a. ie > e (open timbre)
| Spanish | Portuguese |
| ciego | cego |
| diez | dez |
| fiesta | festa |
| miel | mel |
| pie | pé |
| piedra | pedra |
| piel | pele |
| pierde | perde |
| siete | sete |
| tierra | terra |
Examples:
- Eu quero comprar sete garrafas de vinho para a festa.
- Yo quiero comprar siete botellas de vino para la fiesta.
- Esta terra tem mais pedras do que qualquer outra região.
- Esta tierra tiene más piedras que cualquier otra región.
Observation:
Spanish has 5 basic timbres for stressed oral vowels: /i e a o u/. Portuguese has seven /i e E a O o u /. Many Spanish words that contain the diphthong /ie/ are pronounced with the Portuguese open vowel /E/ which sounds like the vowel /e/ in the English word "get." This alternation is especially evident in many verb conjugations. In Portuguese there are not any verbs that alternate "e > ie" as in Spanish.
Practice Reading Sample Sentences