Of course the ə occurs in the final, weak-stressed syllable of many non-cognate words as well. Here, too, you will have to resist the tendency to use a Spanish a.
fale̱ fice̱
obrigade̱ feire̱
It is interesting to note that in European Portuguese and in the rapid speech of some Brazilians there is a definite tendency to pass over this sound very lightly, sometimes to the point of dropping it.
The ə is also heard in stressed syllables when the following syllable begins with m, n or nh sound. In these cases the ə is slightly nasalized. Once again, interference from familiar, cognate Spanish words is likely to be a problem.
| Spanish (a) | Portuguese (ə) |
|---|---|
| vamos | vamos |
| cama | cəma |
| baño | bənho |
| gano | gənho |
| Ana | əna |
The differences between Spanish a and Portuguese ə may not seem very great, but it is on just such small differences as these—hundreds of them—that Spanish and Portuguese are distinguishable as two separate languages.
Merely as an indication of the considerable frequency with which you will need to perform this a to ə change, we have tabulated its presence below in some very basic, hence constantly recurring, grammatical features of the two languages.