what does portuguese sound like to a spanish speaker

Spanish speakers come to Portuguese with bully strengths and unique challenges that call for a specialized approach to learning. As a speaker of Spanish, you already have a huge vocabulary of cognates and a knowledge of the basic grammar. Nigh likely you can read Portuguese very well, only y'all might stuggle to understand the spoken language. When y'all speak, you lot might speak with a Spanish emphasis, or you might speak portunhol.

Information technology'due south in the everyday spoken language where Spanish and Portuguese are most distant. Unfortunately, the similarity between Spanish and Portuguese ofttimes gets overstated. This tends to obscure the fact that there are significant and wide differences at every level. To see what I mean, check out the Wikipedia page on Differences Between Spanish and Portuguese.

Equally a Spanish speaker, your challenge is start to focus on the very dissimilar pronunciation of Portuguese, where words are rarely pronounced the manner you lot might expect. And so you lot can begin to learn the major differences in grammer. For case, personal pronouns are used differently in Brazil than in Portugal, Spain, or the Castilian-speaking countries of Latin America. Verb tenses in Portuguese don't quite map onto their Castilian equivalents as simply as you might await, and object pronouns have their ain set of rules, when they're used at all.

Then in that location's the matter of linguistic communication interference, where because the two languages are and then similar, you get dislocated and end upward using Spanish words in your Portuguese and Portuguese words in your Spanish. I doubtable this is mostly a problem for native English speakers who have learned Spanish as a second language, rather than for native Spanish speakers.

Recommended Resources for Spanish Speakers

Tá Falado, which I've reviewed elsewhere on this site, is a gratuitous podcast series designed to teach Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation and grammar to Spanish speakers. The podcasts focus on the major differences between the languages, and I think they're especially expert at explaining the more complicated pronunciation of Portuguese. Each lesson contains a Portuguese dialogue that has been translated into both Spanish and English, and you volition hear two Brazilians and a Venezuelan readings the dialogs and then that you lot can really hear the differences in both grammar and pronunciation. The explanations are in English language.

Pois Não: Brazilian Portuguese Course for Spanish Speakers

I don't own this volume, only I've had it recommended to me past Castilian speakers as a great introduction to Portuguese.

Portuguese for Spanish Speakers – this website hasn't been updated since 2010, but it's got many expert articles.

Vocabulary

Yous already take a vast knowledge of vocabulary and will recognize the many cognates easily, and then reading will exist a slice of cake.

Many, many words are near identical one time you larn how to interpret the different endings:

• Castilian -dad -> Portuguese -dade [da-dji]
• ciudad -> cidade
• habilidad -> habilidade

• Spanish -ción -> Portuguese -ção
• nación -> nação

• Spanish -zon -> Portuguese -ção
• corazon -> coração

• Spanish -ble -> Portuguese -vel
• invisible -> invisível
• comparable -> comparável
• Note that the letter l at the stop of a give-and-take is not pronounced like a normal Spanish or English L. Instead, it acts like a w glide, and then –vel is pronounced similar a dipthong, somewhere betwixt "veu" and "vew", which means you then have to add together an acute emphasis to the preceding vowel to go on the stress on that syllable.
• invisibles -> invisíveis
• comparables -> comparáveis

• Spanish -an -> Portuguese -am
• ellos compran -> eles compram

• Spanish -b (in btw. ii vowels) -> Portuguese -v
• ella nadaba -> ela nadava
• haber -> haver

• Spanish j -> Portuguese lh or x
• mujer -> mulher
• hoja -> folha
• hijo -> filho
• debajo -> debaixo

• Spanish h (at the offset of a discussion) -> Portuguese f
• hablar -> falar
• hacer -> fazer
• hijo -> filho

Spanish often uses dipthongs where Portuguese doesn't:

• cuenta -> conta
• fuego -> fogo
• asiento -> assento
• ciudad -> cidade

Then once more, sometimes Portuguese uses dipthongs where Castilian doesn't:

• debajo -> debaixo

The vast majority of Spanish words are either identical or recognizably similar in Portuguese, once you acquire the substitutions to a higher place. Only occasionally, y'all'll run into a common word that is essentially or completely different, having branched off the Latin vernacular at a different point in time:

• laventana -> ajanela

And occasionally, you'll find a word that simply doesn't be in Spanish. The extremely useful verb ficar (to exist, to be located, to become, to remain, to stay) has no directly equivalent in Spanish, withal it'southward used in so many dissimilar situations, from describing where a place is located to signalling changes in emotional states, it's most similar having a third copula to go on with ser and estar.

Brazilians also beloved using idiomatic expressions, especially with verbs likedar, fazer, estar com, etc. and many of these don't translate into Spanish.

And sometimes, information technology'due south only a matter of give-and-take choice, where Portuguese has the Spanish discussion merely Brazilians prefer to use a unlike word:

• creer -> crer, but Brazilians preferachar [to think] instead
• necesitar->necessitar, but Brazilians preferprecisar [to need] instead

Pronunciation

Before we go started, a quick note on how I transcribe pronunciations. Anything you come across inside [square brackets] is written using the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. I beloved IPA because information technology makes information technology possible to write down pronunciation in a precise, unambiguous way. If y'all are passionate most learning or teaching (or hacking) languages, or you just desire to actually impress people with your native-similar pronunciation, then learning a lilliputian bit about phonetics and the IPA is one of the best gifts you tin can requite yourself. It's not that hard to learn, and information technology will requite y'all a expert ear for the subtle variations in sounds that make the difference between speaking with a native vs not-native accent. That said, since not everyone can read IPA, I've besides tried to transcribe words using English phonetics (in parentheses) when possible. On occasion I've used a sort of modified IPA-low-cal that contains some English phonetics, whenever I thought the bodily IPA was too obscure. And, for anyone who may care, I'm using broad IPA, concentrating only on the phonemic differences and ignoring the details.

And then, Portuguese pronunciation…

Here's a quick video that gives an overview of the major 'unexpected' differences in Portuguese:

Perchance you lot've noticed that Portuguese speakers tend to pronounce the letterdue east at the end of a discussion like [i] (ee) instead of [e] (ay) as in Castilian, or the lettero at the end of a discussion like [u] instead of [o]. This phenomenon is chosen "vowel raising". Or maybe you've heard the simple wordde pronounced [dʒi] (dji), a phenomenon called "palatalization". Both of these phenomena happen when you have unstressed syllables, which is why for exampleRio de Janeiro sounds like (HEE-u dji zhaNAYru) [xiu dʒi ʒaˈnejɾu]. Not all Portuguese speakers palatalize, and you'll be understood only fine if yous don't, merely I happen to love the sound of palatalization and vowel raising considering they give Brazilian Portuguese its characteristic sound — they're part of the reasons it sounds distinct from Spanish.

In general, Spanish has only v vowels:a, e, i, o, u, plus some dipthongs similar ue, ie which are merely combinations of them. To these five, Portuguese adds an open é, open ó, and a bunch of dipthongs and even tripthongs, and nasalized versions of many of these.

Nasal vowels are sometimes (but not always) marked by a ~ sign, as in irmã ("sister"), coração ("heart"), nações ("nations"). Nasalization tin can really change the meaning of a word: pau (not nasal) ways "wood", merely pão (the same vowel sound, but nasal) means "bread". Nasal sounds don't exist in Spanish, but they do in French, commonly with vowels that come earlier an n or one thousand, equally in bon , en passpismire orfifty'indifférent. In the aforementioned way, Portuguese vowels that come earlier an n or m are always nasal, even if they aren't marked by a ~ sign: entre ("between"), entender ("to understand"), implicante, eles compram("they purchase"). In these cases, the n or m audio shouldn't actually be pronounced, information technology's just a betoken that the preceeding vowel is nasal. In fact, the Portuguese give-and-take bom ("good") is almost identical to the French bon. You do not actually bring your lips together to form the m in bom, just like you don't touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth to pronounce the n in bon.

The all-time way I've plant to depict how to make the nasal sound is this: Say the English language discussion "bringing" and find how when you say "ng" your soft palate in the back of your oral cavity closes off. One time you notice what's going on yous can actually exercise opening and closing your soft palate by saying "ng" over and over. When you close the soft palate, it lets the audio resonate in the nasal cavity instead of the mouth. Then exercise proverb the Portuguese discussion bom, merely imagine that it's really pronounced with that "ng" audio at the cease, similar "bong". Say the "ng" at the end very lightly, silently fifty-fifty, just enough to shut off your soft palate so that the o sound becomes nasal. Again, information technology should audio like to the French bon.

Now try another word: compram. Remember that the m at the end of each syllable should not exist pronounced, information technology's only at that place to brand the sound nasal. Pretend you are actually maxim "congprang" to get a nice nasal a at the cease. Saying it this manner also keeps you from closing your lips to pronounce them's, which, remember, are always silent when they occur at the terminate of a syllable. It should sound quite similar to the French je comprende, except that the stress is on the first syllable:COMpram.

As in Spanish,emphasis marks (diacritics) point the stressed syllable, just only when information technology deviates from the normal rules of stress (to oversimplify greatly, stress normally falls on the second-to-last syllable, except in words ending in -l, and -r).

But unlike in Spanish, emphasis marks in Portuguese also serve the purpose of distinguishing between different vowel qualities. The circumflex emphasis is only found oneast,o, anda (where information technology indicates the airtight version of these vowels) while the acute accent tin can occur on all vowels (where it indicates the open version ofe, o,anda,or the regulariandu since these ii are always pronounced the aforementioned):

• ê = Closed eastward. This is the normal audio ofeast in Spanish, somewhat similar the sound in English language "bait". IPA [eastward].
• é = Open e, like the audio in English "bet". This audio is not present in Spanish. IPA [ɛ].
• ô = Closed o.This is the normal sound ofo in Spanish, somewhat like the audio in English "boat". IPA [o].
• ó = Open o, like the audio in English "bought", "caught" or "ought". This sound is not present in Castilian. IPA [ɔ].

Technically there is also a departure betwixt opená and airtightâ but the divergence is minor and non something well-nigh students need to worry almost. Suffice it to say that alphabetic character A is not e'er a pure, open, Spanish-like aah but sometimes it is more like the clipped, indistinct English language schwa, more than like an "uh", especially when information technology falls on an unstressed syllable at the end of a word. Á with the acute emphasis is the pure Spanish sound, while  with the circumflex is the schwa sound.

It'due south important to know the difference betwixt open and closedeando, because mixing up these sounds can actually change the significant of the words you say. For example,avôwith a closedo means "grandfather", whileavó with an openomeans "grandmother".

Whene andovowels practise not accept an emphasis mark, they could be either open or closed, and you have to know a few rules. These are the sort of rules that you acquire unconsciously by exposing yourself to the spoken communication as much as possible.

For instance, on unstressed syllables, east and o are always closed. On stressed syllables, they can be either open or airtight.

Here's an interesting example with comer (to swallow). If y'all say European union como (I eat), the stress falls on the starting time syllable of the verb: COmo. Stressed vowels can exist either open or closed, and since there's no accent mark to help yous out, you just have to know that in this instance, that first o is really an open ó. It sounds like you're proverb "CAW-mu". Same affair with Você come (Y'all swallow). Come up sounds like "CAW-mi". But! Conjugate comer with nós and you get nós coMEmos (we eat). That outset o has now become unstressed, so now it must be closed ô, because unstressed vowels are ever closed. It sounds similar "coMAYmus".

The aforementioned matter happens with open and closed e in verbs like querer, beber, and correr. The only exception to the dominion that unstressed due east and o are always closed is when they are in the terminal syllable of a word. In this case, that vowel raising miracle happens, and east becomes [i] and o becomes [u].

Here's some other rule. When you have a stressed syllable and there is no accent mark to guide you lot, sometimes the gender of the give-and-take tin aid – masculine words often used closed vowels while feminine words utilise open vowels. For example, the masculine version of the word "famous" isfamoso,pronounced with a closedolike [fam'ozu]. Only the feminine version isfamosa, pronounced with open upolike [fam'awza]. Another instance: The male third-person pronounele is pronounced [ele] with a closed ê, merely the female pronoun ela is pronounced [ɛla] with an open é. Like I said, information technology's practiced to larn these rules at first and so y'all can listen for the different sounds, but after speaking the language for awhile, you will develop an ear for when the vowels should be open or closed.

As for consonants, hither are the ones most probable to give Spanish speakers trouble:

• the digraph nh (eg, montanha) is equivalent to the Spanish ñ, though a bit softer.

• the soundlh (eg, mulher, folha) isn't present in Spanish, merely it's the aforementioned equally the Italian gl  in fogliaor the ll in the English discussion "1000000". It'due south like saying 50 followed past y.

• the letterj (eg, jardim, cajú) is not pronouned [h] like in Spanish. It sounds [zh] like the French j in jardinor the s in the English give-and-take "mensurate".

• the aforementioned goes for the alphabetic character g, which has a soft [zh] sound when it comes before letters e or i (gente, página) but retains the hard English [chiliad] sound before an a, o, u or consonant (goiaba, frango, paga). This is just like how thousand behaves in Italian. When letter g comes before an [i] or [eastward] sound simply the sound is supposed to exist hard [chiliad], information technology can be hardened by inserting a letter u afterwards it, in which case the u is silent: pague ['pagi], guerra ['geʁa]

• the letter x is not pronounced [h] like in Spanish, but can be either [sh] (maxixe = [ma'shishi]), [s] (próxima = ['prɔsima]), or [z], (except in English loanwords, when it is pronounced [ks] like in English language (taxi = ['taksi], saxofone = [sakso'foni]).

• the digraph ch is not pronounced similar in Spanish, but is ever a soft [sh] sound. Compare Sp. churro ['churo], the tasty fried snack, to Pt. choro ['shoɾu], the Brazilian musical genre. Another example is the Brazilian spirit cachaça = [ka'shasa]
  

• the Spanishll [y] sound doesn't exist in Portuguese, but when that sound is present in foreign loanwords it is approximated using a dipthong offset with the letteri. iate = yacht.iogurte = yogurt.caiaque = kayak.

• the letter southward is always [s] in Spanish, only in Portuguese it tin be either [s] or [z] depending on position in a give-and-take. When it comes between two vowels, information technology is [z]. casa = ['kazə], non Sp. ['kasa].  The exception is when it is double ss, which is always pronounced [southward]: cassava = [kə'sava].

• the letter d is articulated with the tongue on the back of the teeth, just as in Spanish. But simply the hard [d] audio (eg, Spanishdos, cuando)occurs in Portuguese. The sound known as soft d, eth [ð], or a voiced dental fricative, as in Castilian nada or ciudad, does not exist in Portuguese. This ways that Portuguese nada is pronounced [nadə], non [naða]. The just exception to this is when the letter d comes before i or unstressede, in which case (in near but not all Brazilian accents) it gets palatalized and becomes a [dj] sound which is pronounced with the tongue touching the alveolar ridge on the hard palate of the mouth, but equally in English. For example, cidade [si'dadji], digo ['djigu]. See this StreetSmart Brazil video on the various sounds of d.

• the letter t is pronounced like to Castilian, with the natural language on the back of the teeth. The but exception is when t comes earlier i or unstressed east, in which instance (only like with d) it gets palatalized and becomes [tsh]. For example, abacate [aba'katshi], tijolo [tshi'zholu].

• the letter b is e'er pronounced similar a difficult English language b (ie, a finish), never like a soft Castilian b (a fricative).

The Portuguese R

And then there's r. Oh man, r's are fun. And frustrating. As with many languages, r tin take on a kaleidoscope of different sounds depending on its placement within a word and the dialect of the speaker. See this Wikipedia entry on r in Portuguese. It'south pretty much impossible to give whatever hard and fast rules that apply across all dialects. But I'm going to try to give you a sense of the variation.

In all Portuguese dialects, there are two unlike sounds associated with the letter of the alphabet r. The first, sound, which I'll call <r>, is pronounced the aforementioned way in all dialects. And fortunately for Spanish speakers, it's exactly the same sound every bit the r in Spanish words similar barato, corona, and cristo, a sound known as the "alveolar tap" (or "flap"). The IPA symbol for this is [ɾ]. Information technology's called a tap because your natural language taps the roof of your mouth only once, very lightly — but you don't curlicue or trill the r.

You utilize the [ɾ] sound in the same situations as in Spanish — whenever r appears in the middle of a word betwixt two vowels (barata), or after a consonant but before a vowel (cristo). Try saying these Portuguese words with a crisp alveolar tap: quatro, trem, carioca, caro, para, barato.

But! In that location is a second rhotic sound in Portuguese, which I'll call <rr>, that occurs whenever letter r is doubled (guerra, correr, carregar), when it appears at the beginning or finish of a word (rio, restaurante, roda, beber, doutor), or when it appears at the end of a syllable side by side to a consonant (corpo, parte, quarto). The temptation for Spanish speakers here is to curlicue the r. And this is non wrong. But to a Brazilian ear, it will audio like either (a) you lot accept a Spanish accent, or (b) yous come from Rio Grande do Sul state where people speak with a distinctive emphasis known as gaúcho or fronteiriço .

How Portuguese speakers really pronounce <rr> varies widely depending on the dialect, region of the earth, and idiosyncrasies of the speaker. Depending on who you're talking to, y'all might hear whatsoever of these <rr> sounds:

• a voiceless glottal fricative [h], like a thick English h (throughout much of Brazil)
• a voiceless velar [x] or uvular [χ] fricative like the CH in Hebrew Chanukah, Scottish loch, or Welsh achos (e.m. rio in the carioca emphasis)
• an alveolar approximant [ɹ] similar the American English r (falar or quarto in the Paulista and caipira accents from São Paulo)
• a voiced alveolar trill [r] like the Spanish rolling r (rio, as pronounced in the gaúcho dialect of Brazil'southward deep south, also in Lusophone Africa)
• a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ] like the French guttural r (rio, in much of Portugal)
• or it can disappear from the end of a give-and-take entirely (falar or any other infinitive in the carioca accent, sort of like British English car, bird, yard)

• To the extent that there is a 'neutral' Brazilian pronunciation of <rr>, I would say it is most common to hear [χ], [x], or [h]. Always voiceless. If you lot're doing something along these lines you really tin't go wrong in Brazil. These three sounds are pretty similar in practice, the only difference is how heavy or thick they sound. My own <rr>'south alternate fairly indiscriminately between these three, though I usually opt for a heavier, more uvular [χ] at the beginning of a word like Rio, a lighter [x] at the end of a syllable like corpo, and a very light [h] or [x] at the end of a word similar falar. My communication, then, is to choose the dialect and accent you want to learn, and heed to how speakers with that emphasis pronounce their r'southward. Just don't sweat it too much: no affair which r you say, you'll be understood simply fine. There'southward actually no such thing every bit a incorrect r in Portuguese.

• A quick hack for producing the [χ] sound: This audio is much like the French gutteral r, which sounds a bit like you're gargling water in the back of your throat. The big divergence is that in French it is a voiced audio, where as in Portuguese it is voiceless, so you're non vibrating your vocal cords while you say information technology. A little less gargle-y, besides – it'southward more velar and less uvular, and information technology's not trilled at all. But the place of articulation is virtually the same to my ear. Compare French restaurant and Portuguese restaurante on Forvo.

• If yous can't manage that, just use a plainly old English language [h] in words similar rio [hiu], corpo [kohpu], falar [falah]

You can hear the divergence in the two r'due south past listening to a speaker pronounce quatro (<r>) and then quarto (<rr>).

All this said, could y'all become by in Brazil but speaking Portuguese with a Spanish pronunciation? Well, hither's some advice from Orlando Kelm:

No, there volition be no problem when you try to speak some Portuguese with a bit of a Spanish accent.  The Brazilians will appreciate your effort and they will love talking to you.  To be sure, your power to converse would be enhanced by your understanding of Brazilian Portuguese.  Just the bottom line will be some delightful hours while sitting with new friends, munching onpão de queijo and drinking a cold i (Chopp for you lot, fruit juice for me).  And for anyone else out there, Bob's instance is wonderful, don't let the demand for perfection in a strange linguistic communication get in the way of your enjoyment of the feel along the style.

Pronouns (or, Why Portuguese conjugations are easy!)

Let'due south first wait at the literal equivalence of each pronoun in Spanish and Portuguese:

1. yo -> eu
2. tu -> tu
3. él/ella/usted -> ele/ela/você
4. nosotros -> nós
5. vosotros -> vós
6. ellos/ellas/ustedes -> eles/elas/vocês

The equivalence is straightforward, just the way they are used is quite different. As with many languages, it's the 2nd-person pronouns that cause confusion. But like how there are differences in pronoun use between Latin American Spanish and Castillian Spanish, then in that location are differences betwixt Brazilian and European Portuguese. Permit's look at each one of these in more detail.

#1 is the virtually straightforward. yo always equals eu, and but like in Spanish, yous can usually drop the pronoun because the verb conjugation makes it clear that you're talking about yourself. eu is pronounced ['eu] or AY-u.

#ii. Hither'southward where it gets more complicated. In European Portuguese, tu is used similarly to Castilian, to refer to close friends, family unit members, children, and people assumed to be of lesser status, while você is used similar usted for strangers and more distant relations.

Brazilians, however, tend to be much more than relaxed when it comes to formalities, so the usualT-V distinction of about Romance languages breaks down.

In Brazil, tu is rarely used exterior of songs and verse. Instead, most Brazilians use você  and vocês in a broad range of situations to refer to friends, family, acquaintances, people on the street, colleagues, and strangers. This is not to say yous won't occasionally hear Brazilians using tu, but when they do, it conveys an unusually loftier degree of intimacy, much corking than in Spanish or French. Sotu is used in much more limited contexts in Brazil. Meanwhile, você, equally the default "you", is used in many more contexts thanusted in Latin American Spanish.

#3. The circumflex accent on você indicates that the stress is on the second syllable, and the eastward is airtight: [vo'se] or vo-SAY. Luckily, você is conjugated in the third person atypical, the same as ele and ela.What this ways is that yous tin essentially forget about learning the tu forms of verbs if you're studying Brazilian Portuguese. You should definitely be aware that it exists, and it's non all that hard to larn later, merely at the outset stages you shouldn't worry about it. And ele and ela, of course, correspond exactly to Castilian el and ella.

#iv. Brazilians utilise the pronoun nós in the same way equally nosotros. Note that the o is open, so it's pronounced [nɔs] (rhymes with English "dominate"). Just in speech it is more common to hear the alternate pronoun a gente when a speaker refers towe or us. This phrase literally means "the people", so is conjugated in the third person singular like ele, ela, and você. Although it might feel a fiddling weird at first to say "the people" when y'all hateful "nosotros", if you lot listen to Brazilian speech you will hear information technology used all the time — information technology'due south extremely common. While y'all would non want to utilise it in a formal speech or in writing, it is by no means slang or something that only certain groups use — anybody says it. You should be comfortable using both a gente and nós, depending on the state of affairs. (Hither's a StreetSmart Brazil video lesson on using a gente).

#5. Vós is technically the equivalent of vosotros, but with the exeption of a tiny region in Portugal, its usage is bars to extremely formal, ritualized contexts similar sermons, Biblical texts and archaic writing. Just similar vosotros in Latin America, y'all won't find vós used very much in Brazil. I imagine that to a native speaker, it sounds something like the "ye" of the King James Bible does to an English speaker. It is hardly ever used in normal speech communication or writing, so of all the conjugations, it'south the one you least demand to know.

#6. Just equally você is the default pronoun for "you" when referring to one person, vocês is the default "you" that you will always use when referring to more one person. Eles and elas correspond exactly to Castilian ellos and ellas.

There is actually one other, very formal, manner to say "you" in Portuguese, and that is using o senhor, a senhora, bone senhores, and as senhoras, all of which are conjugated in the third person atypical, just like você. These are used in three rather express situations in Brazil:

one. When addressing an elderly or much older person, as a sign of respect.

2. In very formal or dignified situations, such every bit a legislative hearing or diplomatic functions.

3. In customer service contexts, employees will usually address customers this way, similar to the polite apply of "sir" or "ma'am" in English. If you are travelling to Brazil, this is probably the well-nigh common situation where you lot will meet o senhor/a senhora. Even if yous are addressed by an employee this way, information technology's normal to respond using você.

Some guides, such as Pimsleur, tend to enlarge the use of o senhor/a senhora. In general, you do not need to use it when talking to a stranger or someone you lot've just met —você will suffice. Even in the business earth, I think você is appropriate 90% of the time.

To epitomize the second person pronouns in Brazilian Portuguese:

você/vocês = the default pronoun for friends, family, colleagues, strangers

o senhor/a senhora = the almost formal form of address in everyday life, but still fairly limited usage. Client service, the elderly, government or very formal business functions.

tu = the most intimate form of accost, used only in beloved songs, poetry, or in certain parts of Brazil to refer to loved ones and family members. May occasionally be used in other contexts similar advertisement to convey a sense of intimacy. In Portugal, information technology is more than widely used, similar to Spanish tu.

vós = non used in mod speech or writing, except for a few communities in Portugal. Used only in sermons, Biblical texts, very old writing.

While yous should exist able to recognize tu and vós when you run into them, as a foreigner in Brazil you lot will probably never need to employ themin your own speech, and o senhor/a senhora just rarely.

So now here'due south our updated, 'practical' table for going from Spanish to Portuguese:

• yo -> european union
• tu, usted -> você
• vosotros, ustedes -> vocês
• nosotros -> nós / a gente
• el, ella, ellos, ellas -> ele, ela, eles, elas

The event of all this is that learning verb conjugations in Brazilian Portuguese is amazingly simple. In Spanish and French it'southward necessary to know six conjugations for every verb tense. But in Portuguese, by leaving outtu and vós, at present you take just iv forms to recall:

1. european union preciso (I demand)
2. ele/ela/você/a gente precisa (he/she/you/we need)
3. nós precisamos (nosotros need)
4. eles/elas/vocês precisam (they/you all demand)

If you consider that nigh of the fourth dimension y'all'll be using a gente instead of nós, then that's simply three forms. And then if yous consider that in some tenses and moods, such as the imperfect, the subjunctive, and the provisional, the eu form is identical to the ele/ela/você form, well now we're downwardly to but two forms that yous admittedly need to know: 1. eu/ele/ela/você/a gente, 2. eles/elas/vocês. Slice of cake.

* A quick notation nearly dropping pronouns: Since by the higher up logic the word gostaria could hateful "I would like", "He would similar", "She would similar", "Y'all would like", and even "We would like", it'due south very important in Portuguese to signal who the subject of sentence is, and merely drop pronouns when the context makes it clear who the subject is.

Other Differences

We've only just scratched the surface of differences between Spanish and Portuguese. At that place are quite a lot of surprising grammatical differences, especially apropos the utilise of direct & indirect objects (i.due east., Brazilians don't like to utilize them) and verb tenses (fifty-fifty when verb tenses morphologically wait the aforementioned in Sp. and Port., they may non mean exactly the same thing). If yous want to know more about these differences, I encourage y'all to check out the Tá Falado podcasts. But here's only one example, and information technology has to do with the Portuguese word já.

How do you say "I accept done something" in Portuguese? "I take been to Brazil." "I've eaten."

This is a weird verb tense chosen the present perfect. It's weird because information technology references something you did in the past, only the focus is more on how doing it (or non doing information technology) has affected your current state in the present. In English, you use "have" plus the by participle. In Spanish, it's like to English: you use haber plus the by participle:

Yo he comido. Él ha estado en Brasil.

Simply in Portuguese, you don't utilize the equivalent verb haver. You lot actually use the word já (= Sp. ya = Engl. "already") plus the preterit:

European union já comi. Ele já esteve no Brasil.

It's a bit like maxim, literally "I already ate." "He already was in Brazil."

Meanwhile, Portuguese uses haver a lot less than Spanish uses haber. Pretty much anywhere you lot would use haber in Spanish, you tin apply ter (tengar, to take) in Brazilian Portuguese:

• Tem muita água aqui. ("In that location'a a lot of h2o here")
• Tem trinta alunos na aula. ("At that place are 3 students in the course")

Há muita àgua aqui would exist perfectly adequate likewise, only in everyday speech most Brazilians would probably choose tem.

You can even utilise ter with the past participle of other verbs, but like haber, to class various past tenses:

• Ela tem estudado muito ultimamente. ("She's been studying a lot lately")
• European union disse pra ela que ele já tinha ido pra casa. ("I told her that he had already gone home")

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Source: http://hackingportuguese.com/portuguese-for-spanish-speakers/

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