Inevitably some interference will arise out of the necessity of accommodating two vowel sounds in an area where you are used to dealing with only one. This will be a problem in the case of brand new, non-cognate words. It will be even more of a problem in the case of cognates. Many Spanish words with e (which we may consider closed) will show up in Portuguese with the open E. Among these are Spanish words ending in stressed -el.
Spanish | Portuguese |
---|---|
papel | papEl |
pincel | pincEl |
hotel | hotEl |
In most cases, though, you will find it difficult to predict whether you will find an e or an E in the Portuguese word. Check these examples:
Spanish closed e | Portuguese closed e | Portuguese open E |
---|---|---|
pelo | pelo | |
mesa | mesa | |
pena | pena | |
pelar | pelar | |
tenaz | tenaz | |
menos | menos | |
mero | mEro | |
sede | sEde | |
bella | bEla | |
fe | fÉ | |
ella | Ela | |
es | É | |
cero | zEro | |
flecha | flEcha |
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