Table of Contents Animals Food Everyday Things Clothes Nature Colors Numbers Guide to Imitated Pronunciation Guide to Imitated Pronunciation a is the sound of a as in father ã is a nasal a sound e is an e sound, as in vein (but without the i sound at the end) ẽ is a nasal e sound i is the sound of i as in sheen ĩ is a nasal i sound o is the sound of o as in wrote õ is a nasal o sound u is the sound of u as in rule ũ is a nasal u sound ch is the ch in church, but without the puff of air that occurs in English j is the j in judge r is a rolled or tapped r as in Italian sh is the sh in shop zh is the sound represented by s in leisure and pleasure Double consonants are pronounced twice as long as single consonants. For example, latte is pronounced as lat-te, rather than la-te, and cavallu is pronounced as ka-wal-lu, rather than ka-wa-lu.