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8. descending (falling) diphthong cannot be divided: noite (noi-te), lições (li-ções); ascending (rising) diphthong generally cannot be divided, even if some is deemed to be hiatus, better not divided: vitória (vi-tó-ria). (see "§ 2.5 diphthong ditongo")

9. triphthong cannot be divided, such as: Uruguai (U-ru-guai), delinquiu (de-lin-quiu). (see "§ 2.6 triphthong tritongo")

10. An hiatus is two syllables, such as: saúde (sa-ú-de), cooperar (co-o-pe-rar). (see "§ 2.7 hiatus hiato")

3.3 Accented syllable and light syllable sílaba tónica e sílaba átona

Some Portuguese words don't carry any accents (stress) in themselves, so they are called unaccented words (vocábulo átono). All unaccented words are monosyllable, including part of articles (such as a and o), pronouns (such as me and te), prepositions (such as a), and conjunctions (such as e and se), etc.

A substantial majority of Portuguese words carry stress, so they are called accented words (vocábulo tónico). A few of Accented words are monosyllables (such as é and lá, etc.), and the rest have two or more syllables (such as caneta and mapa, etc.). As for stress, it's to prolong certain syllable of a word stronger and longer than any others, so the syllables are divided into accented syllables and light syllables. On special occasions, a word can have two accented syllables, one of which is called secondary accented syllable. (see "§ 3.4 accentuation regras de acentuação das sílabas")

An accented syllable pronounces with higher tones, during longer time; while unaccented syllables have lower tones, during shorter period.

3.4 Accentuation regras de accentuação das sílabas

Generally, a word contains an accented syllable, with other syllables unaccented. Each and every Portuguese word has its own accented syllable, when the stress changes, the whole meaning would be different, like papa, with stress on the first syllable means "Pope"; but papá, with stres on the second syllable means "papa or father". Therefore, when we learn a new PT word, it's necessary to know where is the stress.

The rules of accentuation is basically as follows (in the following, accented syllables are shown in italic, and secondary accented syllables are in bold):

1. Syllables with "´", "^", or "~" are stressed:

médico doctor/medic(al)
camponês farmer/peasant
irmão brother

Some words have "´" or "^" besides "~", in which case, the syllable with "~" is not stressed:

órfão orphan
bênção greeting

2. Words with the above accent signs should release or cancel the "´", "^" while remain the "~" when a suffix is added. In any case, whether the signs are cancelled or not, the original accented syllable should be shifted into secondary accented syllable:

fácil easy--> facilmente easily
lâmpada lamp--> lampadazita small lamp
irmão brother--> irmãozinho little brother

3. Words ending with a(s), e(s), or o(s), should be put a stress on the second syllable:

batata(s) potato(s)
peixe(s) fish(es)
nabo(s) radish(es)

While words ending with i(s), u(s) should be put a stress on the last syllable:

parti(s) leave(s)/departure(s)
bambu(s) bamboo(s)

4. Words ending with am, em should be put a stress on the syllable before the last syllable:

falam speak
homen man

While words ending with im. um should be put a stress on the last syllable:

marfim ivory
algum any

The PT words with -om endings are very few (some are from alien), the majority of which is stressed on the last syllable:

bombom bonbon

Pluralized words with -m endings remain the original accented syllables:
homen man-->homens men
marfim ivory-->marfins ivories
bombom bonbon-->bombons bonbons
algum any-->alguns any(ones)

5. Words ending with consonants (other than m and s), should be put a stress on the last syllable:

professor teacher/professor
azul azure/sky blue
feliz happy

6. There is also kind of emphatic/intensified stress (acento de insistência), that is, to stress certain word in a sentence, or to stress starting syllable of a word, irregularly, as a result of emotions. For example:

Seria melhor que fosse você e não eu. It's better that you go and(but) not I.

Conventionally, você is stressed on cê, but in order to note the comparison, and prioritize the opposite part/person, we stress vo, this accentuation is called presentive stress (acento intelectual).

3.5 Intonatoin, pause and liaison entoação, pausa e ligação

In general, Portuguese tone or tone of sentence is comparatively flat, without large fluctuations.

In explaining the tones, we use following signs or colors:

____ indicates accented syllable
..... indicates unaccented syllable
> indicates ascending (rising)
< indicates descending (falling)

3.5.1 declarative sentence frase declarativa

Taking simple declarative sentence as an example, the tone is rising at the beginning of a sentence , whle falling in the end.

Falling end is featured by the tone falling at the last accented syllable in the end of the sentence.

Portuguese declarative sentences are all ended by falling tone.

Eles querem estudar a gramática portuguesa. They like studying PT grammar.
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