Portuguese Year 3: One sound, several letters: phoneme and grapheme
Portuguese, Year 3 (Portugal): Tell sounds (phonemes) from the letters that write them (graphemes) and learn the most frequent ways of writing a sound.
Sounds and the letters that write them
A phoneme is a sound of speech. A grapheme is the letter, or the group of letters, that writes it. There is not always one letter per sound: «chuva» (rain) has 5 letters but 4 graphemes (ch, u, v, a) and 4 sounds, because «ch» writes a single sound. The same sound can be written in several ways: the sound at the start of «sapo» (toad) is written s, ss, c or ç. And the same letter can have different sounds: the s of «sapo» and the s of «casa» (house).
Writing goes from sound to letters
When you write, you hear a sound and have to choose the letters. If you knew only one letter for each sound, you would often be wrong, so you need to know the most frequent choices. When you read, you go the other way: you see the letters and work out the sound. Knowing both directions helps you to read new words and to write without mistakes, and to understand why words that sound alike can be written differently.
Four ways to write the sound of «sapo»
Step 1: listen to the sound at the start of «sapo». Step 2: look for words with that sound: sapo, passo (step), cinco (five), caça (hunt). Step 3: see how it is written: s (sapo), ss (passo), c (cinco), ç (caça). Step 4: find the rule in each case: ss goes between vowels; c before e or i; ç before a, o or u; s at the start of a word. Step 5: now the other way: seeing «ç» in «caça», you know it is the sound of «sapo».
One letter, one sound?
The mistake is to think that each letter always has the same sound, or that each sound has only one letter. The letter x shows it well: in «xadrez» (chess) it makes the sound at the start of «chave» (key); in «exame» (exam), the sound at the start of «zebra»; in «táxi» (taxi), two sounds together, that of «c» and that of «s»; in «próximo» (next), the sound at the start of «sapo». So, when you are not sure, look at the whole word, look for words of the same family and, if necessary, check the dictionary.
Where you use it
You use it in a dictation, when you write a new word, when you correct a mistake in your notebook, or when you look for rhymes for a poem: you hear the final sound and then choose the letters. Reading and writing are always connecting sounds to letters, and the more words you know, the easier it gets.
Test what you learned
How many letters and how many sounds (phonemes) does the word «chuva» (rain) have?
- a) 5 letters and 5 sounds
- b) 5 letters and 4 sounds
- c) 4 letters and 5 sounds
Correct answer: b) 5 letters and 4 sounds — Yes: c-h-u-v-a are 5 letters, but «ch» is a single grapheme, so there are 4 sounds (ch, u, v, a).
Which word writes the sound at the start of «sapo» with the letter ç?
- a) «sopa» (soup)
- b) «cinco» (five)
- c) «passo» (step)
- d) «caça» (hunt)
Correct answer: d) «caça» (hunt) — Yes: the ç before a writes the same sound as the s of «sapo».
In which word does the letter x make the sound at the start of «chave» (key)?
- a) «exame» (exam)
- b) «táxi» (taxi)
- c) «xadrez» (chess)
- d) «próximo» (next)
Correct answer: c) «xadrez» (chess) — Yes: in «xadrez» the x sounds like the «ch» of «chave».
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