Script guide › Latin
How to recognize Portuguese
Portuguese is one of 35 languages in Grafle's Latin group. Here's what it looks like, where you'll see it on signs, and how to tell it apart from its lookalikes.
Spot it fast
- The nasal tilde ã (não, razão, coração) is the giveaway — Spanish never uses it.
- Also uses ç and words ending in -ão.
What Portuguese looks like
Todos os seres humanos nascem livres, com razão e coração.
Ordem e Progresso — a inscrição na bandeira do Brasil.
A saudade é a memória do coração.
Latin scripts: The alphabet you're reading now. Each language gives itself away by its own special letters and accent marks.
Where you'll see it on signs
- Portugal
- Brazil
- Angola
- Mozambique
- Guinea Bissau
- East Timor
- Cape Verde
- São Tomé and Príncipe
Easy to confuse with
- Spanish — Portuguese has the nasal ã and ç (razão, coração); Spanish has ñ and the inverted ¿ ¡. Portuguese also pairs lh/nh where Spanish writes ll/ñ.
- French — Both use ç — but Portuguese adds the nasal ã (não, coração), while French stacks accents like é/ê and elides with apostrophes.