Portuguese Tutorial 

written by James Ross and corrected by Olavo Germano de Sousa Neto (Brazilian)

This tutorial is for Brazilian Portuguese, so if you can speak Portuguese from Portugal, you may notice many differences, but don't worry! We can all understand each other. The only difference is the accent and some words that will be listed soon. It's like the difference between English spoken in England and English spoken in the USA.

Portuguese Tutors

1. Basic Phrases

Notice that Portuguese has informal and formal ways of saying things. This is because there is more than one meaning to "you" in Portuguese (as well as in many other languages.) The informal you is used when talking to close friends, relatives, animals or children. The formal you is used when talking to someone who is older than you or someone for whom you would like to show respect (a professor, for example.) There are also two ways to say you in the plural, used when speaking to more than one person.

All the adjectives in Portuguese have masculine and feminine forms, as we'll see later.

2. Pronunciation

3. Alphabet

Note: The letter ç (cê cedilha) is not part of the alphabet.

Spelling changes as of January 2009:

Note: I said that last time, remember?

Note: This change was little, but can confuse even native speakers, since, some weeks back then, I had to argue with a friend if the verb "ter" still have its accent in the plural forms. And yes, it still has.

Note: This one is as very annoying, also.

4.  Definite and Indefinite Articles and Demonstratives

Note:  The way to say That:

1. you use esse when you see something that is not with you but it's near
2. you use aquele when you see something that is far from you or that is not near you at that moment.

5. Subject Pronouns

Note: As tu and vós are not used nowadays, I will not use them to explain the declensions of the verbs. We use the word você for the same meaning if you're talking to someone from your family or friends. If you're talking to someone you don't know, you must use "o senhor" or "a senhora" (Mr or Mrs.). The word tu is only used in the region South of Brazil, where they normally don't use você.

In Portugal, o senhor and a senhora are very formal ways to say you. Você is considered semiformal and tu is considered informal.

6. To Be and to Have

In Portugal, the tu form of ser is és, the tu form of estar is estás, and the tu form of tener is tens.

Note:  Ser is used to say when you are something, and Estar is used to say when you are in somewhere. Examples:

Eu sou o novo aluno.     I am the new student

Eu estou no meu novo carro.     I am in my new car

Common Expressions with "to be"
to be afraid - ter medo
to be against - estar contra
to be at fault - ter culpa
to be careful - ter cuidado
to be cold - estar com frio
to be curious - ser curioso (a)
to be happy - estar contente
to be hot - estar com calor
to be hungry - estar com fome
to be in a hurry - ter pressa, estar com pressa
to be jealous - ter ciúmes
to be lucky - ter sorte
to be patient - ser paciente
to be successful - ter sucesso
to be thirsty - estar com sêde
to be tired - estar cansado (a)

7. Question Words

8. Numbers / Ordinals

Note: If you are just saying 100, you use just cem. If it's over 100, you use cento. So 101 is cento e um. And 156 would be cento e cinqüenta e seis. The words for 16, 17, 18 and 19 are pronounced like dzesseis, dzessete, dzoito and dzenove respectively. The only numbers that have a feminine form are 1 (um/uma) and 2 (dois/duas). All other numbers are masculine.

9. Days of the Week

10. Months of the Year

Note: To say the day of a month, you don't use the ordinal form of the number, like in English. You use the real name of the number. Ex: 16/04/2005 - Dezesseis de abril de dois mil e cinco

11. Seasons

Note:  To say in the summer, spring, etc. use na or no and the season.  No verão means in the summer.

12. Directions

13. Colors

14. Time

15. Weather

16. Prepositions

Note:  The word after the preposition em and de sometimes needs to have the article, so you combine the two words. Examples:

em + o = no  -  em + a = na  -  em + um = num  -  em + uma = numa

de + o = do  -  de + a = da  -  de + um = dum  -  de + uma = duma

a + o = ao  -  a + a = à

Estou no escritório.     I'm in the office.

Ficamos numa fazenda.   We stayed at a farm.

17. Family and Animals

18. To Know People and Facts

Conhecer means to be acquainted/familiar with someone or something, and it cannot be used with abstract things or ideas. Saber is to know facts, even if those facts involve people or things.

Eu sei quem é esta pessoa. I know who is this person.
Eu sei qual é esta cidade. I know which city is this one.
Eu conheço esta pessoa. I know this person.
Eu conheço esta cidade. I know this city.

19. Formation of Plural

20. Possessive Adjectives

21. To Do or Make

22. Work and School

23. Countries and Nationalities

24. To / In and From

Remember to use the prepositional contractions when a noun with an article follows the preposition.

25. To Come and to Go

26. Misc. Words

27. Conjugating Regular Verbs

Verbs in Portuguese end in -ar, -er or -ir.  Before a verb is conjugated, it is called the infinitive.  Removing the last two letters gives you the stem of the verb (cantar is to sing, cant- is the stem.)  To conjugate regular verbs in the present tense, add these endings to the stems:

Remember that verbs do not require the subject pronouns, so just canto means I sing.  Here are some more regular verbs:

To make sentences negative, simply put não in front of the verb.

28. Reflexive Verbs

The subject and the object are the same with reflexive verbs - the subject acts upon itself.  A reflexive verb in Portuguese will be marked with -se attached to the end of the infinitive.  These verbs are conjugated like regular verbs, except the reflexive pronoun agrees with case and gender and precedes the verb when not used in the infinitive form.  Reciprocal verbs are the same as reflexive except the action passes from one person to another.  It can only be used in the first and third person plural forms.  Reflexive verbs sometimes use the "-self" forms in English, while the reciprocal verbs use "each other."

Some common reflexive verbs:

deitar-se - to go to bed
banhar-se - to bathe oneself
casar-se - to get married
despedir-se - to farewell
levantar-se - to rise
sentar-se - to sit down
vestir-se - to dress oneself
atrever-se - to dare
queixar-se - to complain

29. Object Pronouns

The object pronouns are used when you're talking about someone or something that is not the subject of an action, and are placed together with the verb. If -lo/-la/-los/-las come after a verb in the infinitive, you take off the -r of the verb, and put an acute accent (´).

Ex:

Vou dizer-lhe a verdade. I will tell you the truth

Vou apresentá-lo (inf: apresentar) a você. I will introduce him to you

In everyday speech you can put the object pronoun in front of the verb, but it's wrong to write it this way. Examples:

Me diga se estou certo. Tell me if I'm right

Diga-me se estou certo. Tell me if I'm right

Vivia em Portugal dois anos.  I used to live in Portugal for two years.
Eles falavam com as crianças.  They used to speak with the children.
Quem comia bolo de chocolate? Who used to eat chocolate cake?

34. Futuro do Pretérito

The futuro do pretérito tense is the conditional tense.

Eu a amaria.  I would love her.
Vocês comeriam o tomate? Would you eat the tomato?
Nós partiríamos mais cedo. We would leave earlier.

35. Futuro do Presente

The futuro do presente is the simple future.

Ela fará a lição.  She will make the lesson.
Vocês dirigirão até sua casa? Will you drive to your house (or home)?
Nós deixaremos ele ir. We will let him go.

Note: In everyday speech, the future tense is not used. Instead, in Brazil we use the form ir (to go) + infinitive of the verb. See the difference below:

Ela vai fazer a lição.  She will make the lesson.
Vocês vão dirigir até sua casa? Will you drive to your house (or home)?
Nós vamos deixar ele (or deixá-lo) ir. We will let him go.

36. Food and Meals

37. Gostar

In Portuguese, one who likes literally likes of something, so you need to use the preposition de (and the appropriate definite article if needed) after the verb gostar. Gostar plus a noun means to like something. Literally, it means to please and takes an indirect object, so the construction of the sentence will be different than that of English.

Eu gosto de flores.  I like flowers. (Note: If you like specific flowers, you say: Eu gosto das flores or Eu gosto destas flores)
Eu gosto da casa.  We like the house.
Não gosto (disso).  I don't like it.
Você gosta (disso)?  Do you like it?

38. Fruits, Vegetables and Meats

Note: Eggplant is beringela in Portugal.

39. To Drink

When you use beber, it usually refers to alcohol, but there's no problem if you specify the drink after the verb. You can also say tomar o desjejum - to have the breakfast, but never say tomar o almoço or tomar o jantar. For this purpose we have the verbs almoçar - to have lunch and jantar - to have dinner.

40. Commands

To form the imperative forms, you put these endings after the stem.

Fale!  = Speak!
Coma! = Eat!
Não coma! = Don't eat!

Ir and ser have irregular forms as formal commands:  vá and vão for ir and seja and sejam for ser.

41. More Negatives

To make sentences negative, you place não before the verb.  Other negatives may precede or follow the verb, but if they follow, they must follow a negative verb (a double negative).  The word order is no + verb + negative. Example: Ele não gosta de nada! He doesn’t like anything!

Nunca means ever when it follows a comparative; jamais means ever when it follows an affirmative verb.

42. Holiday Phrases