"Água é alimento."

[finnplek]

... huh? Alright duolingo, if you say so......

[Bethany.Special]

Would "water and food" água e alimento sound the same?

[vivisaurus]

Hi Bethany.Special! No, the accented é sounds different from the e that means and.

Accented é -- sounds like the one she is saying at the normal speed, close to the a in the English words as, back, and lavender.
Normal e -- sounds like what she usually says at slow speed: like the "e" in Bend, Emma, Embarass, Exactly, . The accented ê sounds this way as well.

Describing sounds is always difficult, but I hope it helps! =]

[Danmoller]

Try with:

É sounds like bEll

E sounds like wAy (some regions of Brazil say it with the sound of "i", like in "mE")

[vivisaurus]

Even better!

I've only heard it sound like "i" after "d" or "t", and at the end of words.

(que/qui, dente/denn-chi, chocolate/chocolah-chi, tiara/chi-ara, mendigo/men-gee-go). Is that what you mean? =]

[Danmoller]

Those are like that, but I'm talking about the word "E", like in "eu E você".

Sounds like "eu ee você"

[vivisaurus]

Right! Yep, that's true. =)