Gender in Spanish and Portuguese Cognates

FROM SPANISH TO PORTUGUESE

Gender

1. Gender in cognates

In most cases, Portuguese cognates have the same gender as their Spanish counterparts. There are some common exceptions to this, however, and we will list some of them here.

A. Many Spanish masculine words ending in -aje are feminine in Portuguese and end in -agem.

For example:

Spanish	Portuguese
el viaje	a viagem
el paisaje	a paisagem
el masaje	a massagem
el mensaje	a mensagem
el sabotaje	a sabotagem

B. Others:

Spanish	Portuguese
el color	a côr
el dolor	a dor
el árbol	a árvore
el puente	a ponte
el partido 'game'	a partida
el equipo	a equipe
la nariz	o nariz
la leche	o leite
la sonrisa	o sorriso
la sal	o sal

2. Gender in the Number 'Two'

Portuguese has gender agreement for the number 'two'. Spanish does not. Remembering to make this agreement in Portuguese is not always as easy as it may seem.

Spanish	Portuguese
dos libros	dois livros
dos señoras	duas senhoras

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