Original post by prompto99 | Archived post
Even though there has been multiple requests of having a new course: European Portuguese, the majority of BP sentences are exactly the same as EP.
I have used IPA to distinguish the differences in phonology
PHONOLOGY
The main issue between BP and EP is phonology and because of that, there are some difficulties in intelligibility. However, due to a high exposure of BP in Portugal, we (the Portuguese) have an easier time understanding BP rather than the other way around. The biggest differences in phonology has to be the prosody. What's prosody you may ask? Well, it is basically the way we pronounce the words. BP is more like the other romance languages on that regard, being a syllable-timed language, meaning that, usually, the words are pronounced with the same length in all syllables. EP is a stress-timed language, which means that syllables have different durations in the word. Usually, in a stress-timed language, a process called vowel reduction happens and Portuguese is no exception! Although it also happens in BP, the reduction is far more present in EP, even creating a weird vowel sound that only EP and Korean have it: "E mudo (ɯ̽)". Theoretically it only exists as an unstressed vowel. However, many people pronounce the 'e' in "pelo/pela/pelos/pelas (through the)" with that "E mudo", but usually we just contract it to "p'lo/p'la/p'los/p'las" respectively...
TCH/DJ or T/D?
In BP, before a high vowel, the consonant T becomes TCH and D becomes DJ. In some dialects (the ones that you are most likely to hear). Parts of Northeast and South of Brazil pronounce it like in EP.
Rio de Janeiro: /hi.u dʒi ʒanejɾu/
Quente: /kẽtʃi/
In EP, a T is always pronounced as T and D is always pronounced as D.
Rio de Janeiro: /ʀi.u dʑənəjɾ̥ʷ/
Quente: /kẽtʰ/
S or CH?
In the majority of Brazilian accents, the S is almost always pronounced as an S except between vowels (pronounced as Z). However, in EP, it could be pronounced differently:
Between vowels: Z (same as BP) | Casa (BP: /kaza/, EP: /kazə/)
Before voiceless consonants: SH | Costa (BP: /kɔsta/, EP: /kɔɕtə/)
Before voiced consonants: ZH | Lisboa (BP: /liz.bo.a/, EP: /liʑβoə/)
Final: SH (However, if the next word begins with...)Vowel: Z | Os olhos (BP: /ujz ɔʎujs/, EP: /uz ɔl̠ʲɕʷ/)
Voiceless consonant: SH | Os carros (BP: /ujs kahujs/, EP: /uɕ kaʀɕʷ/)
Voiced consonant: ZH | Os dedos (BP: /ujz dedujs/, EP: /uʑ dedɕʷ/)
From my knowledge, the carioca accent (Rio de Janeiro) also has this EP way of pronouncing the S's.
Soft consonants?
This also occurs in Spanish. Basically, EP consonants (more specifically: B/D/G) change to a more soft consonant: β/ð/ɣ/.
β: similar to V but without the top teeth touching the bottom lip.
ð: as in English TH in "other"
ɣ: similar to G but without completely blocking air flow on the g.
- "É sábado agora" (BP: /ɛ 'sa.ba.dw a.gɔ.ɾa/, EP: /ɛ 'sa.βə.ðʷ ə.ɣɔ.ɾə/)
Dark L or W?
The consonant L is velarized in EP. This means that, unlike BP where you pronounce "mal" as if it were "mau", you pronounce the L but further back in the mouth. Many English dialects have this L as in "feel".
mal (BP: /maw/, EP: /maɫ̪/)
ÂI or EI?
One big difference between BP and EP are vowel sounds. Some diphthongs are even pronounced differently and there are cases where there is only one vowel sound in BP but it is a diphthong in EP. For example:
cheio (BP: /ʃeju/, EP: /ʃəju/)
coelho (BP: /ku'e.ʎu/, EP: /ku'əj.l̠ʲʷ/)
Are we pronouncing the vowels?
One of the consequences of having vowel reduction is that it could lead to a deletion of vowels. That happens a lot in EP. The phrase: "como é que queres que faça isso, pá?" would be contracted to: "com'é q'quer's q'faça isso, pá?" It's just a common thing in EP, contractions!
"how do you want me to do that, man?"
"E mudo"
The famous European Portuguese vowel… You either pronounce this vowel or you don’t, even if you do pronounce it, it is very short which gives the false impression that you are not pronouncing it. How do you pronounce it? Well, I’m no specialist. However, imagine pronouncing the English vowel ‘oo’ in “book”, but instead of rounding it (which is what you would normal would), “unround” the vowel.
Vowel reduction
It's important to explain this a little bit more and to cover unstressed vowel pronunciation:
- At the end of a word:
PT: vowel reduction is mandatory:
Vowels "o", "e" and "a" are reduced to "u", "ɯ̽", and "ə", respectively:
"Pato": pronounced /'pa.tu/; "gente": pronounced /'ʑẽ.tɯ̽/ (or eliding the final vowel, as explained previously); "casa": pronounced /'ka.zə/.
BR: vowel reduction is mandatory:
Vowels "o", "e" and "a" are reduced to "u", "i", and "ɐə", respectively:
"Pato": pronounced /'pa.tu/; "gente": pronounced /'ʒẽ.tʃi/; "casa": pronounced /'ka.zɐ/.
PT and BR:
Exceptions: vowels won't be reduced if followed by a consonant other than "s", like "caráter", pronounced /kə'ɾa.tɛɾ/ in Portugal, and /ka'ɾa.teɾ/ in Brazil; and "notável", pronounced /nu'ta.vɛɫ/ in Portugal, and /no'ta.vew/ or /nɔ'ta.vew/ in Brazil.
- Before the stressed syllable:
PT: vowel reduction is the rule, with exceptions:
The vowels described above are reduced when they happen before the stressed syllable as well:
"Professor": pronounced /pɾu.fɯ̽'soɾ/; "abacaxi": pronounced /ə.bə.kə'ɕi/ (all three "as" pronounced as /ə/).
Exceptions: For some words the reduction doesn't happen, due to etymological reasons, like "corar", pronounced /kɔ'ɾaɾ/ coming from the Latin "colorare" evolving to "coorare" --> "còrar" and "pregar", pronounced /pɾɛ'ɣaɾ/ coming from the Latin "praedicare" evolving to "predecare" --> "preegare" --> "prègar" (recent orthographic agreements removed certain accents marks, turning "còrar" and "prègar" to "corar" and "pregar", respectively).
BR: do not reduce vowels as a rule, reduce in some exceptions, but they are never mandatory, the non-reduction may just sound formal in some words we often reduce. Vowels in unstressed position vary in pronunciation depending on the region:
Northern dialects: vowels "o" and "e" are pronounced open, as /ɔ/ and /ɛ/, making "professor" be pronounced /pɾɔ.fɛ'soh/;
Southern dialects: vowels "o" and "e" are pronounced closed, as /o/ and /e/, making "professor" be pronounced /pɾo.fe'soɾ/;
Northern and Southern dialects: vowel "a" mantains its open pronunciation /a/, being pronounced as /ɐ/ only if before a nasal consonant (m, n or nh). Therefore, "abacaxi" is pronounced as /a.ba.ka'ʃi/, but "manhã" as /mɐ'ɲɐ̃/.
Exceptions: for some words, we reduce, although it's not mandatory, it's just common, like "polícia" being pronounced as /pu'li.sjɐ/ and "estrela" as /is'tɾe.lɐ/. Some others, like "fogão" pronounced as /fu'gɐ̃w̃/ are more common in certain regions, like Rio de Janeiro, and not pleasant to others, where /fo'gɐ̃w̃/ or /fɔ'gɐ̃w̃/ are the standard pronunciations.
These different pronunciations lead to some interesting situations, like "morar" and "murar" being homophones in Portugal (/mu'ɾaɾ/), but not in Brazil (/mo'ɾaɾ/ or /mɔ'ɾah/ for the first and /mu'ɾaɾ/ for the second).
More differences
There are more slight differences, but I would have to go in full linguistic mode, if you wish to know more differences, contact me.
GRAMMAR
There are significant differences between EP and BP when it comes to grammar. However, usually, it is the same, although in colloquial speech things can be very different and look like different languages.
Usage of the gerund
When you want to state a continuous action, in BP you would normally use the gerund but in EP things are different, we use a preposition and the infinitive:
I'm playing
BP: Estou brincando
EP: Estou a brincar (lit. I am to play)
What are you doing?
BP: O que você está fazendo?
EP: O que é que estás a fazer? (lit. What is [it] that [you] are to do?)
Building questions
As you may noticed previously, the way we build questions could be different than the way Brazilians do. Keep in mind that "é que" isn't as foreign to brazilians as you may think, but it's generally omitted. This construction of "é que" (similar to the french "est-ce que") is very popular in colloquial speech, but in formal speech we adopt a more brazilian style. This construction is only valid in WH-questions.
What will we do in the future?
BP: O que faremos no futuro? (Formal in EP)
EP: O que é que faremos no futuro?
Who will be the next one?
BP: Quem será o próximo? (Formal in EP)
EP: Quem é que será o próximo?
Are you the next one?
BP: Você é o próximo? (Formal in EP)
EP: És o próximo?
Usage of personal pronouns
- EU: Used in both EP and BP. However, in EP, it is usually omitted at all costs. We tend to use in order to give some sort of emphasis.
- TU: Even though some regions in Brazil use it, they still conjugate it in the third person singular: "Tu é" (This is a mistake in EP). In EP we use it all the time on informal occasions.
- VOCÊ: Generally used all the time in Brazil. In Portugal it is used for formal occasions. Be careful!! In North of Portugal, many people will get offended if you use "você", they prefer to be treated with "o senhor/a senhora" which is the way Brazilians use to treat each other on a more formal way.
- ELE/ELA: Same usage. Although in BP they tend to use it more often: “I didn’t see him” – BP: “Não vi ele” – EP: “Não o vi”.
- NÓS: Same usage, although some brazilians prefer to use "a gente" and conjugated it in the third person singular: "a gente é".
- VÓS: completely archaic in Brazil. The usage of "vós" is JUST in the northern parts of Portugal.
- If monarchy was still present in Portugal we would use "vós" towards the king (and we would call the king as "el-rei").
- It could be used in poetry (just like word order doesn't even exist in some poems...)
- In religious context (roman catholicism) when talking with god or "god" is speaking to us. In fact, the most used prayer uses "vós": "Pai nosso que estais no céu, santificado seja o vosso nome..."
- And, for us, Nortenhos (lit. northerners), it's not used as much... Especially amongst the youth (I'm no exception). However, we conjugate the verb "ir" with "vós" many times, for example we say:
"[Vós] ides aonde?" (Where are you (plural) going?). But don't worry, we will still understand you if you say "[vocês] vão aonde?" (some will even say: "[vocês] vão para onde?") - Anyways, in rural areas IT IS VERY COMMON to use "vós"
- VOCÊS: same usage.
- ELES/ELAS: same usage.
Mesoclisis
Don't ask me what it means, I just searched for the grammatical name of this Portuguese feature. This only occurs in very formal BP, but still used in colloquial EP.
She would take it
BP: Ela o levaria
EP: Ela levá-lo-ia
They will give it to me
BP: Eles mo darão
EP: Eles dar-mo-ão
Verbs
Verb conjugations are generally the same with some small differences:
- Past tense (preterite): For example: in BP it is spelt as "amamos" but in EP it is spelt as "amámos". However, due to the 1990 orthographic agreement, it's allowed to spell it as "amamos".
- The conditional tense is usually called "future of the past" in BP. However, in EP it is classified as a separate mood: "Conditional mood".
- In EP the subjunctive is called "conjuntivo", whereas in BP they call it "subjuntivo".
- In BP the future tense and conditional have disappeared quite extensively in colloquial speech. Normally, the future tense is substituted by “ir” + infinitive and the conditional is replaced with the imperfect or “ir” + infinitive. In colloquial EP, the same process is happening. However, every once in a while we do use the correct tenses and in formal speech it is obligatory to use them.
Vocabulary
- Train - BP: trem | EP: comboio
- Bus - BP: ônibus | EP: autocarro
- Ice cream - BP: sorvete | EP: gelado
- Cup - BP: xícara | EP: chávena
- Refrigerator - BP: geladeira | EP: frigorífico
- Brown - BP: marrom | EP: castanho
- Pineapple - BP: abacaxi | EP: ananás (This is highly debatable)
- Jellyfish - BP: água-viva | EP: alforreca
- Nickname - BP: apelido | EP: alcunha
- Candy - BP: bala | EP: rebuçado
- Dog - BP: cachorro | EP: cão
- Lorry - BP: caminhão | EP: camião
- Mobile phone - BP: celular | EP: telemóvel
- Team - BP: time | EP: equipa
- Plumber - BP: encanador | South of Portugal: canalizador | North of Portugal: picheleiro
And there are more and more differences like this, but usually the most basic vocabulary is the same.
I really tried my best and what I have in my brain to this topic, if there is something wrong or something you believe it is useful to add here, don't hesitate to comment. If you wish to contact me, comment below.