Portuguese vs Spanish — Pronunciation Guide
I’ve been inspired by a post I read recently asking for clarification about the differences in pronunciation of (Continental) Portuguese and Spanish. As I’ve lived in Madrid and Vinaròs (Spain), as well as Coimbra and Lisbon (Portugal), learnt both languages and speak them fluently, I thought, I’d create a simple yet comprehensive overview. It is tailored towards people speaking Spanish and learning Portuguese.
Note: I’ve also lived in São Paulo (Brazil), I might write another piece on the differences between Brazilian and Continental Portuguese (the one spoken in Portugal). In this article, I focus on the pronunciation in Portugal, in particular, the greater Lisbon area.
Vowels (A, E, I, O, U)
In Spanish, vowels are pretty much always pronounced the same: when you see an “a” you pronounce it the same no matter what’s before or behind it. In Portuguese, vowels have several different sounds that are somewhat challenging to explain in writing but I’ll try for the most obvious ones: “e” and “o”.
E
- The Portuguese “e”, when at the end of a word, is pronounced very lightly or not at all.
Examples: independente (ind’pendent’), ele comprende (el’ comprend’), semelhante (semelhant’) - Another peculiarity is that the “e”, when before another vowel is pronounced as “i”.
Examples: compreendo (compriendu) sorpreendente (sorpriendent’), empreendedorismo (empriendedorismu), real (rial), poesia (poisia).
O
Similarly to the “e”, the “o”, when at the end of a word, is pronounced as “u” or not at all.
Examples: faço (façu), caminho (camiñu), amigo (amigu)
(Actually, the “o” is pronounced as “u” in many other cases as well, like in Portugal (Purtugal))
Nasality
The Spanish language doesn’t use any nasality but Portuguese uses it a lot. There are two indices for nasality:
- the letter carries a tilde “~”
- a vocal (a, e, i, o, u) isfollowed by an “n” or “m”
Examples: fã, função (fũçãu), João, pão; berbequim, linha, tempo, centro
Note: My experience is that it is less important to apply the second rule of nasality (and that it is more apparent in Brazilian Portuguese). However, omitting the first one will quickly lead to misunderstanding.
Consonants (all the other letters)
Here, again, the Spanish language is simpler. Except for the “g”, “ch”, and “c”/”z” rules, it is very straightforward and the letters are mostly pronounced the same no matter what’s before or behind. In Portuguese, many consonants have different sounds depending on the letter before or behind (even if it’s a new word!). Let me explain the most important ones: “s”, ç”, “z”, “j”, “g”, “x”, and “r”
S, Ç and Z.
There are two points to the pronunciation of the “s” in Portuguese.
The Portuguese “s” can be either sharp (as it always is in Spanish) or soft like the “z” in amazing. So, “Susana” is pronounced with both “s”the same in Spanish but with the second one as a “z” in Portuguese. The rules in Portuguese are:
- When the “s” comes after a consonant (not a, e, i, o, u), is coupled with another one (“ss”, which doesn’t exist in Spanish), or is the first letter of the word, it is pronounced sharply.
- The Portuguese “ç” (“cê-cedilha”) is always pronounced sharp as well.
- When “s” it is not the first letter of a word and in between two vowels (a, e, i, o, u), it is pronounced softly, like a “z”.
- The Portuguese “z” is always pronounced like the “z” in amazing (except it’s pronounced “sh”, see below).
Examples: sal (sharp, first letter), fazer (soft, z is always soft), faço (sharp, ç is always sharp), rosa (soft, in between vowels), cansado (sharp, after consonant), casado (soft, in between vowels)
There’s more to the pronunciation of “s” and “z”, though.
5. Whenever the “s” or “z” are before a consonant (not a, e, i, o, u), they is pronounced as “sh”.
Often, people are taught, that words ending in “s” or “z” are pronounced as “sh”. This is only partly true! It depends on the word coming next! Cascais ends with an “s” and, on its own is pronounced ends with an “s” and, on its own is pronounced Cascaish. However, in a sentence it could be either pronounced as “s” or “sh”. In the sentence Cascais é bonito, the “s” in the end is pronounced soft (it’s in between vowels, see rule 3). In the sentence a Cascais demoramos muito, the “s” in the end is pronounced sharp (it precedes a consonant). The first “s” in Cascais is always pronounced as “sh”.
Examples: casca (cashca), felizmente (felishment’), ser feliz é bom (soft “s”), eu sou feliz! (eu sou felish), fiz muito (fish muito), Espanha (‘shpaña), vamos! (vamosh)
J
The Portuguese “j” is pronounced like the “g” in gentleman, similar to the Catalan pronunciation of Joan. It is not pronounced “sh”! This is one of the main difficulties of Spanish-natives when learning Portuguese (or any other language).
Examples: João, loja, junho, desejo
G
The Portuguese “g” has the same rule as the Spanish “g” but a different pronunciation. Whenever an “e” or “i” is behind it, it is pronounced like a “j” (a Portuguese “j”, see above). In all other cases, it is pronounced the same way as in Spanish.
Examples:
“g”: Guilherme, frango
“j”: gentileza, geladeira, garagem (“g” and “j”), imaginar
X
The Portuguese “x” is a tricky one! It can be pronounced in different ways: as a “z”, sharp “s”, “sh”, or “ks”. The rules around this are very complex and I suggest you try to remember how to pronounce the most common words with “x” instead.
Examples:
“z”: exemplo (ezémplu), exercício (ezersísiu); exame (ezám’)
sharp “s”: próximo (prósimu), trouxe (trós’), máximo (másimu)
“sh”: sexta (seshta), texto (teshtu), extra (eshtra)
“ks”: táxi (taksi), fixo (fiksu), sexo (seksu), complexo (compleksu)
R
In the Lisbon area (and I know this is different in other parts of the country and even more so in Brazil), the “r” is pronounced in two ways, with the same rule as in Spanish:
- whenever the “r” is the first letter of the word or doubled “rr”, it is pronounced hard, similar to the Spanish “j”.
- The regular “r” is pronounced similarly in Portuguese and Spanish.
Examples: carro (cajú), churrasco (shujáshcu), rato (játu), Rui (Jui)
I hope you found these guidelines helpful! Any comment, need for clarification, or correction? Let me know :)