Cognates Comparison of Portuguese and Spanish

1 cognates

1.1 2 forms vs. 1 form
1.2 false friends
1.3 semantic change
1.4 frequent function words

1.4.1 spanish todo, portuguese tudo
1.4.2 relative , interrogative pronouns
1.4.3 spanish muy , mucho, portuguese muito
1.4.4 cardinal numbers
1.4.5 conjunctions
1.4.6 se, si, sí, , sim
1.4.7 indirect object pronouns

cognates

most of frequent words in 2 languages share common origin in latin, several of these cognates differ, greater or lesser extent, in meaning.

two forms vs. 1 form

some words have 2 forms in 1 language, 1 in other:

portuguese criar corresponds both spanish crear create , criar raise .
spanish sueño (which means dream , used 1 sleepy) corresponds both portuguese sonho dream , sono sleep (the former latin somnium , latter somnus, produced same outcome in spanish).

false friends

some pairs of cognates differ in have broader or narrower meaning in 1 language in other, or meanings entirely different. on basis termed false friends :

semantic change

many pairs of cognates have come have different meanings due semantic change. these false friends include following:

spanish diseñar means design in spanish, while portuguese cognate desenhar means draw .
similarly, dibujo spanish drawing , debuxo means sketch in portuguese (although rather rare , bookish, having been largely displaced rascunho; cf. spanish rasguño, means scratch ).
spanish largo (also archaic luengo) means long , while ancho means wide . in portuguese largo (also ancho) wide , longo (a cognate of sp. archaic luengo ) long .
spanish extrañar can mean find strange or miss . portuguese estranhar means find strange , or lock horns.
spanish raro can mean rare or strange . in portuguese, means rare .
spanish aún can mean yet/still , todavía can mean both yet/still or however/nevertheless . portuguese todavia means however/nevertheless . in portuguese, yet/still ainda.
spanish (estar) embarazada means (to be) pregnant . portuguese (estar) embaraçada means (to be) embarrassed or (to be) entangled . however, spanish have term embarazoso/a meaning embarrassing . pregnant in portuguese grávida. portuguese prenha , spanish preñada used pregnant animals women, in both languages
spanish exquisito means exquisite/sophisticated . portuguese esquisito means strange/weird .
experto means expert in both spanish , portuguese, in portuguese should not confused homophone esperto (a homophone in brazil), means smart/intelligent . expert in portuguese may perito, especialista, or exímio, same in spanish (sp. eximio spelled without accent mark).
spanish escoba broom . portuguese escova brush or broom (but portuguese chooses vassoura broom ). however, in varieties of spanish, escobilla or escobeta means toilet brush .
spanish apellido surname apelido in european portuguese, , sobrenome in both brazilian , european portuguese (but portuguese apelido). spanish sobrenombre/apodo nickname apelido/alcunha/codinome in brazilian portuguese, , alcunha in european portuguese.
spanish rojo red . portuguese roxo purple . red in portuguese vermelho. in european portuguese word encarnado (literally in flesh) used synonym of red though vermelho more frequent.
spanish apenas means hardly . portuguese apenas . spanish phrase él apenas pudo dormir means not even/hardly sleep , or barely able sleep , whereas portuguese phrase ele pôde apenas dormir means sleep .
spanish vaso means drinking glass (tumbler) , while portuguese vaso means toilet (from vaso sanitário, váter in spanish) or flower pot. drinking glass in portuguese copo, while spanish copa wine glass. wine glass in portuguese copo or taça, while spanish taza coffee cup or teacup ; spanish taza refers bathroom bowl. coffee cup in portuguese xícara de café/chávena.
spanish cachorro means puppy, while in portuguese, can refer dog of age.

frequent function words

a number of frequent function words (pronouns, conjunctions, etc.) cognates in 2 languages used in different ways, including following:

spanish todo, portuguese tudo

the spanish pronoun todo can mean all/every , or . portuguese distinguishes between todo all/every (masculine) , tudo (neuter, used indefinite object or abstraction).

todos los insectos tienen seis patas. (spanish)
todos os insetos têm seis patas. (portuguese)
insects have 6 legs.


el ladrón lo robó todo. (spanish)
o ladrão roubou tudo. (portuguese)
thief stole or thief stole all.

relative , interrogative pronouns

spanish uses acute accent on interrogative pronouns, while corresponding relative pronouns (etymologically same words) spelled without accent mark difference in prosodic stress. (as explained below, acute accent changes vowel sound in portuguese, not spanish.) example, ¿quién? (who?) , quien (who) in spanish, quem both in portuguese. apart that, while quem invariable, spanish has both singular quién , plural quiénes.

¿quiénes son esas personas? (spanish)
quem são essas pessoas? (portuguese)
people?

in portuguese example, m @ end of quem never pronounced. merely marker nasalization.

spanish muy , mucho, portuguese muito

spanish distinguishes adjective mucho much/many adverb muy very/quite . portuguese uses muito both (there s mui, considered old-fashioned)

saqué muchas fotos durante el viaje. (spanish)
tirei muitas fotos durante viagem. (portuguese)
took many photos during trip.


las cerezas están muy maduras. (spanish)
as cerejas estão muito maduras. (portuguese)
cherries quite ripe.

as adjective, muito inflected according gender , number of noun qualifies, mucho. adverb, invariable muy. thus, incorrect *muitas maduras in second example.

cardinal numbers

the cardinal numbers similar in spanish , portuguese, there differences of usage in numbers 1 , two. spanish has different words masculine singular indefinite article ( a, ) , numeral 1 , un capítulo chapter , capítulo uno chapter 1 . in portuguese, both words same: um capítulo , capítulo um. spanish uno can used pronoun, english generic 1 , represent indeterminate subject, not possible portuguese um; reflexive pronoun se used instead. se may used in spanish form passive , impersonal constructions, well.

uno (or se) debe pensar antes de actuar. (spanish)
deve-se pensar antes de agir. (portuguese)
1 should think before acting.

this still applies in cases relatively indeterminate subject genderized, such spanish todos una [voz] ( @ once , literally @ 1 [voice] ). should rewritten in portuguese without cardinal number. example, todos juntos .

on other hand, in portuguese, cardinal number 2 inflects gender (dois if masculine, duas if feminine), while in spanish dos used both.

uno más uno es igual dos. (spanish)
um mais um é igual dois. (portuguese)
1 plus 1 equals two.


dos cabezas piensan mejor que una. (spanish)
duas cabeças pensam melhor que uma. (portuguese)
2 heads think better one.


tengo dos hermanos y dos hermanas. (spanish)
tenho dois irmãos e duas irmãs. (portuguese)
have 2 brothers , 2 sisters.

conjunctions

the conjunction , in spanish y (pronounced [i] before consonant, [j] before vowel) before words except beginning [i] sound (spelled i- or hi-). before syllabic [i] sound (and not diphthong [je] in hierro), spanish conjunction e [e̞]. portuguese uses e [i] before words.

sal y pimienta. (spanish)
sal e pimenta. (portuguese)
salt , pepper.


judío e hindú. (spanish)
judeu e hindu. (portuguese)
jewish , hindu.


leones y hienas. (spanish)
leões e hienas. (portuguese)
lions , hyenas.

similarly, conjunction or spanish uses o [o̞] before words except beginning o- or ho-, in case uses u [w]. portuguese uses ou [ow]~[o].

vino o agua. (spanish)
vinho ou água. (portuguese)
wine or water.


uno u otro. (spanish)
um ou outro. (portuguese)
1 or other.

se, si, sí, , sim

in portuguese, word se can reflexive pronoun or conjunction meaning if . may give false impression portuguese verb pronominal when not. example, se ficou em paris... means if 1 stayed in paris... when conjunction se precedes pronominal verb, common have double se in sentence, such se se esqueceu da sua senha... if forgot password...

indirect object pronouns

spanish le , les changed se when followed lo, la, los, or las. example, mi abuelo les compró los regalos becomes mi abuelo se los compró . see combining pronouns in spanish below. in addition, spanish uses sé irregular verb in first person singular indicative of saber (to know), , second person singular imperative of ser (to be). in portuguese, these sei , sê respectively.