2006-06-23 05:53:12 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
It depends from what angle you are looking at. Let's go through a few:
Grammar.
Portuguese and Spanish grammar share pretty similar grammar in terms of syntax (word order etc), and the idea of nouns, verbs, adjectives etc. However, portuguese is slightly more complex in that they have pronoun contractions (for example 'give that to me' uses a contraction of 'to' and 'me' to form 'mo' (me+o=mo). Spanish uses the two pronouns seperately.
Verb-wise, the portuguese has the same tenses as spanish, however where the spanish might use a compounded form only (eg the pluperfect tense being comprised of the imperfect form of 'haber' plus the past participle), Portuguese interchanges between a compound form ('ter' + past participle), it also has an inflected form (eg 'comprar' becomes either 'tenhia comprado' or 'comprava').
The Portuguese also likes to make work for itself in that it has two forms of the past participle. The 'proper' form as it were for grammatical use, and the 'irregular' form for expression as an adjective eg 'impresso' and not 'imprimido' for 'printed'.
Vocabulary
Yes, portuguese does share a LOT of vocabulary with spanish. HOWEVER, in a lot of cases they have completely different words for things eg 'crianca' (excuse the lack of accent) for girl, where it is 'chica' in spanish. As previously mentioned, sometimes the word exists in both languages, but means another thing altogether (eg 'polvo' meaning 'octopus' in portuguese, but 'dust' in spanish).
ACCENT
The portuguese accent is VERY VERY different to spanish. It sounds like a Russian trying to speak Spanish while trying to eat. Lots of nasalised vowels and clipped endings. This is especially moreso in Brazilian portuguese, where they are even more nazally.
In conclusion, Portuguese is harder to learn than spanish, but if you've already got knowledge of spanish it should be fairly easy to pick up.
2006-06-27 06:58:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Similar enough for a Portuguese person to understand what is being said when spoken to in Spanish
2006-06-23 05:59:51 · answer #2 · answered by M J H 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They're actually very different. People who speak Portuguese have to learn to speak Spanish just the way people who speak English do.
Since they both originate from Latin there are some similarities but just b/c you speak one doesn't mean you'll automatically understand the other.
2006-06-23 08:13:46 · answer #3 · answered by chinch 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very similar. If you speak Spanish you can understand Portuguese very well, and a little bit of french and italian. This is because they are romance tongues (they descend from the latin).
2006-06-24 15:41:16 · answer #4 · answered by Alaide 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not too similar, I speak both and word use differs a lot--4 instance 'polvo' is 'dust' in Spanish and 'octopus' in Portuguese. And u should hear people speaking both languages--they sound really different!
2006-06-24 11:10:32 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very. With a little training, an Argentinian can easily understand what a Brazilian says, and for a Brazilian it's even easier to understand a Spanish speaker.
2006-06-23 06:16:01 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hello,
Portuguese and Spanish are very close related, the are from Latin.
2006-06-23 06:01:57 · answer #7 · answered by kida_w 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Kind of, if you read Spanish pretty well, you'll get by with Portuguese, but to me, they sound completely different - Portguese sounds Russian to me!
2006-06-27 10:06:32 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pretty close
2006-06-23 05:56:08 · answer #9 · answered by Judas Rabbi 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i think there the same
2006-06-23 05:56:15 · answer #10 · answered by mattbirt2003 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋