m. loss of intervocalic "n"
| Spanish | Portuguese |
| luna | lua |
| poner | pôr |
| tener | ter |
| venir | vir |
| ganado | gado |
| moneda | moeda |
| general | geral |
Examples:
- Em geral se considera a lua cheia como algo muito romântico.
- En general se considera la luna llena como algo muy romántico.
- Vai ter um monte de problemas se essa moeda desapareceu.
- Va a haber un monte de problemas se essa moneda desapareció.
Observation:
It is often said that speakers of Portuguese can understand Spanish better than speakers of Spanish understand Portuguese. One of the reasons might be related to the fact that Portuguese words are shorter. This is especially the case with Spanish words that have an /n/ or an /l/ between vowels. For example, Spanish "tener" becomes "ter," "poner" becomes "pôr," "venir" becomes "vir,"salir" changes to "sair" and "color" becomes "côr" (See below). As you learn this tendency it will become much easier to identify Portuguese words, especially many verb forms.
Practice Reading Sample Sentences