Your first words

Essential vocabulary to start communicating in Portuguese.

Greetings

Portuguese	English	Notes
🔊 Olá	Hello	Universal
🔊 Oi	Hi	Informal (especially Brazil)
🔊 Bom dia	Good morning	Until noon
🔊 Boa tarde	Good afternoon	Noon to evening
🔊 Boa noite	Good evening/night	Evening onwards
🔊 Tchau	Bye	Informal
🔊 Adeus	Goodbye	Formal/final
🔊 Até logo	See you later	—

Polite essentials

Portuguese	English
🔊 Por favor	Please
🔊 Obrigado	Thank you (said by men)
🔊 Obrigada	Thank you (said by women)
🔊 De nada	You're welcome
🔊 Desculpe	Sorry / Excuse me
🔊 Com licença	Excuse me (to pass)

Yes, no, and maybe

Portuguese	English
🔊 Sim	Yes
🔊 Não	No
🔊 Talvez	Maybe
🔊 Claro	Of course
🔊 Tudo bem	OK / All right

Asking for help

Portuguese	English
🔊 Fala inglês?	Do you speak English?
🔊 Não entendo	I don't understand
🔊 Pode repetir?	Can you repeat?
🔊 Mais devagar	More slowly
🔊 Como se diz...?	How do you say...?

Introducing yourself

Portuguese	English
🔊 Eu me chamo...	My name is... (BR)
🔊 Chamo-me...	My name is... (PT)
🔊 Prazer	Nice to meet you
🔊 Como você se chama?	What's your name? (BR)
🔊 Como se chama?	What's your name? (PT)
🔊 De onde você é?	Where are you from? (BR)
🔊 Sou de...	I'm from...

Numbers 1–20

Number	Portuguese
1	🔊 um/uma
2	🔊 dois/duas
3	🔊 três
4	🔊 quatro
5	🔊 cinco
6	🔊 seis
7	🔊 sete
8	🔊 oito
9	🔊 nove
10	🔊 dez
11	🔊 onze
12	🔊 doze
13	🔊 treze
14	🔊 quatorze
15	🔊 quinze
16	🔊 dezesseis
17	🔊 dezessete
18	🔊 dezoito
19	🔊 dezenove
20	🔊 vinte

Common expressions

Portuguese	Meaning
🔊 Tudo bem?	How are you? / Everything OK?
🔊 Tudo ótimo	Everything's great
🔊 Mais ou menos	So-so
🔊 Que legal!	How cool! (BR)
🔊 Fixe!	Cool! (PT)
🔊 Saúde!	Cheers! / Bless you!
🔊 Bom apetite!	Enjoy your meal!

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Next: Nouns and gender →