Universidade de Lisboa
♫ ♪ FADO LYRIC WORD GUIDE
Fortunately, you don't have to understand a single word of Portuguese to be able to appreciate fado; to be able to experience the emotions. Still, we thought we'd list a few of the most frequently appearing words. So, following a quick, non-scientific analysis of Mariza's lyrics (which were the easiest for us to obtain in a searchable format), we present the results:
| TRANSLITERATION | IPA | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Elemental | |||
| água | water | 'ag-wa | 'agwɐ |
| alma | soul | 'al-ma | 'almɐ |
| céu | sky | 'say-oo | 'sɛw |
| chuva | rain | 'shoo-va | 'ʃuvɐ |
| fogo | fire | 'fog-oo | 'fogu |
| lua | moon | 'loo-a | 'luɐ |
| luz | light | loosh | luʃ |
| mar | sea | mar | maɾ |
| noite | night | 'noyt-(a) | 'nojtɨ |
| sol | sun | sol | soɫ |
| terra | earth | 'ter-a | 'tɛʁɐ |
| vento | wind | 've[n]-too | 'vẽtu |
| vida | life | 'vee-da | 'vidɐ |
| Emotional | |||
| amor | love | a-'mor | ɐ'moɾ |
| amargura | bitterness | a-mar-'goo-ra | ɐmɐɾ'guɾɐ |
| beijo | kiss | 'bay-ju | 'bejʒu |
| chorar [1] | to weep | shor-'ar | ʃoɾ'aɾ |
| coração | heart | coo-r(a)-'sow-(a) | kuɾɐ'sɐ̃w |
| dor | pain | dor | doɾ |
| lágrima | tear | 'lag-ree-ma | 'lagɾimɐ |
| lembrança | memory | le[m]-'bra[n]-sa | lẽ'bɾãsɐ |
| perder | to lose | per-'der | peɾ'deɾ |
| saudade | absence-ache [2] | sow-'dad-(a) | saw'dadɨ |
| sentir | to feel | se[n]-'teer | sẽ'tiɾ |
| sofrimento | suffering | sof-ree-'me[n]-too | sofɾi'mẽtu |
| sonho [3] | dream | 'son-yoo | 'sɔɲu |
| tristeza | sadness | trish-'tay-za | tɾiʃ'tezɐ |
| Misc | |||
| bailar | to dance | by-'lar | baj'laɾ |
| barco | boat | 'bar-coo | 'baɾku |
| caminho [3] | road | ca-'meen-yoo | kɐ'miɲu |
| cantar | to sing | ca[n]-'tar | kɐ̃'taɾ |
| cidade | city | si-'dad-(a) | si'dadɨ |
| gente | people | 'je[n]-t(a) | 'ʒẽtɨ |
| Lisboa | Lisbon | lish-'bo-a | liʃ'bõɐ |
| país | country | pa-'eesh | pa'jiʃ |
| palavra | word | pa-'lav-ra | pɐ'lavɾɐ |
| povo | people | 'pov-oo | 'povu |
| Tejo | River Tagus | 'tay-'joo | 'teʒu |
| voz | voice | vosh | vɔʃ |
Transliteration
Transliteration into English is imprecise. Vowels in particular have multiple possible pronounciations as well as regional variations. Please note we have used:
- «ee» & «oo» as monosyllabic - «too» rather than «to-ol»
- «(a)» to indicate the hint of the sound (we could have used «(uh)»)
- «[n]» & «[m]» to indicate preceding nasal vowels, they are not separately pronounced
- «sow» as in female pig
- «bo» as in Diddley (or Derek)
IPA
Wherever possible, we've been guided by respected linguistic websites. Any errors are ours. We're trying to improve our Portuguese, but in Portugal we're told we have Spanish accents (and bizarrely, in Spain we're told we have Portuguese accents!).
Notes
1 The infinitive is shown and - for «chorar» - appears most often. Other inflections are available. For example, the first person present which has an «o» suffix - «choro» (I weep - 'ʃoɾu). Similarly, «canto» (I sing - 'kɐ̃tu) etc.
2 Books have been written on the meaning of «saudade» - for now, we're going with «absence-ache» (a definition we read somewhere).
3 The noun is shown. The first person present is identical: I sleep (sonho) & I walk (caminho), but they don't appear in the lyrics sampled for this exercise.
EUROPEAN DAY OF LANGUAGES
