Top 11 Spanish-to-Portuguese Grammar Differences

This post serves as a companion guide to our YouTube video, Top 11 Spanish-to-Portuguese Grammar Differences. It is also a follow-up to our first post about the top 11 pronunciation differences.

This video is again meant for native English speakers who are proficient in Spanish and are trying to use this proficiency to learn Brazilian Portuguese, a very similar language. By no means is this a complete and comprehensive guide to all the grammar differences between the two languages, however. This is a quick overview meant to expose you to what I have felt to be the biggest and most important differences while learning to speak Portuguese. Spurred by these tips, I encourage you to dive into each grammar difference further by using more in-depth resources, including those I've listed at the end of this post.

In the YouTube video I briefly discuss each grammar rule then have Gláuber (Brazil), Zitely (Mexico), and myself (USA) read the Portuguese (P), Spanish (S), and English (E) respective translations. These are reproduced below, with a brief overview of each rule (I go more in depth in the video):

1) Tú becomes você; nosotros becomes nós or a gente

P: Você vai ao supermercado?
S: ¿Vas (tú) al supermercado?
E: Are you going to the supermarket?

P: Como você está?
S: ¿Cómo estás (tú)?
E: How are you?

P: A gente é americano. Or: Nós somos americanos.
S: (Nosotros) Somos americanos.
E: We are American.

P: A gente foi ao cinema. Or: Nós fomos ao cinema.
S: (Nosotros) Fuimos al cine.
E: We went to the movie theater.


2) Less dropping of the subject pronoun (I, you, he/she, us, they, etc.)

P: Você viu esse filme?
S: ¿ (Tú) Viste esa película?
E: Did you see that movie?

P: Eu me sinto bem.
S: (Yo) Me siento bien.
E: I feel fine.


3) More dropping of the object pronoun (it, this, that, these, those, etc.)

P: Você viu esse filme? Sim, eu vi.
S: ¿Viste esa película? Sí, lo vi.
E: Did you see that film? Yes, I saw it.

P: Você compraria essa casa? Não, eu não compraria.
S: ¿Comprarías esa casa? No, no lo compraría.
E: Would you buy that house? No, I wouldn't buy it.


4) Respond to yes/no questions by conjugating the verb!

P: Foi ele que disse isso? Sim, foi ele.
S: ¿Fue él quien dijo eso? Sí.
E: Was it him that said that? Yes.

P: Você gosta de queijo? Não, eu não gosto.
S: ¿Te gusta el queso? No.
E: Do you like cheese? No.


5) Gostar de is a direct verb, as in English

P: Eles gostam de jogar futebol.
S: Les gusta jugar fútbol.
E: They like to play soccer.

P: Eu gostaria de viajar ao Brasil.
S: Me gustaría viajar a Brasil.
E: I would like to travel to Brazil.


6) Many verbs that are reflexive in Spanish are not reflexive in Portuguese. Thank God!

P: Eu levantei muito cedo.
S: Me levanté muy temprano.
E: I rose very early.

P: Ela esqueceu a resposta.
S: Se le olvidó la respuesta.
E: She forgot the answer.

P: Senta aqui.
S: Siéntate.
E: Sit down.


7) Indirect object pronoun (me, te, les/lhes, nos, etc.) placement

If the sentence only has one verb, both languages place it in front of the verb:
P: Carlota me disse a verdade.
S: Carlota me dijo la verdad.
E: Carlota told me the truth.

P: Martin nos deu o livro.
S: Martín nos dio el libro.
E: Martin gave us the book.

But if the sentence has two verbs, Spanish puts it before or after both verbs but Portuguese typically sticks it right in the middle:
P: Eles querem te mandar uma carta.
S: Ellos quieren mandarte una carta.
E: They want to send a letter to you.

P: Maria vai me dizer a verdade.
S: María me va a decir la verdad.
E: Maria is going to tell me the truth.


8) No personal a, and no a after the verb ir

P: Ela contratou ele.
S: Ella contrató a él.
E: She hired him.

P: Eu vou fazer o mesmo.
S: Voy a hacer lo mismo.
E: I'm going to do the same thing.

P: Eles vão buscar o secretário.
S: Ellos van a buscar al secretario.
E: They are going to look for the secretary.


9) Articles (i.e the) are often included before proper names and possessive pronouns (my, your, his/her, our, their, etc.)

P: A Laura está cansada.
S: Laura está cansada.
E: Laura's tired.

P: A Laura é a minha amiga.
S: Laura es mi amiga.
E: Laura is my friend.

P: Eu vou dar o meu relógio ao Marcelo.
S: Le voy a dar mi reloj a Marcelo.
E: I'm going to give my watch to Marcelo.


10) The preterite is used to convey the present perfect sense in Portuguese (these examples are explained better in the video!)

P: Você já comeu comida japonesa? (NOT "Você tem comido..."!)
S: ¿Has comido comida japonesa?
E: Have you (ever) eaten Japanese food?

P: Ainda não vi esse filme.
S: Todavía no he visto esa película.
E: I still haven't seen that movie.


11) The future subjunctive is still actively used in Portuguese

P: Se você quiser, eu posso tirar uma foto.
S: Si quieres, puedo tomar una foto.
E: If you want, I can take a photo.

P: Eu vou tomar uma cerveja se a genta for jantar.
S: Voy a tomar una cerveza si vamos a cenar.
E: I'm going to drink a beer if we go out to eat. (specifically, out to eat for dinner)


Check back in the future for more videos the key ways that Brazilian Portuguese differs from Spanish, including the most important vocabulary differences and false cognates!

And, as promised, here are some great resources for delving further into these differences and into Brazilian Portuguese in general.

Pois não: an excellent textbook with many cultural lessons and an audio companion
Tá falado: a podcast out of the University of Texas with pdfs of all example conversations

Pimsleur: the best strictly Portuguese language tool I have ever used; audio-based
Miscellaneous: BrazilianGringo, Wiki article on Spanish-to-Portuguese, Portuguese conjugation site

Até logo pessoal!