| Spanish | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| nota | nOta |
| moda | mOda |
| norte | nOrte |
| obvio | Óbvio |
| bota | bOta |
As you can see, there does not appear to be any pattern you can follow.
Spanish has a large number of words that contain the diphthong ue. Many, but not all, of these show up in Portuguese with the open O.
| Spanish | Portuguese |
|---|---|
| fuerte | forte |
| luego | logo |
| cuerda | corda |
| puerta | pOrta |
| nueve | nOve |
| rueda | rOda |
| muerte | mOrte |
| escuela | escola |
| puede | pOde |
| suelo | solo |
Spanish puerto and hueso, however, show up as porto and osso, both containing the closed o. So you will have to be careful not to assume that every Spanish ue will turn out to be an open O in Portuguese. It is, nonetheless, a good rule of thumb. And, if the Spanish ue is followed by an m or n in the same syllable, as in cuenta, the Portuguese cognate will most likely have the nasal vowel õ, as in cõta. (See page 13.)
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