How many letters are in the Portuguese alphabet? Is it the same for European and Brazilian Portuguese?

Answer 1

Hi there,

The Portuguese alphabet, both in European and Brazilian Portuguese, consists of 26 letters, the same as the English alphabet. This was standardized with the Orthographic Agreement of 1990, which aimed to unify Portuguese spelling across all Portuguese-speaking countries.

Here are the 26 letters of the Portuguese alphabet:

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

Before the Orthographic Agreement, the letters K, W, and Y were not considered part of the official alphabet and were primarily used in foreign words and names. Now, they are officially included and used in various contexts.

If you have more questions about the Portuguese language or its grammar, feel free to reach out. I'm here to help!

Best regards,

Rubens

Answer 2

Thanks to the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990, the Portuguese alphabet grew from 23 to 26 letters. The letters “k, y, and w” were finally added for special uses, such as proper nouns of international origin (my last name is an example) and units of measurement, such as “kg” and “km”. The Agreement’s purpose was to unify the orthography of all countries where Portuguese is the official language.