What are the differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese?

With 258 million native speakers, Portuguese is the sixth most widely spoken language in the world. However, the Portuguese spoken in Brazil and the Portuguese spoken in Portugal significantly differ from each other in terms of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar.

And these differences aren’t without their controversies! Brazilians often claim that the Portuguese spoken in Portugal is difficult to understand, while the Portuguese argue that Brazilians speak their language incorrectly.

Let’s find out what the key differences are and what each language is all about.

A Brief History of the Portuguese language

The Portuguese language originated from Latin in the Western Iberian Peninsula. Roman soldiers and colonists introduced Latin in 216 BCE, and when the Germanic people took over the Iberian Peninsula after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Vulgar Latin replaced almost every language. This formed the foundations of all of the Romance languages.

During the 12th and 14th centuries, known as the Galician-Portuguese Period, Portuguese was used for writing lyrical poetry in Christian Hispania. This period marked a significant event in the recognition of the language when King Denis of Portugal founded the first Portuguese university in Lisbon in 1290.

Between the 14th and 16th centuries, the Portuguese language reached Asia, Africa, and the Americas due to the Portuguese colonizing Brazil.

Differences in pronunciation between European and Brazilian Portuguese

Most of the time, the differences between both the languages are found when speaking, not in writing since the written form is usually the same.

The letter ‘d’ and ’t’ sounds in European Portuguese are pronounced as they are written, with a rough and subtle sound. However, in Brazilian Portuguese, the letter ‘d’ is pronounced as ‘djee’, and the letter ’t’ is pronounced as ‘tchee’ before the end of words.

The ’s’ sound in European Portuguese is pronounced as ‘sh’ at the end of syllables. In Brazilian Portuguese, it is pronounced as ’s’. Only in Rio de Janeiro where they have a different accent, they also pronounce the letter ’s’ just as it is in Portugal.

The letter ‘o’ at the end of words, in Brazilian Portuguese it sounds at times like ‘u’, while in European Portuguese it sounds like ‘o’. Example: ‘Tabuleiro’ or ‘Board’ in Brazilian Portuguese, you would say ‘Ta-bu-lei-ru”.

Vocabulary differences

There are words that exist in both languages and are written the same way, but they have different meanings.

Spelling and Grammar in European and Brazilian Portuguese

Subject Pronouns

In Brazilian Portuguese, to say the word ‘you’, you should use the word ‘você’ (third person). However, if you say that same word in Portugal, it comes off as impolite. In European Portuguese you should use the word ‘tu’ instead (second person).

Gerunds

While in Brazilian Portuguese it is typically the same as in English, European Portuguese avoid making use of it. Instead, they use ‘a’ followed by a verb in the infinitive. Example: (BP) Estou comendo / (EP) Estou a comer.

Você aprendeu algo novo?

At the end of the day, while both iterations of Portuguese have their own unique words and differing vocabulary, these are minor differences that won’t get in the way of Portuguese and Brazilians from understanding one another.

Begin learning Portuguese with an app that offers both reading and listening (like Beelinguapp), so that way you can learn exactly how to make use of correct pronunciation and spelling!