Basic Portuguese Words and Phrases, Brazil vs Portugal (Pronunciation)

The basic Portuguese words to learn first are oi or olá (hi), obrigado or obrigada (thank you, matched to your own gender), por favor (please), com licença (excuse me), desculpe (sorry), sim and não, and Tudo bem? (How are you?). These work in Brazil and Portugal alike. A handful of everyday nouns, like bus and train, change between the two.

How Portuguese sounds: a cheat sheet for English speakers

Spelling is fairly regular, but Brazil and Portugal pronounce some letters very differently. The left column is what you will hear in most of Brazil, the right column what you will hear in Lisbon.

The nasal sounds are the ones English speakers flatten most. Let the air go out through your nose and don't close your lips on a final m or n. Our guide to pronouncing ão and the nasal vowels has drills. The Lisbon habit of swallowing unstressed vowels is a big part of why Brazilians themselves find European Portuguese hard to follow at first.

Greetings and goodbyes

Tudo bem? is the question and also the answer: someone asks Tudo bem? and you reply Tudo bem, or Tudo bem, e você? In Brazil you will also hear Tudo bom?, which works the same way. With strangers in Portugal, Como está? is the safer choice. Note that boa noite is both a greeting after dark and a goodbye at bedtime. More in our greetings phrases.

Thank you, please and sorry

Obrigado agrees with the person speaking, not the person you are thanking. It literally means obliged, so a woman says obrigada to everyone, including a man, and a man says obrigado to everyone, including a woman. A group thanking someone says obrigados. You will hear many women say obrigado anyway, but standard grammar wants obrigada.

The other common slip is mixing up the two excuse mes. Com licença asks permission before you do something: squeezing past on a bus, getting a waiter's attention, leaving a meeting early. Desculpe apologizes after the fact. Desculpe is the polite form and desculpa the casual one, and many Brazilians use desculpa for both. One pronunciation trap: the m in com licença is not pronounced; com is a nasal "kohn" in both countries.

Brazil vs Portugal: everyday words that change

Most basic vocabulary is shared. These are the words a traveler actually trips over.

Two of these hide a second meaning. In Portugal a banheiro is a lifeguard, so ask for the casa de banho. And a cachorro in Portugal is a puppy, not any dog.

The pronoun matters more than any noun. In most of Brazil você is the normal word for you with anyone, though tu is still common in the south, the northeast and Rio. In Portugal tu is for friends and family, and você is more formal. With strangers in Portugal, drop the pronoun and just use the verb: Fala inglês? (Do you speak English?) is polite in both countries. For grammar differences, see Brazilian vs European Portuguese, and for the menu, juice and waiter words, ordering coffee and food in Lisbon vs Rio.

Survival phrases you can say today

That last line uses estar, not ser, because tiredness is how you are right now, and the adjective takes your gender just like obrigado. The difference between the two verbs for to be (plus ficar) is in our guide to ser vs estar vs ficar.

Numbers 1 to 10

Only one and two change with the noun's gender: um café and dois cafés (coffee is masculine), but uma água and duas águas (water is feminine). Um and uma also mean a or an, so um café is both one coffee and a coffee. When Brazilians read out a phone number, they often say meia instead of seis for six, short for meia dúzia (half a dozen), so it can't be confused with três.

Four false friends to know on day one

The door sign is the one that gets everybody: PUXE means pull, and push is EMPURRE. There are more in our list of Portuguese false friends.

Once these feel easy, read them in context with short Portuguese stories by level, or practice saying them out loud with Polly, the PollyStop tutor.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most basic Portuguese words to learn first?

Start with oi or olá, tchau, por favor, obrigado or obrigada, de nada, com licença, desculpe, sim and não, plus Tudo bem? and the numbers one to ten. Then add Fala inglês?, Quanto custa? and A conta, por favor, which cover most travel situations.

Do you say obrigado or obrigada?

It depends on who is speaking, not who you are thanking. Men say obrigado and women say obrigada, to anyone. A group says obrigados. Many women say obrigado in casual speech, but obrigada is the standard form.

Should a beginner learn Brazilian or European Portuguese?

Learn the one you will use. The basic words are mostly shared, and speakers of each understand the other. Many beginners find Brazilian pronunciation easier to follow because vowels are said in full, while Lisbon speech swallows many unstressed vowels.

What does tudo bem mean in Portuguese?

Tudo bem literally means all good. As a question it means How are you?, and as an answer it means I'm fine, so the usual exchange is Tudo bem? Tudo bem. It also means OK or all right, as in Tudo bem, então (OK, then).