Differences between Spanish and Portuguese
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Spanish and Portuguese are two of the most widely spoken languages in the world today. Even though they are closely related, to the point of having a moderate degree of mutual intelligibility, there are also important differences between them.
[edit] Vocabulary
Spanish and Portuguese share a fairly great amount of words that are either spelled identically (although they may be pronounced slightly different), almost identically (though they may be pronounced more or less the same) or predictably similar. Statistics are yet to be compiled, but an educated guess (based on word frequency) is that about 65% or more (up to 85% in technical texts) is composed by words that have the same root and the same meaning.[citation needed] Consider for example the following paragraph, taken from Manuel Seco's grammar and compare it to the Portuguese rendition below, noting the extensive lexical similarity and the slight changes in word order:
Pero, a pesar de esta variedad de posibilidades que la voz posee, sería muy pobre instrumento de comunicación si no contara más que con ella. La capacidad de expresión del hombre no dispondría de más medios que la de los animales. La voz, sola, es para el hombre apenas una materia informe, que para convertirse en un instrumento perfecto de comunicación debe ser sometida a un cierto tratamiento. Esa manipulación que recibe la voz son las "articulaciones".
Porém, apesar desta variedade de possibilidades que a voz possui, seria um instrumento de comunicação muito pobre se não contasse com mais além dela. A capacidade de expressão do homem não disporia de mais meios que a dos animais. A voz, sozinha, é para o homem apenas uma matéria informe, que para se converter num instrumento perfeito de comunicação deve ser submetida a um certo tratamento. Essa manipulação que a voz recebe são as "articulações".
Some frequent words are however quite different in the two languages (unless otherwise stated, the source language of the following examples is Latin) — "window": Sp. ventana (<vĕntu), Port. janela (<jānuella); "knee": Sp. rodilla (<rŏtella), Port. joelho (<genucŭlu); "street": Sp. calle (<callis), Port. rua (<[via] ruga); "carpet": Sp. alfombra (<Arabic alḥánbal), Port. tapete (<tapēte); "to erase": Sp. borrar (<Sp. borra), Port. apagar (<adpācāre); "to forget": Sp. olvidar (<oblītare), Port. esquecer (<excadĕscere).
Vocabulary divergence between the two language arises from the following factors:
- Different spelling conventions (causing words to be spelled differently, in spite of having the same origin and similar pronunciation): mayor / maior "bigger", cuatro / quatro "four".
- Different phonemic inventory: prisión / prisão "prison".
- Different lexical drift over the centuries (Spanish kept most of the Mozarabic vocabulary of Arabic origin, while Portuguese did not have a Mozarabic substratum as big, and gradually replaced much of it with Latin roots): albañil / pedreiro "stonemason".
- Different influences from other European languages during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Portuguese received a great deal of French influence, while Spanish was both more autonomous and more Mediterranean-oriented).
- Different influences in more recent times (Amerindian, African, or Asian languages, French, English and mutual influence): piña / abacaxi "pineapple".
- Words that are peculiar to either language: adosado "in twos" has no Portuguese counterpart, while saudade is typical Portuguese.
- Words that look similar but mean different things (false friends): cola means "tail" in Spanish, but "glue" in Portuguese (although the word exists in Spanish with exactly the same meaning, it is little used nowadays).
[edit] Orthography
- Main articles: Spanish orthography, Portuguese orthography.
At the end of words, Spanish orthographic -n generally corresponds to Portuguese -m (e.g. Spanish jardín, algún, Portuguese jardim, algum). In the plural, however, the m is replaced with an n (jardines, algunos / jardins, alguns). There is a phonetic difference between such words in the two languages, because the -n is pronounced, while the -m merely indicates that the vowel before it is nasal. Nevertheless, this is essentially just an orthographic convention: other languages with nasal vowels, like French, spell them with n instead of m at the end of words.
Common exceptions to the above rule concern the Spanish noun endings -an, which normally corresponds to -ã or -ão in Portuguese, and -ón / -ción / -sión, which usually correspond to -ão / -ção / -são or -ssão. The 3rd. person plural endings of the preterite tense are spelled with -on in Spanish (pensaron, vivieron), but with -am in Portuguese (pensaram, viveram).
Another conspicuous difference concerns the use of z in Spanish versus s in Portuguese at the end of syllables. By convention, Portuguese only employs z at the end of words which are stressed on their last syllable, and in a few compounds derived from them. In Spanish, z can also appear at the end of words that are stressed on other syllables, and (more rarely) in the middle of words. A few examples:
- Spanish: Álvarez, Hernández, Rodríguez, izquierda, mezquino.
- Portuguese: Álvares, Fernandes, Rodrigues, esquerda, mesquinho.
[edit] Diacritics
The tilde is part of the letter ñ in Spanish, while in Portuguese it marks nasal vowels. (In Spanish, the word tilde is a synonym of "accent mark", but in Portuguese it designates only this diacritic.) In addition to the acute accent, used in both languages to mark stress, Portuguese uses the circumflex accent (on the stressed high vowels â, ê, ô), and the grave accent (in a small number of contractions).
The accentuation rules of Portuguese and Spanish are similar, but not identical. Differences are especially pervasive in words that contain i or u in their last syllable, and end with a vowel, possibly followed by -s, -n/m, or -ns. Compare the following cognates, which are stressed on the same vowel in the two languages:
- Spanish: bonita, bonitas, vivieron, serios, Amazonia, taxi, viví, bambú, jardín, sería, pensáis, pensé, pensó.
- Portuguese: bonita, bonitas, viveram, sérios, Amazônia/Amazónia, táxi, vivi, bambu, jardim, seria, pensais, pensei, pensou.
[edit] Phonology
[edit] Historical divergence
- Related articles: Vulgar Latin, Romance languages, Linguistic history of Spanish.
[edit] Early differences in the vowels
Spanish and Portuguese have been diverging for over a thousand years. One of the most noticeable early differences between them concerned the evolution of the stressed vowels of Latin:
| Classical Latin | Portuguese | Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| short A [a] | á [a] | a [a] |
| long A [aː] | ||
| short E [e] | é [ɛ] | ie [je] |
| long E [eː] | ê [e] | e [e] |
| short I [i] | ||
| long I [iː] | i [i] | i [i] |
| short O [o] | ó [ɔ] | ue [we] |
| long O [oː] | ô [o] | o [o] |
| short U [u] | ||
| long U [uː] | u [u] | u [u] |
| AU [au̯] | ou [ou̯] | o [o] |
(In many cases, the diacritics listed in the column for Portuguese are omitted.)
As vowel length ceased to be distinctive in the transition from Latin to Romance, the short stressed vowels I and U were lowered in Spanish, while stressed short E and O became diphthongs (ie, ue). This diphthongization, common in Spanish as well as in other Romance languages, did not occur in Galician-Portuguese, which lowered all short stressed vowels of Latin, except A. Examples:
- Lat. petra > Sp. piedra, Port. pedra "stone".
- Lat. moritur > It. muore, Fr. meurt / muert, Sp. muere, Rom. moare, Port. / Gal. morre "[he] dies".
[edit] Early differences in the consonants
The following table exemplifies some systematic sound changes in the consonants.
| Latin | Portuguese | Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| F- filiu(m), *fabulare |
[f] filho, falar |
[h], later silenced hijo, hablar |
son, to speak |
| -L- volāre, caelu(m) |
elided voar, céu (arch. ceo) |
[l] volar, cielo |
to fly, sky |
| -N- generāle(m), tenēre |
elided geral (arch. gẽeral), ter (arch. tẽer) |
[n] general, tener |
general (adj.), to have |
| -LL- [lː] castellu(m) |
[l] castelo |
ll [ʎ] castillo |
castle |
| -NN- [nː] canna(m), annu(m) |
[n] cana, ano |
ñ [ɲ] caña, año |
reed, year |
| -LI- [lj] filiu(m), alĭu(m) |
lh [ʎ] filho, alho |
j [dʒ ~ ʒ] hijo, ajo |
son, garlic |
| -NI- [nj] Juniu(m) |
nh [ɲ] Junho |
ni [nj] junio |
June |
| CL, FL, PL clamāre, flamma(m), plēnu(m) |
ch [tʃ] chamar, chama, cheio |
ll [ʎ] llamar, llama, lleno |
to call, flame, full |
| -CT-, -LT- octo, nocte(m), mŭltu(m) |
it, ut oito, noite (arch. noute), muito |
ch [tʃ] ocho, noche, mucho |
eight, night, much |
Peculiar to early Spanish (as in the Gascon dialect of Occitan, possibly due to a Basque substratum) was the loss of Latin initial F- whenever the following vowel did not diphthongate: compare e.g. Spanish hijo with Ladino fijo, French fils, Italian figlio, Portuguese filho, Occitan filh and Gascon hilh; also Sp. hablar, Lad. favlar, Port. falar, but Sp./Lad. fuego, Port. fogo.
Another typical difference concerned the result of Latin L and N in intervocalic position:
- Simple L and N were elided in Portuguese (sometimes followed by the merger of the two surrounding vowels, or by the insertion of an epenthetic vowel between them), but retained in Spanish. For instance, Lat. arēna(m), Luna(m) > Sp. arena, Luna, Port. areia (arch. arẽa), Lua (arch. Lũa) "sand", "Moon".
- Double L and N degeminated in Portuguese, but became palatals in Spanish. (The Spanish letter ñ [ɲ] was initially a shorthand for nn.)
- Before semivowel I, L and N became palatals in Portuguese, but in Spanish N was retained and L became j [dʒ]/[ʒ].
The tables above represent only general trends. There are many exceptions, due to:
- Other phonological processes at work in old Spanish and old Portuguese, which interfered with these.
- Later regularization by analogy with related words.
- Later borrowing of learned words directly from Latin, especially since the Renaissance, which did not respect the original sound laws.
- Mutual borrowing, from Spanish to Portuguese or vice-versa.
The consonant clusters of Latin also took markedly different routes in the two languages. Some examples:
- Lat. argilla(m), blandu(m), cāsĕu(m), homĭne(m) > hom'ne, ocŭlu(m) > oc'lu, tremulāre > trem'lare;
- Sp. arcilla, blando, queso, hombre, ojo, temblar;
- Port. argila, brando, queijo, homem, olho, tremer;
- Eng. clay, soft, cheese, man, eye, to tremble.
Learned words such as pleno, ocular, no(c)turno, tremular, and so on, were not included in the examples above, since they were adapted directly from classical Latin at later times.
See the articles on the Spanish language and the Portuguese language, for other differences and more examples.
[edit] "B" versus "V"
Since the late Middle Ages, both languages have gone through more sound shifts and mergers which set them farther apart. Originally, the consonants b and v were pronounced [b] and [β], respectively, but with time these two sounds merged into a single phoneme in Spanish. Although the same happened in the northern region of Portugal, in most dialects of Portuguese, including all Brazilian dialects, the two consonants have remained separate. The voiced bilabial fricative [β] of old Portuguese subsequently changed into the voiced labiodental fricative [v], as in French and Italian.
Since no distinction is made anymore between the pronunciation of b and v, Spanish spelling has been reformed according to classical Latin. In Portuguese, the spelling of these letters is based on pronunciation, which is closer to medieval Latin. This leads to some orthographic disparities:
- Compare for example Spanish gobierno, haber, deber with Portuguese governo, haver, dever.
- The endings of the imperfect indicative tense of 1st. conjugation verbs (with infinitives ending in -ar) are spelled with b in Spanish (cantaba, cantabas, cantaba, cantábamos, and so on), but with v in Portuguese (cantava, cantavas, cantava, cantávamos, etc.)
- The Spanish adjectival suffix -ble, as in posible (also used in English, "possible"), corresponds to -vel in Portuguese: possível.
[edit] Yeísmo
The consonant written ll in Spanish, originally a palatal lateral approximant [ʎ], has gone through considerable changes in recent centuries. In most Spanish dialects, its pronunciation has become identical to that of the consonant y, a sound merger known as yeísmo. The same phenomenon can be found in some dialects of Brazilian Portuguese, such as mineiro, but it is much more widespread in Spanish.
[edit] The sibilants
However, the most marked phonetic divergence between Spanish and Portuguese in their modern period was in the evolution of their sibilants. In the Middle Ages, they had a rich system of seven sibilant consonants, paired according to affrication and voicing: [s], [ts], [z], [dz], [ʃ], [tʃ], and [dʒ] (the latter probably in free variation with [ʒ], as still happens today in Ladino).
| Medieval Spanish and Portuguese | Modern Portuguese | Modern Spanish |
|---|---|---|
| s-, -ss- [s] | [s] | s [s] |
| -s- [z] | [z] | |
| c/ç [ts] | [s] | z/c [θ] or [s] |
| z [dz] | [z] | |
| x [ʃ] | [ʃ] | j/g [x] |
| j/g [dʒ ~ ʒ] | [ʒ] | |
| ch [tʃ] | [ʃ] | ch [tʃ] |
Around the Renaissance, both languages reduced their inventory of sibilants, but in different ways:
- Devoicing in Spanish: the voiced sibilants written -s-, z and j/g became voiceless, merging with s-/-ss-, c/ç and x, respectively. Later, the voiceless postalveolar fricative [ʃ] changed into the voiceless velar fricative [x]. Spanish spelling has been updated according to these sound changes.
- Deaffrication in Portuguese: the affricates written c/ç, z, and ch became plain fricatives, merging with the sibilants s-/-ss, -s-, and x, respectively. In spite of this, modern Portuguese has for the most part kept the medieval spelling.
[edit] Modern Spanish and Portuguese
- Main articles: Spanish phonology, Portuguese phonology.
Although the vocabularies of Spanish and Portuguese are quite similar, phonetically Portuguese is somewhat closer to Catalan or to French. It is often claimed that the complex phonology of Portuguese compared to Spanish explains why it is generally not intelligible to Spanish speakers despite the strong lexical similarity between the two languages.
The following considerations are based on a comparison of standard versions of Spanish and Portuguese. Apparent divergence of the information below from anyone's personal pronunciation may indicate one's idiolect (or dialect) diverges from the mentioned standards. Information on Portuguese phonology is adapted from Celso Pedro Luft (Novo Manual de Português, 1971), and information on Spanish phonology adapted from Manuel Seco (Gramática Esencial del Español, 1994).
Comparing the phonemic inventory of both languages, a noticeable divergence stands out. First, Portuguese has more phonemes than Spanish. Also, each language has phonemes that are not shared by the other.
[edit] Consonants
According to the Royal Spanish Academy, Standard Spanish has the following consonants:
- labial: /p/, /b/ (spelled b/v), /m/, and /f/
- dental and alveolar: /t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /θ/ (z/c; in many dialects, this sound has merged with the former — seseo), /ɾ/ (flap, spelled r), /r/ (trill, spelled r- or -rr-)
- palatal: /ʝ/ (y), /ʎ/ (ll; in many dialects, this sound has merged with the former — yeísmo), /ɲ/ (ñ), and /tʃ/ (ch)
- velar: /k/ (c/qu), /g/ (g/gu), and /x/ (j/g)
Regional, dialectal variations may subtract consonats from the list but do not cause enough divergence to hinder intelligibility among different dialects.
Portuguese has the following consonants (the most characteristic spellings are given along with the phonetic transcription):
- labial: /p/, /b/, /m/, /f/, and /v/.
- dental and alveolar: /t/ (with [tʃ] in Brazil), /d/ (with [dʒ] in Brazil), /n/, /l/, /s/ (s-, -ss-, c/ç), /z/ (z, -s-), and /ɾ/ (flap, spelled r).
- palatal: /ʎ/ (lh), /ɲ/ (nh), /ʃ/ (x/ch), and /ʒ/ (j/g)
- velar: /k/ (c/qu/q), /g/ (g/gu), and /x/ (r-, -rr-, or -r)
From the presentation above, Spanish counts 17-19 consonants, while Portuguese counts 19. Portuguese is a guttural R language; the initial R, transcribed here as /x/ to facilitate the comparison with Spanish, actually has several possible pronunciations, depending on the speaker's dialect. Spanish has kept its original pronunciation as an alveolar trill.
At the end of syllables, the contrast between the sibilants is not distinctive, and there is some dialectal variation in their pronunciation, in both languages. See Spanish dialects and varieties, and Portuguese orthography, for details.
[edit] Vowels
The vowels of Spanish are the same found in Classical Latin: /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, being one of the few European languages limited to them. It features also two semivowels, /j/ and /w/, that appear in diphthongs, although these can be considered allophones of the vowels /i/ and /u/, respectively.
Portuguese has more vowels (the most characteristic spellings are given along with the phonetic transcription):
- Oral vowels: /a/ (a/á), /e/ (e/ê), /ɛ/ (e/é), /i/ (i/í), /o/ (o/ô), /ɔ/ (o/ó), /u/ (u/ú) — the seven vowels of medieval Latin —, and, in European Portuguese, also /ɐ/ (a/â) and /ɨ/ (e). In Brazilian Portuguese, /ɐ/ appears in complementary distribution with /a/, and /ɨ/ is replaced with /e/ or /i/.
- Nasal vowels: /ɐ̃/, /ẽ/, /ĩ/, /õ/, /ũ/. Portuguese diverges from Spanish in having a full set of nasal vowels, which, according to historical linguistics, arose from the assimilation of the nasal consonants /m/ and /n/, often at the end of syllables. These syllable-final nasal consonants are still written down, even though they are no longer fully pronounced. There are also nasal diphthongs.
While Spanish /e/, /o/ are mid vowels[citation needed], Portuguese /e/, /o/ are close-mid.
[edit] Grammar
Broadly speaking, the grammars of Portuguese and Spanish are not too far apart. Nevertheless, there are some differences between them which can be hurdles for people acquainted with one of the languages who attempt to learn the other.
[edit] Grammatical gender
Spanish has three forms for the singular definite article, el, masculine, la, feminine, and lo, neuter. The latter is used with abstract nouns employed in a generic sense. In Portuguese, there is only o, masculine, and a, feminine. Literary Spanish has also three corresponding third person pronouns, él "he", ella "she", and ello "it", while Portuguese has only ele, masculine, and ela, feminine. This distinction disappears in the plural, however, where Spanish el, lo both become los, and él, ello become ellos.
There are also a few instances where a word is masculine in Spanish, but feminine in Portuguese, or vice-versa. A common example are nouns ended in -aje in Spanish, which are normally masculine, and their Portuguese cognates ending in -agem, which are feminine. For example, Spanish el viaje "the voyage" (masculine, like French le voyage and Italian il viaggio) corresponds to the Portuguese feminine a viagem. On the other hand, the Spanish feminine la leche "the milk" corresponds to Portuguese o leite (masculine, like French le lait, Italian il latte).
[edit] Use of the definite article
In many varieties of Portuguese, personal names are normally preceded by a definite article, a trait also found in Catalan. This is a relatively recent development, which some Brazilian dialects have not adopted yet, most notably in the Brazilian Northeast. In those dialects of Portuguese that do regularly use definite articles before proper nouns, the article may be omitted for extra formality, or to show distance in a literary narrative. Compare, for example, Eng. "Mary left", Sp. María salió, Port. A Maria saiu.
Portuguese also uses the definite article before the names of most countries (a notable exception is Portugal itself), and many cities. In Spanish, country and city names are typically not accompanied by an article, although there are exceptions, especially when the geographical name contains a common noun that may be followed by an adjective (e.g. los Estados Unidos de América, las Filipinas, la Costa Rica, etc.) However, even in these cases, Spanish does not always require a preceding definite article, and, when it does, the article is normally required in English as well.
- Santiago es la capital de Chile. (Spanish)
- Santiago é a capital do Chile. (Portuguese)
- Santiago is the capital of Chile.
- Él es de Costa Rica, que está en América Central. (Sp.)
- Ele é da Costa Rica, que fica na América Central. (Pt.)
- He is from Costa Rica, which is in Central America.
- Tengo un boleto a los Estados Unidos de América. (Sp.)
- Tenho um bilhete para os Estados Unidos da América. (Pt.)
- I have a ticket to the United States of America.
In addition, in some dialects of Portuguese the definite article is used before possessive adjectives (like in Italian), which is not possible in Spanish. For instance, the sentence "This is my brother" is "Éste es mi hermano" in Spanish, but may be "Este é o meu irmão" in Portuguese. Nevertheless, in many Brazilian dialects the article is not used: "Este é meu irmão".
[edit] Personal "a"
Spanish employs a preposition before the direct object of a transitive verb when it denotes a person, the so-called "personal a". In Portuguese, this is most unusual. It is occasionally found in formal texts, like the Biblical commandment Amar a Deus sobre todas as coisas, "To love God above everything else", but it sounds archaic. Since direct objects are typically not preceded by a preposition, it is easy to tell them apart from indirect objects, which are always preceded by a preposition, and the analogue of leísmo is less of an issue than in Spanish. Laísmo and loísmo never occur in Portuguese.
The preposition a is identical to the feminine definite article in Portuguese, which can create some confusion. For example, in the Spanish sentence He invitado a Juana para cenar en nuestra casa "I have invited Joan for dinner at our house", a is a preposition, but in the Portuguese version Convidei a Joana para jantar em nossa casa it is a definite article.
[edit] "A" versus "para"
Quite common in both languages are the prepositions para meaning "for" and a meaning "to". However, Portuguese distinguishes between going somewhere for a short while versus a longer stay, especially if it is an intended destination, in the latter case using para instead of a. This distinction does not occur in English or Spanish, and the Spanish para cannot be used for this purpose. While there is no specified duration of stay before a Portuguese speaker must switch prepositions, a implies one will return sooner, rather than later, relative to the context.
- Yo fui al mercado cerca de mi casa. (Sp.)
- Eu fui ao mercado perto de minha casa. (Pt.)
- I went to the market near my house. [temporary displacement]
- El presidente anterior fue desterrado a Portugal. (Sp.)
- O presidente anterior foi exilado para Portugal. (Pt.)
- The former president was exiled to Portugal. [permanent, or more lasting displacement]
Note, though, in the first example, para could be used in Portuguese if in contrast to a very brief period of time.
- Não fico muito tempo, apenas um minuto. Tenho de ir para o mercado. (Pt.)
- I can't stay long, only a minute. I have to go to the market. [pending task or appointment]
[edit] Contracted Prepositions
As mentioned above, the preposition a is identical to the feminine definite article in Portuguese. Thus, while a Argentina would mean "to Argentina" in Spanish, in Portuguese the same phrase would likely be interpreted as just "Argentina". To include the preposition, the grave accent must be used (a + a = à). Thus, "I am going to to Argentina" is Vou à Argentina.
Other Portuguese prepositions contract with articles or with personal pronouns, in some cases producing false friends: no and dos mean "no" and "two" in Spanish, but "in the" (em + o) and "of the" (de + os) in Portuguese. While Spanish has a couple of prepositional contractions (del and al), Portuguese has many more; see a list at Wikipedia in Portuguese: List of contracted prepositions.
[edit] Dative "se"
The Spanish construction, se lo dio, means either "[He/she] gave it to him" or "[He/she] gave it to himself". The expected pattern for the former would be *le lo dio, but such a construction does not exist. This is unknown in Portuguese (or any other Romance language).
- Lat. dedit illis illud > dedit illis illum (early Vulgar Latin) > dit illis illu (late Vulgar Latin)
- Sp. > dio (i)lli (el)lo > dio ge lo > diógelo (arch.) > dióselo > se lo dio
- Port. > deu (i)lli (l)o > deu lhe (l)o > deu-lho
Thus, modern Spanish makes no distinction between the reflexive pronoun se and the dative personal pronoun se. Note that this did not happen in old Spanish: diógelo, "he gave it to him", dióselo, "he gave it to himself". The ancient g sound (similar to that of English) was replaced with s in the 14th-15th centuries (cf. Sp. coger, "to catch", but cosecha, "harvest", Port. colher and colheita, both from Lat. colligĕre).
[edit] Possessives
In Portuguese, all possessive adjectives inflect to agree with the gender of the possessed being, while in Spanish they generally do not (with the exception of nuestro/nuestra "our" and vuestro/vuestra "your" [plural]).
- Mi padre nació tres años antes de mi madre. (Sp.)
- Meu pai nasceu três anos antes de minha mãe. (Pt.)
- My father was born three years before my mother.
- Pienso que sus manzanas son mejores que sus tomates. (Sp.)
- Penso que suas maçãs são melhores do que seus tomates. (Pt.)
- I think their apples are better than their tomatoes.
On the other hand, possessive pronouns do show gender in Spanish, and they are different from the possessive adjectives. In Portuguese, they are the same as the adjectives (though mandatorily preceded by the corresponding definite article).
- Mi casa es más grande que la suya. (Sp.)
- A minha casa é maior que a sua. (Pt.)
- My house is bigger than yours.
For more details, see Spanish determiners: possessives and Portuguese pronouns: Possessive pronouns and adjectives.
[edit] Verb "to be"
- Related article: Romance copula
Spanish and Portuguese have two main copulas, ser and estar. For the most part, the use of these verbs is the same in both languages, but there are a few cases where it differs. The main difference between Spanish and Portuguese is in the interpretation of the concept of state versus essence and in the generalisations one way or another that are made in certain constructions. For example, Portuguese does not require estar with past participles; in this case it follows the general rule regarding state/essence. Also, the use of ser regarding a permanent location is much more accepted in Portuguese than in Spanish.
[edit] Compound future
Spanish includes the preposition a (which often translates as "to") between the conjugated form of ir and the infinitive: Voy a leer el libro "I am going to read the book" (present tense of ir + a + infinitive). In Portuguese, there is no preposition between the helping verb and the main verb: Vou ler o livro (present tense of ir + infinitive).
[edit] Auxiliary verb of perfect tenses
In Spanish and other Romance languages, compound perfect tenses are constructed with a verb derived from Latin habere. This used to be the case in Portuguese, too, but in recent centuries the verb ter, from Latin tenere, has been steadily overtaking haver, although the latter is still used with some frequency in writing and in formal spoken registers. While ter is used as auxiliary by other Iberian languages, it is much more pervasive in Portuguese. Compare, for instance, Sp. "Había comido cuando mi madre volvió" "I had eaten when my mother came back" with Port. "Tinha comido quando a minha mãe voltou".
[edit] Imperfect subjunctive versus pluperfect indicative
A class of false friends between the two languages is composed of the verb forms with endings containing -ra-, such as cantara, cantaras, cantáramos, and so on. Spanish has two forms for the imperfect subjunctive, one with endings in -se- and another with endings in -ra- (e.g. cantase, cantara; I would sing), which are usually interchangeable. In Portuguese, only the former has the same value; the latter is employed as a synthetic pluperfect indicative, i.e. the equivalent to Spanish había cantado (I had sung). Although there is a strong tendency to use a verb phrase instead in the spoken language, like in Spanish and English, Ele tinha cantado "He had sung", the simple tense is still frequent in literature.
[edit] Present perfect
In Spanish, as well as in English, the present perfect tense is normally used to talk about an action initiated and completed in the past, which is still considered relevant or influential in the present moment. Consider the examples below:
- Spanish: No, gracias. Ya he cenado.
- English: No, thank you. I have already dined.
- Portuguese: Não, obrigado. Já jantei.
- Spanish: He ido a España dos veces.
- English: I have been to Spain twice.
- Portuguese: Já fui a Espanha duas vezes.
- Spanish: ¿Has oído las últimas noticias?
- English: Have you heard the latest news?
- Portuguese: Ouviste as últimas notícias?
In each of these sentences, Portuguese uses the preterite instead of the present perfect. In Portuguese, the present perfect (pretérito perfeito composto) is used for speaking of events which began in the past and were repeated regularly up to the present. Normally, it conveys the conotation that the event in question is likely to keep happening in the future (though this is not a necessary condition for the Portuguese present perfect to be used). A few examples:
- Portuguese: Ultimamente, tenho ido ao cinema todos os sábados.
- English: Lately, I have gone to the cinema every Saturday.
- Spanish: Últimamente, he ido al cinema todos los sábados.
- Portuguese: Tenho pensado em pedi-la em casamento.
- English: I have been thinking of asking her to marry me.
- Spanish: He pensado en pedirla en matrimonio.
As this last example suggests, the Portuguese present perfect is often closer in meaning to the English present perfect continuous, than to the present perfect. See also Spanish verbs: contrasting the preterite and the perfect.
[edit] Personal infinitive
It is possible in Portuguese for a verb in the infinitive to agree with its subject, often showing who is supposed to perform a certain act; cf. É necessário voltares "It is necessary [for you] to return", É necessário voltarmos "It is necessary [for us] to return." In Spanish, the same idea would be expressed using the subjunctive, Es necesario que vuelvas "It is necessary that you return", and Es necesario que volvamos "It is necessary that we return", respectively. The personal infinitive is mandatory in some types of infinitive clauses and forbidden in others, but the choice between it and the impersonal infinitive is otherwise quite subjective, governed by stylistic criteria.
[edit] Future subjunctive
- Related article: Subjunctive mood
This tense, developed by medieval Ibero-Romance, but now old-fashioned in Spanish, remains in vernacular use in Portuguese (in fact, it shows no signs of falling out of favour). It appears in subordinate clauses that denote a condition which must be fulfilled in the future, so that the main clause will happen. Spanish will use the present tense in this type of clause. Consider the following three sentences. (Latin is included as a term of comparison, since it never developed a future subjunctive itself.)
- If I were king, I would end hunger.
- Si essem rex, terminarem famem. (L.) [past (imperfect) subjunctive]
- Si fuera rey, acabaría con el hambre. (Sp.) [past (imperfect) subjunctive]
- Se fosse rei, acabaria com a fome. (Pt.) [past (imperfect) subjunctive]
The situation is counterfactual; we know that the speaker is not a king. All four languages use the past subjunctive here.
- If I am elected president, I will change the law.
- Si sum electus praesidens, mutabo legem. (L.) [future indicative]
- Si soy elegido presidente, cambiaré la ley. (Sp.) [present indicative]
- Se for eleito presidente, mudarei a lei. (Pt.) [future subjunctive]
This second statement expresses a future possibility; the speaker may yet be elected president. Here, Spanish uses the present indicative tense, while Portuguese uses the future subjunctive.
For a different kind of example, a father speaking to his son might say:
- When you are older, you will understand.
- Quando eris maior, comprehendes. (L.) [future indicative]
- Cuando seas mayor, comprenderás. (Sp.) [present subjunctive]
- Quando fores mais velho, compreenderás. (Pt.) [future subjunctive]
Not all subordinate clauses of this kind require the future subjunctive, however, and sometimes the present subjunctive is used where a beginner might expect to see the future subjunctive. Other times, both the present and the future subjunctive are acceptable, though they convey different nuances to the sentence.
The Spanish future subjunctive is, nevertheless, used in legal documents, and some sayings or idioms:
- Sp. A los que leyeren, Eng. "To the readers" (lit. "To whom may read");
- Sp. Adonde fueres, haz lo que vieres "Wherever you go, do as you see".
[edit] References
- Lindley Cintra, Luís F. Nova Proposta de Classificação dos Dialectos Galego-Portugueses (PDF) Boletim de Filologia, Lisboa, Centro de Estudos Filológicos, 1971.
- Luft, Celso Pedro. Novo Manual de Português. São Paulo, Editora Globo, 1990 (13th edition) pp 43-53
- Seco, Manuel. Gramática Esencial del Español. Madrid, Espasa, 1996 (4th edition) pp 81-94
- Mateus, Maria Helena & d'Andrade, Ernesto (2000) The Phonology of Portuguese ISBN 0-19-823581-X
- Squartini, Mario (1998) Verbal Periphrases in Romance — Aspect, Actionality, and Grammaticalization ISBN 3-11-016160-5
- Vázquez Cuesta, Mendes da Luz, (1987) Gramática portuguesa, 3rd. ed. ISBN 84-249-1117-2
- Contrastive Romance Phonetics at Orbis Latinus
