Portuguese-Spanish Cognates and False Friends

Being familiar with Spanish gives those starting to learn Portuguese a huge head start – these languages are closely related and there are thousands of cognates between them.

Wondering about what a cognate is? 

Cognates are words that share a common origin, look alike, and often mean pretty much the same. Because both Portuguese and Spanish originate from Vulgar Latin, cognates between the two are abundant. 

You can think of cognates as true friends, as opposed to false friends.

What does this mean for you? Well, concerning vocabulary specifically, there’s a lot to benefit from if you know Spanish already.

In fact, Portuguese and Spanish share approximately 90% of their lexicon!

Now, because not all cognates are used with the same frequency in either language, the 90% figure is a bit overrated when it comes to everyday speech. 

Still, your pre-existent knowledge of Spanish is a vocab goldmine and you should take advantage of it when learning Portuguese*.

This article goes well beyond a random list with commonly used Portuguese-Spanish cognates. Instead, based on your previous knowledge of Spanish, it’ll help you recall thousands of Portuguese words at will without you having previously memorized them.

To be able to do that, you’ll need to become familiarized with a few groups of Spanish-Portuguese cognates.

After that, you’ll be able to easily convert Spanish words to their Portuguese counterparts – all it takes is a few minor tweaks in pronunciation and spelling.

Let’s get started.

* Knowing Spanish from before also makes your life easier in other regards, namely concerning Portuguese grammar. Learn more about the different ways these languages are similar: Portuguese vs. Spanish: How Similar Are They Actually?

PORTUGUESE-SPANISH COGNATES
1. Nouns	2. Adjectives
-ção → -ción	-ista → -ista
-são/-ssão → -sión	-ente → -ente
-grama → -grama	-vel → -ble
-dade → -dad	-ar → -ar
-gem → -gen/-aje	-ico/a→ -ico/a
-ismo → -ismo	-ivo/a→ -ivo/a
–	-oso/a→ -oso/a
3. Verbs	4. Adverbs
-ar → -ar	-mente → -mente
-er → -er	–
-ir → -ir	–
PORTUGUESE-SPANISH FALSE FRIENDS
Common false friends

! Achieve similar results departing from your English instead: English-Portuguese Cognates – the Words You Already Know (without Knowing It).

Portuguese-Spanish Cognates

1. Nouns

-ção → -ción

Nearly all cognates in this group are feminine words. 

Note how the word endings on the Portuguese side render a nasal diphthong (indicated by the tilde accent). A few examples:

resolução	resolución
ação	acción
condição	condición
relação	relación
atenção	atención
. . .

-são/-ssão → -sión

The endings of these cognates are very similar to the previous, the difference being that they take an s instead of a ç. Like before, the majority of the words in this group are feminine.  

Note that the Portuguese endings sound different depending on if they take a single or double s. Accordingly, a single s produces a voiced sibilant sound nonexistent in Spanish (as in zebra), whereas a double s renders an unvoiced one (as in simple). 

! Learn more about Portuguese phonology and spelling patterns in this article:  Portuguese Pronunciation: A Helpful Guide to Portuguese Basic Sounds and Spelling Patterns.

A few examples:

precisão	precisión
decisão	decisión
conclusão	conclusión
confusão	confusión
missão	misión
. . .

-grama → -grama

The cognates of this group have a masculine gender. Let’s look at a few examples:

telegrama	telegrama
pictograma	pictograma
diagrama	diagrama
programa	programa
sismograma	sismograma
. . .

-dade → -dad

Most of the cognates in this group are feminine. Also, note how that –e at the end of the Portuguese cognates is hardly pronounced: 

caridade	caridad
espiritualidade	espiritualidad
curiosidade	curiosidad
flexibilidade	flexibilidad
cidade	ciudad
. . .

-gem → -gen/-aje

Most of the words in this group are feminine. Note the nasal sound produced by that final m:

aprendizagem	aprendizaje
imagem	imagen
virgem	virgen
paisagem	paisaje
mensagem	mensaje
. . .

-ismo → -ismo

The words in this group are also masculine. Note the voiced fricative sound (as in measure) rendered by the s that precedes the m (Portuguese cognates):

ativismo	activismo
sadismo	sadismo
moralismo	moralismo
elitismo	elitismo
pessimismo	pesimismo
. . .

2. Adjectives

-ista → -ista

Most of the adjectives in this group refer to people and, as such, they can often be treated as nouns as well. 

Also, these adjectives are unisex, that is, they keep the same form regardless of the gender they refer to (that’s normally the case for adjectives whose masculine form ends with an a-vowel). 

Reading tips! To learn more about gender in the Portuguese language read the following article: Disentangling Gender with Portuguese Masculine-to-Feminine Spelling Patterns.

Finally, note that the s in -ista (Portuguese cognates) renders an unvoiced fricative sound, much like sh does in sheep:

pessimista	pesimista
violinista	violinista
modernista	modernista
dentista	dentista
altruísta	altruista
. . .

-ente → -ente 

Like the group above, these adjectives are also unisex (that’s normally the case for adjectives whose masculine form ends with an e-vowel). 

Again, note that you hardly hear that e-sound at the end (Portuguese cognates):

pertinente	pertinente
impaciente	impaciente
suficiente	suficiente
convincente	convincente
prudente	prudente
. . .

-vel → -ble

Once more, these adjectives look the same whether they refer to masculine or feminine nouns (many adjectives whose masculine form ends with a consonant follow this pattern).

Note that dark l-sound at the end (Portuguese cognates):

miserável	miserable
sensível	sensible
flexível	flexible
provável	probable
favorável	favorable
. . .

-ar → -ar

Also ending with a consonant, these adjectives remain unchanged regardless of the gender of the word they refer to:

popular	popular
familiar	familiar
similar	similar
circular	circular
nuclear	nuclear
. . .

-ico/a→ -ico/a

Depending on the gender of the word they refer to, these adjectives end either in –o (masculine) or -a (feminine).

Note that the stress falls on the third-from-last syllable. In this case, all words have a diacritical accent indicating the stress:

magnético/a	magnético/a
icónico/a	icónico/a
problemático/a	problemático/a
automático/a	automático/a
lógico/a	lógico/a
. . .

Further reading! Learn more about Portuguese word stress and accent marks in the following article: Portuguese Word Stress and Accent Marks.

-ivo/a→ -ivo/a

Like the previous group, these cognates have masculine and feminine forms depending on the gender of the word they refer to:

agressivo/a	agresivo/a
competitivo/a	competitivo/a
repetitivo/a	repetitivo/a
expressivo/a	expresivo/a
creativo/a	creativo/a
. . .

-oso/a→ -oso/a

Again, the cognates in this group will conform to the gender of the noun they refer to:

pretensioso/a	pretencioso/a
misterioso/a	misterioso/a
vigoroso/a	vigoroso/a
curioso/a	curioso/a
contagioso/a	contagioso/a
. . .

3. Verbs

Portuguese, like Spanish, has its verbs classified into three groups, that is, those ending in -ar, -er, and –ir (infinitive form). 

Let’s look at a few cognate examples for each of these groups.

-ar → -ar 

amar	amar
pensar	pensar
nadar	nadar
encontrar	encontrar
respirar	respirar
. . .

-er → -er 

comer	comer
beber	beber
fazer	hacer
ler	leer
saber	saber
. . .

-ir → -ir 

abrir	abrir
decidir	decidir
dormir	dormir
repetir	repetir
sair	salir
. . .

4. Adverbs

-mente → -mente 

Finally, our last group of cognates consists of adverbs, specifically adverbs of manner.

Again, note how you can hardly hear that –e at the end (Portuguese cognates):

intuitivamente	intuitivamente
rapidamente	rápidamente
lentamente	lentamente
formalmente	formalmente
facilmente	facilmente
. . .

Portuguese-Spanish false friends

False friends, or false cognates if you’d like, are words that look the same in either language but mean different things.

Let’s look at a few examples:

Portuguese–Spanish false friends	Portuguese equivalents of the Spanish words	Spanish equivalents of the Portuguese words
acordar waking up acordarse recall	lembrar-se	despertarse
barata cockroach barata cheap	barata*	cucaracha
cadeira chair cadera hip	anca	silla
cena scene cena dinner	jantar	escena
embaraçada embarrassed embarazada pregnant	grávida	desconcertado
escova brush escoba broom	vassoura	cepillo
escritório office escritorio desk	secretária	oficina
esquisito weird  exquisito exquisite	requintado	raro
largo large largo long	comprido	amplio
oficina workshop oficina office	escritório	taller
polvo octopus polvo dust	pó	pulpo
propina tuition fee propina tip	gorjeta	cuota
rato mouse rato a little while (time)	momento	ratón
roxo purple rojo red	vermelho	púrpura
ruivo redhead rubio blond	loiro	pelirojo
trair betray traer bring	trazer	traicionar
. . .

* barato/a in Portuguese means also cheap.

Reading tips! What about getting to know false friends between Portuguese and English? Here’s your read: 50+ English-Portuguese False Friends to Keep an Eye Out For.