A Comparative Vocabulary Guide: Spanish to English to Portuguese

Cristina

Introduction

This guide is alphabetical, A through Z, with each letter comprising a separate listing, further divided into three sections: words that are interchangeable among the three languages; nouns, adjectives and adverbs that contain easily recognizable and equivalent meanings; and, verbs with easily recognizable and equivalent meanings.

Spanish is the language base for this guide. The Spanish listings are followed by their English definitions which include all relevant English meanings. Portuguese is then matched to the Spanish listings and their English definitions, for example:

The Spanish word > JUSTICIA, justice, equity, fairness

^

The English definition

The Portuguese word > JUSTICIA

This guide’s primary purpose is to provide English speaking students of Spanish and Portuguese with a quick and resourceful vocabulary base. Conversely, the guide’s design will introduce Spanish and Portuguese speaking students to the English or the Spanish or the Portuguese vocabulary. And appendix appearing and page 359 contains computer and internet terms in the three languages.

Not all possible words that fit this guide’s purpose are listed. Only the most obvious and useful words were selected. The student is given space in the guide to augment the listings with additional words of particular interest, making this guide a personal workbook.

All Spanish words are given the general or specific meanings of Spanish currently spoken in Argentina. The Portuguese is that which is currently spoken in Brazil.

Spanish is the language to which the English definitions and the equivalent Portuguese are compared.

Following are pronunciation guides for Spanish, English and Portuguese.

Spanish Pronunciation Guide fo English speakers

The vowels a, e, and o are strong vowels, i and u are weak. When two vowels fall together the following applies: if the word has an accent mark, then that syllable is stressed (cóncavo, enfermería); a weak + strong combination belongs to one syllable with the stress falling on the strong vowel (cauto, caliente); a weak + weak combination belongs to one syllable with the stress falling on the second vowel (construir, cuidado); and, a strong + strong combination is divided into two syllables.( aca-rre- ar, co-rre-a )

A: as the a in father

B,v:   when found at the beginning of a word or following a consonant, these are pronounced as a b. Otherwise, they have a sound which falls somewhere between the English b and v sounds.

C: before a consonant or a, o, or u, as the c in cat; before e or i as an s

CH: as the ch in church

D: as the English d except between vowels and following l or n where it is pronounced as the th in this

E: for a syllable ending in a vowel, as the e in they; for a syllable ending in a consonant, as the e in get

F: as the f in for

G: before e or i, as the Spanish j; otherwise as the g in get

H: silent

I: as i in machine

J: as an h but stronger; silent when at the end of a word

K: as the k in kilo

L: as an l in lee

LL: as the y in you. However, in Argentina it is pronounced as sh in shoe

M: as an m in mother

N: as an n; except where it appears before a v, as an m

Ñ: as the n in onion

O: for a syllable ending in a vowel, as the o in vote; for a syllable ending in a consonant, as the o in pot

P: as a p in pot

Q: as a k; always followed by a silent u

R: pronounced with a strong trill at the beginning of a word and following an l, n, or s; very little trill when at the end of a word; and medium trill in other positions

RR: strongly trilled

S: before consonants b, d, g, l, m, n, as a z; otherwise as an s

T: as a t

U: as the u in rule; silent after q and in the groups gue and gui

V: see b, v

W: usually pronounced as a v

X: when between vowels, as the x in box; before a consonant, as an s

Y: when used as a vowel, such as in the words y and voy, it is pronounced as the Spanish i. As a consonant it is pronounced as Y in yes

Z: as an s

English Pronunciation Guide for Spanish speakers

Algunas letras en Inglés tienen varias formas de pronunciación. Los sonidos proporcionados en Español son sólo una aproximación.

Letra en Inglés - Sonido aproximado - Ejemplo

A = a como en arco - car

e como eco - many

antes de consonante + e final)   - ei como en peine - fate

(entre consonantes)   - ai como ei en peine - rain

au similar a la a de bata - cause

B =   como en bomba - boy

C = (antes de a, o, u) - como en cama - cat

(antes de e, i) - como en cena - cereal

ch como en cheque - check

D = como en doble - David

dge como en ya - knowledge

E = entre a y e - thanks

e como en estar - let

i como en cinco - he, be

(final de monosílabo) - iu como en diurno - new, few

(final de la palabra) - (muda) - fine, live

(antes de t, d) - ea como i en rival - read, eat

ea como ei en rey- great

ea como e en error - sweater

(después de consonante) - ee como i en kilo - bee, see

ei como i en nido - neither

ei como ei en peine - eight

F = como en fallo - face

G = (antes de a, o, u) - como en gato - game

(antes de e, i) - entre "ch y y"   - George

(al final de palabra) - gh se pronuncia f como en faro – laugh

gh (es muda) - ghost

H = (como en j suave) - gente, jaula - home

I = i (pero más relajada) - sister

(final de la sílaba) - ai como en vaina - hi

i como en niño - marine

ie como i en nido - field

ie como en ai en vaina - pie

J = como en ya (entre "ch y y") - jaguar

K = (antes de n) - como en cama - keep

(es muda) - known

L = como en limón - limb

ll como "l" en catálogo - villa

M = como en madre - mail

N = como en nada - never

O = (entre consonantes) - a como en habla - not

(después de d, t) - u como en uso - to, do

au como en Laura - how

(final de la palabra) - o alargada "ou" - hello

(entre consonante y t final) - oa como o (pero más alargada) - coat

oo como en u en pulso - food

oo como en u en pulso (pero más relajada) – good

ou como en u en pulso – you

ou como au en Laura – round

ou como en a (pero más relajada) - tough

P = como en pobre - stop

ph como f en foca - telephone

Q = qu como en cual - quack

R = como en raro - race

S = (principio o final de sílaba) - como en siempre - same

(entre vocales) - como en zumbido - rose

(antes de ure) - ¡shhh! - sure

sh como en ¡shhh! - shoes

T = (principio o final de sílaba) - como en tarea - top, correct

(antes de ion) - ¡shhh! - condition

(antes de ure) - como en mucho - nature

(en verbos, sustantivos, etc.) - th como z en zapato - thanks

(en artículos como la, pronombres, etc.) - th como d en lad - the

U = (antes de consonante + e final) - iu como en diurno - excuse

u como en pulso (más relajada) - put

u como en pulso - attitude

a (más relajada) - under

V = como en vino -   valet

W = como en huevo - weapon

(antes de o) - wh como j en jugo - who

(antes de a, i, e) - wh como w en whiskey - white, where

X = (al principio de palabra) - z como en zinc - xylophone

( cuando va entre vocales) - se pronuncia gs - exempt

(en los demás casos) - como en exacto - box

Y = (final de palabra después de consonante) - ai como en vaina - my, by

principio de la palabra) - como en ya (muy suave) - yellow

Z = como en zumbido - zoo

Portuguese Pronunciation Guide

A: (unstressed) o as in mother; (stressed) a as in father; ão as own in town; ai as ie in pie; au as own in town; ã as an in anger; â as the a in cat

B: as the b in but

C: before e or i, as the s in safe; before a, o, u, as the c in come

Ç: before a, o, u it is pronounced as the s in song; before ã it is pronounced as the s in sorry

CH: as the ch in machine or sh in shoot

D: as the d in door; before i or e as in judge

E: ê is closed; é is open, the e as in net; weak stress the a as in about; ei as ay in day

F: the f as in first

G: before a, o, u, as the hard g in got; before e and i, as the s in pleasure

H: the h is silent

I: the i as in free

J: as dj in measure

K: as the k in kite

L: as in silver; lh as lli in million

M: as in mean

N: as in night; nh as ni in onion, similar in Spanish to año

O: closed as o in law; open as o in not; oi as oy in toy; ou as ow in slow; ô as oa in coal

P: as in people

Q: before a or o the qu as the similar sound of the English word quota. Before e and i the qu is pronounced like the c in the English word cat

R: as the first letter of a word, it is pronounced as an h as in heat, otherwise it is pronounced much like the English h as in home

S: at the beginning of a word or syllable, as the s in sail; between vowels, as the s in rose. The sh sound is like the sh in the English word ship

T: pronounced as the English t except when followed by e or i it is pronounced as chee as in the English word cheese

U: as the last u in kung fu

V: as the English v in Victor

W: Brazilians tend to pronounce w as the v sound

X: as sh in shoe

Y: as y in yell

Z: as z in zero

There are 4 defined ‘qualities’ of Portuguese vowels, known as open, close, reduced, and nasal.

When the vowel has   a circumflex over it   (^), close quality; with an acute accent over it (´ ), open quality, (usually the acute é is pronounced as more as ‘ay’); a tilde (~) over a vowel has a nasal pronunciation as does the letter m or n after a vowel. When a word ends with a vowel, or starts with an ‘e’, you would normally use the reduced quality unless there is an accent to indicate otherwise. However, an ‘e’ at the end of a word, followed by a vowel at the start of the next word, normally requires the ‘e’ to become more ‘close’, as the ‘e’ in ‘people’ (this is for ease of articulation).

The signs and symbols appearing in this guide are identified as follows:

(A) = the feminine ending

(f) = feminine

(m) = masculine

(n) = noun

(adj) = adjective

(adv) = adverb

ó = or

ú = or

sthg = something

sb = somebody

s = plural

(AERO) = aeronautics

(AGRIC) = agriculture

(ANAT) = anatomical

(ARCHIT) = architecture

(ARTE) = art, artistic

(ASTROL) = astrology

(ASTRON) = astronomy

(AUTO) = automotive

(BIOL) = biology

(BOT) = botany

(CINE) = cinema

(COM) = commercial

(DEP) = sports

(DER) = legal

(ECON) = economics

(ELECTR) = electrical

(FIN) = financial

(FIS) = physics

(FOTO) = photography

(GEN) = general meaning

(GEOG) = geography

(GEOL) = geology

(GRAM) = grammar

(INFORM) = inf. technology

(LITER) = literature

(MAT) = mathematics

(MECAN) = mechanical

(MED) = medical

(METEO) = meteorologiacal

(MIL) = military

(MUS) = music

(NAUT) = nautical

(POL) = politics

(QUIM) = chemistry

(RELIG) = religion

(TECNOL) = technology

(ZOOL) = zoology

A

Interchangeable words and their Portuguese equivalents

Palabras intercambiables y sus equivalentes en Portugués

Palavras intercambiáveis e seus equivalentes em Português

ABDOMINAL

          ABDOMINAL

ACNÉ   

          ACNE

ACRE; also can mean caustic, bitter, pungent, acrid

          ACRE; acrid, harsh

ADAGIO

          ADÁGIO

AD HOC

          AD HOC

ADVERBIAL

          ADVERBIAL

AGENDA; work schedule; diary, directory