How to type Portuguese accents
Portuguese uses the same alphabet as English, plus twelve characters that no English keyboard has a key for. Here they are. Tap any one to copy it.
Tap any character to copy it, then paste it where you need it.
Small letters
Capitals
That is the quickest fix when you need one character right now. The rest of this page shows you how to type them properly, on whatever you are holding.
Why the accents matter
They are not decoration. In Portuguese the accent often is the word.
- avô is a grandfather. avó is a grandmother. Same four letters.
- é means 'is'. e means 'and'. 'Ela é bonita' says she is beautiful. 'Ela e bonita' says nothing at all.
- pôr means 'to put'. por means 'by' or 'for'.
So it is worth five minutes to learn one of the methods below.
On a phone or a tablet
Press and hold the letter. That is the whole method, and it needs nothing installed.
Hold down a on the on-screen keyboard and a little row appears: à á â ã. Slide your finger onto the one you want and let go.
- For ç, hold down c.
- For ã and õ, hold down a or o.
- For é, ê, í, ó, ô, ú, hold down the plain letter.
This works on an iPad, an iPhone and on Android, in every app.
On a Mac
Press and hold the letter, exactly as on an iPad. Hold a and a small row of accented a's appears above it. Either click the one you want, or press the number shown underneath it.
If you would rather use the keys, hold option and press one of these, then let go and type the letter:
| Hold option and press | Then type | You get |
|---|---|---|
| e | a e i o u | á é í ó ú |
| i | a e o | â ê ô |
| n | a o | ã õ |
| ` | a | à |
| c | nothing, it types straight away | ç |
On Windows
Press and hold does not work on Windows. There are two ways instead.
The quick way, for one character
Use the keys at the top of this page, or press the Windows key and the full stop together. That opens a small panel; choose the Ω symbols tab and the accented letters are there.
The proper way, if you write Portuguese often
Add a second keyboard called United States-International. It keeps your keys exactly where they are and adds the accents on top.
- Open Settings, then Time & language, then Language & region.
- Click the three dots next to your language, then Language options.
- Under Keyboards, click Add a keyboard and choose United States-International.
- Switch between your keyboards with the Windows key and space.
Then the accents work like this. Press the accent first, let go, then press the letter.
| Press this | Then this | You get |
|---|---|---|
| ' (apostrophe) | a e i o u | á é í ó ú |
| ' (apostrophe) | c | ç |
| ~ (shift and the key left of 1) | a o | ã õ |
| ^ (shift and 6) | a e o | â ê ô |
| ` (the key left of 1) | a | à |
One thing to know before you start. With this keyboard, typing an apostrophe on its own needs a press of the space bar afterwards. So 'don't' becomes apostrophe, space, t. It feels strange for about a day and then you stop noticing.
Still stuck?
These websites give you a Portuguese keyboard on screen. Click the characters you want, then copy and paste them.
What each accent does
Useful to know, because once you can hear the difference you stop guessing which one to use.
| Name | What it does | Example | |
|---|---|---|---|
| á é í ó ú | acento agudo | Opens the vowel, and the stress falls here | água, café, saída, avó, saúde |
| â ê ô | acento circunflexo | Closes the vowel, and the stress falls here | câmara, você, avô |
| ã õ | til | Sends the vowel through the nose | irmã, limões |
| à | acento grave | Only ever on an a, where the word 'a' meets another 'a' | vou à praia |
| ç | cedilha | Makes a c sound like ss, before a, o and u | criança |