(metafonia).

Conjugations (source: Venâncio)

Verbs in -ar

Verbs that have an infinitive that ends in -ar, and which have an e or o in the penultimate syllable have the open sound (as if written é or ó) whenever that syllable is stressed.
Example: emprego /e~prEgu/ (I use /AI ju:z/), emprega /e~prEg3/ (he/she/it uses), etc.
See also verb vs. noun.
There are some exceptions to this rule: chegar (chego /Segu/ (I arrive)) and arguably fechar: fecho (I close) often sounds as if written feicho /f3iSu/, probably due to the assimilation of the /S/ sound and insertion of a short /i/.
Sonhar and soltar have closed vowels in their conjugation. But voltar is regular.

Present tense of verbs in -er

Many of these that have a non-nasalised e or o in the penultimate syllable have /e/ or /o/ in the first person singular of the present indicative and in all persons of the subjunctive, but /E/ or /O/ in the other persons of the present indicative (i.e., because of the stress patterns, second and third singular, and third plural.
Thus we have:

Indicative:
corro	(I run)	/koR\u/
corres	(you run)	/kOR\1s/ [kOR\1S]
corre	(he runs)	/kOR\1/
correm	(they run)	/kOR\3~i~/
Subjunctive:
corra	(that I tun / that you run)	/koR\3/
corras	(that you run)	/koR\3s/ [koR\3S]
corram	(that they run)	/koR\3~u~/

Perfect etc. of verbs in -er
- Regular verbs in -er
  
  The e in the endings of the Perfeito, Subjuntivo Imperfeito and Subjuntivo Futuro of regular er-verbs have the half-close sound /e/.
  Example: vendeste (you sold) /ve~dest1/ [ve~ndeSt1].
- Irregular verbs in -er
  
  In the corresponding conjugations of irregular er-verbs (except ler=read) we hear the half-open /E/.
  Examples: soubeste (you knew) /soubEst1/ [souBESt1], houver (that there was/were) /ouvEr/.

Verb vs. noun

Because the rule about open sounds in conjugated forms of ar-verbs is only valid for verbs, not for nouns, there is a systematic difference between first person singular verbal form and the corresponding noun. The difference can be heard, but after several spelling reforms there is no longer any distinction in writing. Example:
emprego /e~prEgu/ means "I use" /AI ju:z/, but
emprego /e~pregu/ means "use" /ju:s/.
Likewise começo (I begin, beginning), jogo (I play, game), olho (I look, eye), and many others. But see also ¹⁴ about "sonho".

Singular vs. plural nouns.

Some nouns have /o/ in the singular, but /O/ in the plural.

Thus we have:

jogo (I play) /ZOgu/
joga (he plays) /ZOg3/
jogo (game) /Zogu/
jogos (games) /ZOgus/ [ZOguS]

By combining information from various sources I compiled the following table of words with a different o-vowel in singular anmd plural, and of other with have the close vowel in both.

Note that some words are in both lists, due to conflicting information from different sources: almoços, acordo, esposo, or mention of variation in one source (Willis): desporto, estofo. I haven't yet checked (June 2004) what the Academia has to say about these.

Singular ô, but plural ó

Portuguese English

abrolho caltrop

acordo agreement, accord

almoço breakfast, lunch

caroço seed kernel, pit

contorno shape, outline

corno horn; cuckold

coro choir, chorus

corpo body

corvo rave, crow

despojo booty; leftover

desporto sports

destroço destruction

escolho choice

esforço effort

esposo husband

estofo upholstery

estorvo impediment

fogo fire

forno oven, hearth

foro charge, forum

fosso ditch

imposto tax

jogo game, play

miolo brain, soft part of bread, interior

olho eye

osso bone

ovo egg

pescoço neck

poço well

porco pig

porto harbour

posto post, place

povo people

reforço reinforcement

renovo sprout, offshoot

rogo request

sobrolho eyebrow

sogro father-in-law

socorro aid, help

tijolo brick

toco stub

tojo furze, gorse, whin

tordo thrush

torno lathe; round

troco change (money)

troço piece, block

Portuguese English

Singular ô, but plural ó

Singular ô, plural also ô

Portuguese English

abono bonus, approval

acordo agreement, accord

adorno adornment

almoço breakfast, lunch

bobo fool, clown

bojo bulge, belly

bolo cake, pot

bolso pocket

cachorro pup, whelp

coco coconut

colmo straw

consolo consolation

desporto sports

dono master, owner

dorso back

encosto support, back of a chair

engodo bait, enticement

esboço sketch, outline

esposo husband

estofo upholstery

estojo case, etui

ferrolho latch

garoto boy

globo globe

golfo gulf

gorro cap, bonnet

gosto taste

lobo wolf

logro cheat, swindle

mocho owl; stool

moço young man

molho sauce

mono monkey

morro hill

mosto must, new wine

namoro darling

piloto pilot

piolho louse

poldro colt, young horse

polvo octopus, polypus

potro colt, young horse

raposo fox

reboco plaster

repolho cabbage

restolho stubble field

rolo cylinder, roller

rosto face

sopro whiff, breath

soro serum

suborno bribery

topo top

trambolho clog, impediment, nuisance

Portuguese English

Singular ô, plural also ô

Singular masculine adjectives vs. feminine and plural forms

Many adjectives have /o/ in the masculine singular, but /O/ in the feminine singular, and also in both the masculine and feminine plurals. Examples: novo /novo/ ^© vs. nova /nOv3/ ^©, novos /nOvus/, novas /nOv3s/, canhoto, choco, grosso, morno, morto, porco, posto, torto, and all adjectives that end in -oso/-osa/-osos/-osas.
Todo however always keeps its /o/, also in toda, todos, todas.
Pronouns.

Many pronouns follow a similar pattern as the aforementioned adjectives, except that here masculine plurals also have the close sound: ele /el1/ vs. ela /El3/, eles /el1s/, elas /El3s/.
Likewise este, essa and aquele and àquele.

Note that in these examples either half-open sounds, /E/, /O/ or /3/, meet in the same word, or they are all (half-)close sounds /e/, /o/ or /1/ (written e) or /u/ (written o). So one could speculate that this phenomenon was once due to assimilation (making sounds in each other's vicinity similar) or some kind of vowel harmony, like what is also found in unrelated languages like Turkish, Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian. This same pattern is also seen with related words such as porta (door) ^© and porto (harbour) ^©. But counter-examples exist: todo /todu/, but also toda /tod3/, not */tOd3/.

Back to main document
Alphabetic listing
Phonemic listing
Sample origins
Links to glossaries
Phoneme summary

List of notes

jogo	(I play)	/ZOgu/
joga	(he plays)	/ZOg3/
jogo	(game)	/Zogu/
jogos	(games)	/ZOgus/ [ZOguS]