nasal tilde in ã. The grave accent appears only on à to mark the contraction of the preposition a with the article a, as in à. Letters k, w, and y appear mainly in loanwords and units such as kilograma, watt, and yuan, but are now official members of the alphabet.