The Penguin Portuguese Phrasebook (The Penguin Phrasebook Library)

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The Brazilian phrasebook details a few vocabulary differences between the two countries' varieties.

If you've made it this far that means you probably enjoy learning Portuguese with engaging material and will then love FluentU. For numbers 1,000,000,000 and above, European Portuguese uses the long scale (Brazilian Portuguese uses the short scale).This article is about Portuguese as spoken in Europe, Africa, and Asia. For Portuguese as spoken in Brazil, see Brazilian Portuguese phrasebook There’s no shame in asking for help when you need it. In fact, it’s all part of the learning experience. Concordo! ou Concordo plenamente! – I agree! or I totally agree! If, on the other hand, we don’t agree with what is being said, we can use the following phrases: Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.

Watching online video lessons can be quite helpful at this stage. Regardless of which dialect you’re learning, finding the right material is as simple as searching for basic phrases, greetings and other key vocabulary terms in your chosen dialect. Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab. RELATED CONTENT: Travelling to Portugal in May? Here’s what you need to know 15. Do you speak English? – Fala inlgês? Whether your focus is on European or Brazilian Portuguese, fine-tuning your essentials will make life that much easier. With all the resources you can readily access these days, it’s easy and fun to get actively involved in practicing your linguistic skills—no matter how basic—beyond memorization.If you know a Romance language, it will be easier for you to learn Portuguese. It is closely related to Spanish, and even more closely related to Galician, which descends from the common ancestor tongue of Galician-Portuguese (also known as Old Portuguese, Medieval Galician, or galego-português). However, people who know a little Spanish may hastily conclude that Portuguese is close enough that it need not be studied separately. While they may be able to figure out the meaning of some signage, items on a menu, etc., understanding of verbal communication will be very low to nothing. Words such as "gente" (people) are pronounced so differently in either variant of Portuguese, that you would hardly recognise them. Also, some personal names such as "Jorge Ramos," for example, will be pronounced quite differently as well. If you speak Spanish fluently, invest a few hours getting used to the sound differences and some common words—after that you'll be able to make rapid progress understanding what people are saying to you. If you know Spanish, watch for a lot of new vowels, a large number of contractions (comparable to del and al) and irregular plurals. Some pronunciation differences can be easily missed, such as año (year) becoming ano. If you speak good French, you may find Portuguese pronunciation to be fairly easy, though much of the vocabulary will have changed substantially. FluentU brings native videos within reach with interactive transcripts. You can tap on any word to look it up instantly. Every definition has examples that have been written to help you understand how the word is used. If you see an interesting word you don’t know, you can add it to a vocab list. We can change the word that comes after: we can say “do you know how” or “do you know where” or “do you know why” for example, depending on the context and on what we want to ask. Now, if someone asks you something and you want to answer, there are many ways. If you don’t know the answer, you can say:

On the tombstone of St. Ignatius of Loyola, it is written, "Non coerceri a maximo, sed contineri a minimo, divinum est" (Not to be limited by the greatest, and yet to be contained in the tiniest—this is the divine). In short, one should not be frightened of the big things; one should go forward and take into account the smaller things.This is the most common phrase of all and “como estás” is more informal and we use it with people that we know, while “como está” is more formal, and we use it with people that we don’t know so well or that are older than us or that are in a hierarchical position above ours. FluentU takes authentic videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized Portuguese lessons. As a general guide, stress the penultimate (last-but-one) syllable in most words unless it ends with any of the following letters: -i, -l, -r, -u, -x, -z, -im, -um, -ins, -is, -uns, -us – in which case, the stress is on the last syllable. Words that are stressed on syllables not according to these rules will have a written accent on the accented syllable. And if you need some extra reassurance on the pronunciation front, try inputting each separate word into your preferred Portuguese dictionary or translator app to hear how it’s spoken. Again, repeating them to yourself out loud is a must.

Plurals are formed by adding an "s". In most cases, it's just added at the end of the word with no further fuss. "The house" is a casa, and "the houses" is as casas. "The car" is o carro, and "the cars" is os carros. Note that "s" is added to both the article and the noun. Portuguese has several vowel sounds not found in English. These are rendered as close but inexact approximations. Portuguese consonants mostly sound like their English equivalents. A few can only be given as approximations, such as ʎ (ly), ɲ (ny), ɾ (r), ʁ (rr). OPEN Aberto ( uh-BEHR-too, /ɐ.ˈbɛɾ.tu/) CLOSED Fechado ( f(ih)-SHAH-doo, /fɨ.ˈʃa.du/) ENTRANCE Entrada ( ihn-TRAH-duh, /ẽ.ˈtɾa.dɐ/) EXIT Saída ( suh-EE-duh, /sɐ.ˈi.dɐ/) PUSH Empurre ( ehm-POO-rr(ih), /ẽ.ˈpu.ʁɨ/) PULL Puxe ( POO-sh(ih), /ˈpu.ʃɨ/) TOILET/RESTROOM Casa de banho ( KAH-zuh d(ih) BUH-nyoo, /ˈka.zɐ dɨ ˈbɐ.ɲu/) MEN Homens or Senhores ( AW-muhnsh, suh-NYOH-r(ih)sh, /ˈɔ.mɐ̃jʃ/, /sɐ.ˈɲo.ɾɨʃ/) WOMEN Mulheres or Senhoras ( moo-LYEH-r(ih)sh, suh-NYOH-ruhsh, /mu.ˈʎe.ɾɨʃ/, /sɐ.ˈɲo.ɾɐʃ/) FORBIDDEN Proibido ( proo-ee-BEE-doo, /pɾu.i.ˈbi.du/) antes ( UHN-t(ih)sh, before), m undo ( MOON-doo, world), ano ( UHN-noo, year), but not nulo ( NOO-loo, null), enorme ( ee-NOHR-m(ih), enormous), banho ( BUH-nyoo, bath), etc.)When someone is telling us something that happened, for example, and they say “She should have come to the party”, we can simply nod our heads and say “right”. I am sure that the first Nativity scene, which accomplished a great work of evangelization, can also be an occasion today to summon forth awe and wonder. Thus, what the simplicity of that sign made St. Francis realize persists down to our own days as a genuine form of the beauty of our faith. Traveling to Brazil or Portugal? Then these questions will definitely help you along the way. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it’ll help you get started: Portuguese I hope that you have enjoyed this article and that you use these phrases when you are having a conversation in Portuguese. As a general guide, stress the penultimate (last-but-one) syllable except where there is an accent, or the word ends with a diphthong (that is, 2 vowels which are pronounced as a single syllable – explained in full later on), or if it ends with any of the following letters: i; l; r; z; im; um; ins; uns – in which case, the stress is on the last syllable.