# data[].attributes.body
Me
Haden (USA) - English, (a little) Portuguese)

Parents:
Steve (USA) - English (monolingual)
Henrietta (USA) - English, some Spanish (Mainly monolingual)

Maternal Grandparents:
Connie (USA) - English, Spanish (Spanish dominant bilingual)
José (Mexico, USA immigrant) - Spanish, a little English (Spanish dominant bilingual)

Paternal Grandparents:
Glenn (USA) - English (monolingual)
Lynn (USA) - English (monolingual)

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo é interessante porque fornece uma boa descrição dos diferentes cumprimentos usados em contextos específicos. Embora isso seja semelhante ao que falamos no capítulo sete, acho que é relevante porque acho que esses tipo de cumprimentos estão associados com certos fatores sociais e culturais como classe, educação, e geografia. Por exemplo, as saudações entre um fazendeiro e seu funcionário seriam diferentes das saudações entre o proprietário do banco e seu funcionário.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Greeting people in Brazil with an insecure handshake and a nervous smile?

Saying hi to your friends from Portugal... in Spanish?

Never again!

While it is true that Portuguese-speaking countries will generally accept a firm handshake, a kiss on each cheek or a warm hug between friends as healthy greetings, why would you want to stick to that forever?

This article presents 31 Portuguese expressions you can use for greeting anyone from your boss to your closest friends, as well as information on pronunciation and which countries use them the most.

Say "hello" to your new expert Portuguese greeting skills!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.Click here to get a copy. (Download)

Regional Variations in Portuguese Greetings

The Portuguese language is the sole official language of seven countries: Portugal, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Angola, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It is also the co-official language in three other completely different parts of the globe: East Timor, Equatorial Guinea and Macau, in China.

As you can imagine, pronunciations are certain to differ in different parts of the globe, and it is pretty much impossible to include all the variations in this article!

For that reason, we will mostly compare the basic pronunciation differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese.

When it comes to these greetings, you might notice that the most relevant difference between Brazilian and European Portuguese pronunciation relates to consonants, especially at the ends of words.

For instance, the combinations of the letters -te or -de at word endings will often sound like a -gee or a -tsh in Brazil and a simple, dry -d or -t in Portugal, as if the vowel has simply disappeared.

Portuguese pronunciation in African countries-such as Angola or Cape Verde-will often align more closely with the European version, although these countries tend to open up vowels and have a clearer, more easily understandable accent compared to that of Portugal.

We recommend using authentic resources like FluentU to hear proper Portuguese pronunciation. FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese coming soon!

Basic Portuguese Greetings

The following expressions can be used in any context: formal, informal, spoken, written... you name it!

They are the first ones you should learn when venturing into a Portuguese-speaking territory, and the ones you should master first to understand others.

Olá (Hello)

Olá is a classic, and also the reason why most would accidentally mistake Portuguese for Spanish.

Its pronunciation does not change at all across Portuguese-speaking countries, so it is a definite winner! All you have to do is say "OH-lah" and everybody will understand you.

A big plus? It can actually be combined with several other greetings, such as the ones you see below.

Bom dia (Good morning, lit. "Good day")

Wish somebody a beautiful morning (until around noon or one in the afternoon) by using "bom GEE-a" in Brazil or "bom DEE-a" in Portugal and African countries.

Boa tarde (Good afternoon)

Widely used after lunchtime (past noon or one), boa tarde greets somebody between lunch and sunset.

In Brazil, this expression will sound like "boa TAHR-g," while in Portugal it will sound like "boa TAHR-d." Once again, Angolan Portuguese pronunciation would come closer to the European version in this greeting, as would Cape Verdean and Guinean pronunciations.

Boa noite (Good evening / Good night)

The Portuguese language does not distinguish evening from night. After sunset, as the sky becomes dark, you will be greeted with either "boa NOEE-tsh" (Brazil) or with "boa NOEE-t" (Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde and other Portuguese-speaking African nations).

Bem-vindo (Welcome)

Here comes the first challenge of the Portuguese language: Most verbs, nouns and adjectives have to adapt to both the number (singular or plural) and gender (male or female) of whatever they are referring to.

To make matters worse, even if you have a group of five women and only one man, you will still have to refer to that group as male.

For that reason, the word bem-vindo will actually be found in several forms: the original bem-vindo (for a man), bem-vinda (for a woman), bem-vindas (for two or more women) and bem-vindos (used for both two or more men, and for any group in which a man is included, even if the majority of people in that group are women).

Luckily, this greeting is not pronounced differently across Portuguese-speaking countries. Just say: "baym-VEEN-doo," "baym-VEEN-da," "baym-VEEN-doosh" or "baym-VEEN-da-sh."

Tudo bem? (How are you, lit. "Everything well?")

Used in all Portuguese-speaking countries, this expression is suitable for formal and informal contexts, as its literal meaning is simply asking: "Is everything well?"

A difference in pronunciation between Brazilian and European Portuguese does exist, but it is not significant for this greeting. Repeat after us: "toodoo BAYM?"

Até logo / Até amanhã (See you later/tomorrow, lit. "Until later" / "Until tomorrow")

Fortunately, most separations are not a final "goodbye," only a "see you tomorrow"!

But if you want to tell somebody they should look forward to seeing your face the very next day, you might get some trouble with two very typical Portuguese sounds: "nh" (same as the Spanish ñ, which in English is very close to that nasal "n" sound you make when you say the word "wing," "thing" or "ring") and "ã" (basically an extremely nasal version of the letter "a").

After you have mastered these two sounds, you are ready to go! Say "a-teh LOH-goo" (see you later in the day) or "a-teh a-MA-nya" (see you tomorrow-using the "nh" and "ã" sounds) when you feel the word "Goodbye" could be a little too strong for the occasion.

Adeus (Goodbye)

Is it actually time to say goodbye? Look no further: "adeOOSH" will suffice!

However, be careful with the way you use this term. It implies that you will never actually see the person again or that you have no intention to. It is very strong and most people might find it dramatic or overly intense if used in the wrong context.

Save this expression for sad or beautiful goodbyes, breakups and unfortunate moments. Opt for até amanhã, até logo or tchau (read below) instead, when you are just going away for the day.

Formal Portuguese Greetings

Knowing whether you should use formal or informal phrases can often seem like a tricky dance, but the rule of thumb is that if you are talking to senior citizens, coworkers you have met recently, your boss, shop assistants or anybody you do not know well, you should use the expressions below.

Como está? / Como vai? (How are you? / How do you do?, lit. "How do you go?")

This is the "How are you?" of formal greetings.

You can use it by saying "komoo SHTAH" (Portugal), "komoo eeSHTAH" (Brazil) or "komoo VIGH" (both).

This is a good expression to use immediately after greeting the person with an introductory expression, for example: "Olá, como está?" or "Bom dia, como vai?"

Tem passado bem? (Lit. "Have you been well?")

If the previously mentioned Tudo bem? (lit. "Everything well?") seems a little bit too informal for the situation you find yourself in, you can always opt for a classier, more formal version that literally translates to "Have you been passing well?"

All you have to do is pronounce it this way: "taym paSAH-doo BAYM?"

Cumprimentos (Greetings)

Used to either start or finish a formal letter or email (but never both in the same message), "coom-pree-MENtoosh" is an objective, distant, polite way to address somebody, especially if you have never met them before. It is suitable for addressing a potential employer, for example.

Estimado(a)... / Caro(a)... / Prezado(a) Sr(a)... (Dear...)

If you would prefer to write a formal message but feel "Greetings" is way too distant and you would prefer to mention a person's name instead, go for polite salutations such as estimado (esh-tee-MAdoo), caro (KAH-roo) or prezado (preh-ZAH-doo).

These are the equivalents to "Dear Mr./Mrs." or "Dear Sir/Madam," as you will have to follow them with the person's full name or last name.

Also, remember what we said before about having to adapt nouns to gender and number? The same happens here, as there are several variations of the same salutation: estimado (singular male), estimada (singular female), estimados (plural male or mixed group) and estimadas (plural female).

The same logic applies to the others: c aro, cara, caros, caras; and prezado, prezada, prezados, prezadas!

Atenciosamente / Cordialmente (Sincerely, Best regards / Cordially)

These are the friendliest expressions one could use to finish a formal written message, whether that be an email, a text message or a letter.

Since these do not need to be adapted to number or gender, they are practical and universal, as well as understood throughout the Portuguese-speaking world!

If you were to use these expressions orally, you would need to say "atenSEEOH-zament" in Portugal and "atenSEEOH-zamentsh" in Brazil or "cohr-dee-ALment" (Portugal) and "cohr-dee-ALmentsh" (Brazil).

Informal Portuguese Greetings

Ready to impress your friends, family members, boyfriends and girlfriends with these laid back, heart-warming greetings? Keep reading and make sure you practice these words both out loud and through writing!

Oi! (Hi)

Widely used in Brazil, the term has spread to Portugal as well, although olá is still more common and acceptable as a standard greeting.

You would see oi used both orally and in writing, especially when texting, on Whatsapp, on social media and any other informal means of communication.

The word is pronounced "Oee," with no difference from country to country.

Alô? / Está? / Estou sim? (Hello?)

As you might have guessed by now, "ah-LOH" is widely used in Portuguese-speaking countries when answering the phone, and it was probably adapted from other languages.

Alternatively, you might want to use Está? (lit. "Are you?" which is formal, but used with everybody) or Estou sim? (lit. "I am, yes?") in Portugal.

Usually, the intonation will rise toward the end of the word, not the other way around!

E aí? (What's up?)

E aí? is a typical Brazilian expression, and it is not used by natives in Portugal. However, pretty much everybody would understand you if you used it.

Meaning literally "And over there?" it is used as a substitute for both "Hi" and "How are you?" and functions as a two-in-one. It just does not get more useful than that!

Alternatively, some young people in Portugal will use Como é que é? (lit. "How is it?") with a huge smile on their faces to informally ask what you have been up to.

Como você está? / Como vai você? (How are you? / How are you doing?)

It is important to note that in Brazil, the word você is used for informal situations to refer to "you" (second person, singular, informal), while in Portugal it is almost never used, except in extremely formal situations-and even then, most people would prefer not to use it at all.

For that reason, seeing the word você in a sentence can imply radically different tones depending on the country where it is voiced. Here, Como você está? (How are you?) or Como vai você? (How are you doing?, lit. "How do you go?") are informal, as they are examples of Brazilian greetings and are used everywhere with friends, family members, close coworkers and so on.

Struggling with pronunciation? Try "komoo VOH-seh eesh-TAH?" or "komoo vigh VOH-seh?"

Como estás? / Como vais? (How are you? / How are you doing?)

If you are planning on applying your Portuguese skills in Portugal, these would be the expressions to use informally to ask "How are you?"

You will see that the Portuguese language often omits the person (in this case, tu, second person, informal), because it is implied by the way the verb is conjugated. This is one of those cases! Rather than saying Como estás tu? or Como vais tu? you will often hear the simplified version.

Here is a pronunciation tip: go for "komoo shTAH-sh?" or "komoo VIGH-sh?"

Querido(a) (Dear...)

Similar to the Spanish cariño or cariña, querido and querida are terms of endearment used all over the Portuguese-speaking world and would be translated as "Dear" for male and female, respectively.

Be careful, though: the letter "u" after "q" is 100% silent in this case! This means you would actually pronounce them as "keh-REEdoo" or "keh-REEda."

While you are free to use this term as you speak, here it is introduced as a greeting while writing. You can begin any informal letter or email to a friend, family member or pen-pal with Querido(a)... For example: Querida Maria, Querido José...

Abraço (Hug)

Since you will be starting a letter or email with Querido(a), why don't you finish your message in an equally comforting and memorable way?

Abraço (abRAH-so) literally means "hug," and it is often used in writing to finish a conversation in a chat, a friendly email or a letter. Of course, it would be equally suitable for finishing a phone call!

Beijinho (Lit. "Little kiss")

Perhaps one of the sweetest things about the Portuguese language is how it uses -inho or -inha (again, the characteristic Portuguese sound is included here, and it would sound a little like "-EENyoo" or "-EENya"). These are added at the ends of nouns or even names (Ronaldinho, anyone?) to indicate endearment, as well as something of a small size.

That is the case with beijo (kiss) as it becomes beijinho (little kiss), to mean a very sweet, quick kiss as a greeting.

Most would use this at the end of a phone call, but it can also be used in writing to end a conversation. Alternatively, you could use beijinhos (plural).

Fortunately, it is pronounced and used the exact same way in all Portuguese-speaking countries. Let's say it together: "bay-JEE-nyoo."

Tchau! / Xau! (Bye!)

As in several countries around the world, you can always use the term tchau when saying goodbye at the end of a spoken or written conversation. It is quick, easy, understandable by everybody and, above all, easy to pronounce ("TSHAH-oo").

However, be careful, as it is informal and should not be used at the end of a more formal situation like a meeting or a job interview.

Let these greetings act as a starting point to your Portuguese-learning journey.

Tchau!

Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.Click here to get a copy. (Download)

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online

Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Say Hi with Confidence: 31 Portuguese Greetings for All Occasions

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Greeting people in Brazil with an insecure handshake and a nervous smile? Saying hi to your friends from Portugal... in Spanish? Never again! While it is true that Portuguese-speaking countries will generally accept a firm handshake, a kiss on each cheek or a warm hug between friends as healthy greetings, why would you want to stick to that forever?

# data[].attributes.body
Eu pensei que era um artigo realmente fascinante, porque mostra o contexto cultura relacionado à língua e ao discurso do português brasileiro. Este artigo lista cinco tópicos sobres os quais os brasileiros se apegam ou estão curiosos para saber mais. Na minha opinião, isso mostra realmente as importâncias culturais de certas coisas, como o futebol ou a melhoria da economia brasileira.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Whether you're planning on working in Brazil or your plan is simply getting a good tan on the beaches in Sao Paolo, you'll find Brazilians to be extroverts quite fond of conversation. As long as you're friendly and have a good sense of humor, you can be assured that anyone from Brazil will be happy to talk with you, whether in English or Portuguese-in fact, it's common in Brazil to jump right to personal topics without much preamble. However, if you need icebreakers to get the ball rolling, here are a few ideas for conversation topics that any Brazilian will have a lot to say about.

1. Soccer. Obviously. The Brazilians are diehard fanatics of futebol, very proud of their victories in the sport and of the international soccer stars that have come from their country. In light of the FIFA World Cup taking place in Brazil, it's still a passionate issue for Brazilian consciousness. Ask for thoughts on the demonstrations that arose before the games due to the amount of money the government spent on them while much of the country was in poverty. Just don't mention Argentina's team, Brazil's arch-nemesis in soccer, or compare them to Brazil in any way.

2. Dancing. Given that its size takes up much of the continent of South America, Brazil has an incredibly diverse culture and is renowned for its many different dances. The most widely known, samba, is a graceful partner dance influenced by tango and usually performed to a Bossa Nova rhythm. Bolero is a smooth, romantic dance while forró is a bit more spicy and sensual, with Afro-European origins. Capoeira is famous for its roots in the Brazilian slave trade, a martial art in disguise as a dance. Especially if you're attending Carnival, be sure to chat up locals for tips and tricks about favorite dance moves.

3. Beaches. It's unthinkable that you'd travel to Brazil and not go to a single beach-Brazilian beaches are possibly the closest you'll get to paradise. Whether you're into swimming, surfing, jogging, or just sunbathing, you're sure to find a lot of common ground with anyone if you wax eloquent in praise of the Brazilian seaside.

4. Your Home Country. Brazilians are very open-minded and curious about other cultures, so if you have first-hand experience living in Europe or the United States they would love to hear about it. Feel free to talk about your experiences traveling in Brazil as well, but be tactful; Brazilians are allowed to criticize their nation, but nobody else is!

5. Economic Growth in Brazil. Without a doubt Brazil has made great progress in recent years, with a growing GDP and increased consumer spending as well as investment, both domestic and foreign. Against all predictions, Brazil evaded recession after 2013 and while there is still a lot of work to do regarding corruption, poverty, and the deficit, many are optimistic about the future.

Essentially, you can talk about nearly any topic just so long as you stay away from the problematic themes of government corruption, deforestation, and Argentina. Boost your conversation skills even more by sending us an inquiry for Portuguese lessons, or take our free online Portuguese language level test.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Whether you're planning on working in Brazil or your plan is simply getting a good tan on the beaches in Sao Paolo, you'll find Brazilians to be extroverts quite fond of conversation.

# data[].attributes.body
Sei que falamos sobre o sotaque gaúchos nos capítulos anteriores, mas achei que também era um ótimo exemplo para esta unidade. Escolhi este tópico e este artigo porque mostra a influência do espanhol no português por sua proximidade como os países de língua espanhola. As maiores influências podem ser vistas na pronúncia de "s"  "r" que são semelhantes à maneira como são usadas em espanhol.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In this post, you'll get a bit more familiarized with the gaúcho accent and typical expressions from the Rio Grande do Sul state.

A friend of mine sent me a link to this video a while ago, and being a gaúcho myself, the first thing I noticed was that the guy in the advert had a gaúcho accent, and (I'm guessing) from Porto Alegre (the capital of Rio Grande do Sul).
I thought it would be interesting to write the transcript of the advert alongside a translation and highlight a few typical expressions from the South, and of course some more general ones as well. I always advise Brazilian Portuguese learners to try and hear as many different accents as possible, not just the ones from Rio and São Paulo that they are normally more exposed to, so here's your chance to hear the gaúcho accent!

Lager brand Polar (produced in the South), developed a bottle cooler that blocks cell and mobile internet signals to stop people constantly checking their devices when enjoying a beer in a bar with friends.

The video from YouTube has already been translated into English (you can switch the subtitles on if they don't come up automatically). As always the translation I provide next to the Portuguese transcription is a little more direct and literal, which in my view is more helpful when analyzing a language for learning purposes.

Below the transcription I've included a short list of other typical gaúcho expressions, not included in the video, but that you are likely to hear if you're travelling around Rio Grande do Sul.

To all gaúchos out there: Do you think I should have included any other common gaúcho words and expressions? Please let me know in the comments box and I'll add them to the list!

Cerveja Polar Advert

Eu não aguento mais vir no bar e tá todo mundo no celular!

I can't stand it anymore - coming to the bar and everybody's on their cell phones!

aguentar: to stand, to tolerate

Ex: Eu não aguento mais esse barulho! / I can't stand this noise anymore!

Olha aí, o teu celular foi embora.

Look, your cell phone's gone.

Ex: Já são dez horas. Vamos embora? I/ t's already ten o'clócl. Let's go?

Fica de cacaca, de fofoquinha no celular.

(They) keep going blah blah blah, gossiping on their cell phones.

fofoquinha: the diminutive of fofoca

Por isso ela criou a solução definitiva pra esse problema: anulador de celular Polar.

That's why it created the definitive solution to this problem: The mobile phone nullifier.

Anulador de celular Polar. Saiba que bares encontrar no facebook.com/cevapolar.

Polar cell phone nullifier. Find out which bars you can find them on facebook.com/cevapolar.

Common words and expressions used in Rio Grande do Sul:

Click on the audio files for each expression to hear my gaúcho accent!

The literal translation of capaz is capable, able, likely. However, when gaúchos use it, normally they mean the opposite (you can tell by their intonation or context): doubtful, unlikely to happen. Gaúchos sometimes use it with bem, for emphasis:

- Bem capaz!

(literally: It's quite likely!, but in fact, it means No way!
Ex:
- Tu vai sair hoje à noite? Are you going out tonight? (Note the use of tu, instead of você. Ga

Gaúchos, in general, tend to use tu instead of você. Some gaúchos, especially in Porto Alegre, tend to use the verb conjugated with você, though. So, here, instead of tu vais... (the right conjugation of the verb ir with tu), we have tu vai ( vai is the conjugation of ir with você). They are aware that it is grammatically wrong, but it's become acceptable in colloquial conversation. Sometimes, depending on the situation, it sounds too formal and 'correct' to use the right conjugation of the verb with tu.

- Bem capaz! Tenho que estudar pra prova! - No way! I have to study for the exam!

an interjection of surprise.
Ex: Bah! Que casa bonita! Wow! What a pretty house!

another interjection that doesn't have a direct translation, it's normally used at the end or beginning of a sentence, as a way to stress the point you're trying to make. It could be translated as a normal English interjection of surprise, such as Gosh!
- Tchê, que frio que tá hoje! - Gosh, how cold it is today!

literally means 'three times', and it's normally used with the adjective legal (cool), but it can be used with basically any adjective.
Ex:

Esse relógio é tri caro! This watch is very expensive.

Esse filme é tri legal. This film is really cool.

Sometimes people drop legal altogether and just say - Que tri! How cool!

boy / young man

girl / young woman

So, what did you think of the gaúcho accent? Is it harder or easier to understand, compared to the accents you're used to hearing? And did you know about these expressions before? Let me know in the comments!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brazilian Portuguese Gaúcho Style - Fun With Brazilian Portuguese

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A friend of mine sent me a link to this video a while ago, and being a gaúcho myself, the first thing I noticed was that the guy in the advert had a gaúcho accent, and (I'm guessing) from Porto Alegre (the capital of Rio Grande do Sul).

# data[].attributes.body
Eu realmente gosto deste artigo porque mostra expressões em português e posso relacionar porque o inglês também usa esse tipo de linguagem figurativa. Por exemplo, a frase "ir com os porcos" na verdade significa morrer em vez de falar sobre porcos literais. Também existem outros exemplos que não estão na lista, como a frase "mala sem altas", que é o que você chama de pessoa irritante. Sonia nos ensinou isso.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Forget everything you know about Portuguese, it's time to "burn the eyelashes". Here are some colourful everyday Portuguese phrases used in Portugal and Brazil.

The Portuguese phrases I've included in this phrasebook is of the European usage which differs from the Brazilian in sounds and pronunciation. Even though both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese speakers will slightly understand each other if they do communicate.

Needless to say, if you know a Romance language, it will be easier for you to learn Portuguese. However, if you who know a little don't make the mistake of assuming that Portuguese is close enough that it doesn't need t be studied separately. While you might 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 , watch for a lot of new vowels, a huge number of contractions (comparable to del and al) and irregular plurals. For the non-fluent, some pronunciation differences can be easily missed, such as año (year) becoming ano. If you speak French well, you may find Portuguese pronunciation to be fairly easy, though much of the vocabulary will have changed substantially.

Let's take a look at some everyday funny Portuguese expressions.

Here we go!

1. Go with the pigs

2. Flea behind the ear

3. Burn the eyelashes

4. Silly cockroach

5. Wake up with the feet outside

6. Be with the olive oils

7. Many years turning chickens

8. Have little monkeys in the head

9. Go comb monkeys!

10. Swallow frogs

11. Take the horse from the rain

12. Breaking all the dishes

13. Go bother Camões

14. Water in the beard

15. A lot of cans

16. Bread bread, cheese cheese

17. Under the shade of a Banana Tree

18. A head of dry garlic

19. I'm in the inks

20. You're here to eat!

21. You're letting water in

22. Monkeys are biting me!

23. God gives nuts to those who don't have teeth

24. To speak by the elbows

25. John without arms

Watch the video!

Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!

Over to you!

Which of these Portuguese expressions is your favourite? Do you know any other funny Portuguese expressions?
Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.
Like what you see? Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
25 Hilarious Portuguese Phrases That Make No Sense

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Portuguese phrases I've included in this phrasebook is of the European usage which differs from the Brazilian in sounds and pronunciation. Even though both European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese speakers will slightly understand each other if they do communicate. Needless to say, if you know a Romance language, it will be easier for you to learn Portuguese.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu sei que falamos sobre as diferenças entre o português europeu e o brasileiro, mas acho que este artigo faz um bom trabalho destacando as diferenças gramaticais entre eles. Discute conceitos familiares como o uso de "tu" e "você", bem como as regras do gerúndio para os dois conceitos. Por outro lado, também fala sobre conceitos mais difíceis, como objetos reflexivos e posições de pronomes de objetos. Principalmente, o artigo mostra o que torna o português brasileiro único e diferente.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
I've been speaking Brazilian Portuguese regularly for more than a decade, but have recently been spending more time in Lisbon and so I've had to make some adaptations for the European version of the language.

So this will be my thorough guide to the differences to note between the two varieties; it's especially intended for those who need to go through a similar transition in one direction or the other.

How Different Are European and Brazilian Portuguese, Really?

Quite different, I'd say. I speak English, French, and Spanish as well, and the differences between the varieties of those languages in the Americas versus in Europe are certainly strong, but generally not as far out as when you cross the Atlantic from Portugal to Brazil.

To sum up the Portuguese differences, there is a lot of different, very basic, day-to-day vocabulary; the European accent is much more nasal and the vowels are stifled or dropped; and finally there are some major grammar differences in the spoken (as opposed to written) varieties.

But, this is a matter of opinion, of course, and you'll get all kinds of different answers to the question, depending on a person's background and experience of these varieties of Portuguese. Here's what I think you ought to know:

I have known many, many Portuguese people who have a hard time making themselves understood when they first travel to Brazil. It is also quite difficult for Brazilians to watch and understand Portuguese films and television without subtitles (or more commonly, dubbing).

The reverse is not true to as high of an extent; Portuguese people generally understand Brazilians' speech. People will give armchair linguistic explanations (the "clarity" of Brazilian pronunciation, whatever that means), but the real truth is that Portuguese people are exposed to more Brazilian songs, telenovelas, films, and actual real-life Brazilians than your typical Brazilian is exposed to European Portuguese content and people. So of course Portuguese people come to understand Brazilian Portuguese better than the inverse.

Because they're so different, most people who learn Portuguese as a foreign language necessarily focus on learning either Brazilian or European Portuguese, but not both. For those who have learned Brazilian Portuguese, it takes some effort to understand Portuguese people, which is impetus for this article. Those who learn European Portuguese are still often exposed to the Brazilian variety, and so are less likely to have as much trouble understanding Brazilians.

The spelling of all varieties of Portuguese is supposed to be the same since the implementation of the Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement. Written grammar and vocabulary are still different but it's fairly easy for speakers of either variety to decipher the other when written.

The Portuguese spoken in Goa, Angola, and Mozambique is much, much closer to European Portuguese. This is partly because the Portuguese government imposed its genocidal rule over these lands until much more recently, and so in parts of the 20th century there was still more of a mandate to keep the language in those places similar to what was spoken and evolving in Portugal. And there was back-and-forth movement of people. That said, in my personal experience as a Brazilian Portuguese non-native speaker travelling to Goa and Mozambique, I've found that it's much, much easier to understand Portuguese speakers in those two countries than it is to understand Europeans. This may be because these lands have influence from Brazilian soap operas and media, and also because the language loses some of its complexity as it is learned by non-native speakers, particularly in Mozambique.

Portuguese people and sometimes even Brazilians may insist that the European version of Portuguese is more "correct" or "has more grammar" and other such rather meaningless, culturally biased nonsense. Of course no Portuguese variety's grammar is more "correct" than any other's, this is just a garden-variety cultural imperialism imposed by schools, academies, and governments. For a look at the equally complex and beautiful grammar of spoken Portuguese, for example, you can check out Earl Thomas' classic take.

Pronunciation Differences

The toughest nut to crack is understanding the pronunciation differences between Portuguese people and Brazilians. Here are some of the key things to look for, followed by a video that gives some good contrast.

Vowels

The vowels in Europe sound a bit more pinched and closed off than the wide-open, sing-song Brazilian vowels. Some unstressed vowels get left out of European Portuguese entirely; this is particularly noticeable at the end of words. For example, compare:

Brazil:

Brazilian pronunciation of "saudade" (nostalgia, etc.)

Portugal:

Portuguese pronunciation of 'saudade" (nostalgia, etc.)

Consonants

The biggest consonant adjustment to make in going from Brazil to Portugal is the S, particularly at the end of words or at the end of a syllable when followed by another consonant. In Brazil, this S has an S sound, but in Portugal it sounds like the English SH.

For example:

Brazilian pronunciation of "gostoso" (delicious, lovely, etc.)

Portuguese pronunciation of "gostoso" (delicious, lovely, etc.)

(However, cariocas (people from Rio) pronounce their S's as SH as well.)

Brazilian pronunciation of "te amo" (I love you)

Brazilian pronunciation of "desde" (since)

European Portuguese pronunciation of "te amo" (I love you)

European Portuguese pronunciation of "desde" (since)

Another quite notable consonant difference is the Brazilian tendency to take a spelled DE or DI and give it a G sound, and to take the TE or TI and make a CH sound.

Portuguese people do not make this change, and pronounce these sounds "as written".

In the video below, a Brazilian woman interviews a Portuguese man about the differences between the versions of the language; this also allows for a contrast of the accents.

Note that he had much more trouble being understood in Brazil than in understanding Brazilians, and they mention some of the other vocabulary differences as well.

No norte, em cada vírgula eles dizem uma asneira. - In the north [of Portugal], in each comma they say some bullshit thing.

Levantaste dinheiro no multibanco? - Did you take money out of the ATM?

Hoje, a malta vai ao futebol. - The group is going to the football match.

Tenho um canudo em dramaturgia. - I have a degree in playwriting.

As passadeiras ficam escorregadias. - The sidewalks end up slippery.

Não sejas puto! - Don't act immature!

Os putos estão a fazer muito barulho. - The young people are making a lot of noise.

Onde é a casa de banho? - Where is the bathroom?

Key Vocabulary to Watch Out For

I've endeavored to make a list of only the most useful words that a speaker is likely to encounter and have issues with in the first month or two of living in either land and adjusting to the local variety of Portuguese. There are, of course, many more.

Here are a few of the trickier European Portuguese words used in sentences:

The Grammar Differences Between European and Brazilian Portuguese

As noted above, it's not that one version has "more" or "better" grammar, just that the two varieties are different.

Tu vs. você: Saying "you" in Portugal and Brazil

The second-person informal singular is one of the more obvious grammatical distinctions between these two countries.

In Portugal, the informal singular "you" is tu. In Brazil, it is você (though some parts of the south do use tu to a certain degree).

If you're used to Portuguese speech, you can adapt to Brazil by using você instead of tu in all cases; you conjugate você as you would conjugate the third-person singular ( ele or ela).

você perceba - you understand (Brazil)

tu percebas - you understand (Portugal)

Quero que percebas uma coisa. - I want you to understand something.

If you're used to Brazilian speech, it's not too difficult to adapt to Portuguese from Portugal; the tu conjugations are generally the same as você but with the addition of an S at the end.

So for example, taking the European Portuguese version of to understand, perceber.

tu brincaste - you played

tu percebeste - you understood

tu fingiste - you pretended

That's the regular indicative present tense conjugation. The same rule of adding an S to the você form to create the tu form applies to make the subjunctive.

The future subjunctive and personal infinitive forms add an ES in the tu form as compared to the você form.

The past preterite tense for tu is a bit more complicated. It goes like this for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs respectively.

Gerunds in Brazil; No Gerunds in Portugal

Brazilians use gerunds (- ando, -endo, -indo; corresponding roughly to -ing endings in English) all the time to indicate the continuity of an action, whereas the Portuguese go to great lengths to avoid them.

In many cases European Portuguese speakers may also just say vou, using the standard present tense, in situations where Brazilians would favor the more shaded continuous meaning of the gerund.

Gerunds are similarly avoided in Portugal in the past and other tenses.

Many Object Pronouns in Portugal; Few of Them in Brazil

Brazilians have some object pronouns but tend to avoid them, particularly in speech, where using them would sound stilted. Portuguese people apply them quite naturally in both written and spoken contexts.

If you're used to Brazilian speech and you want to understand Portuguese people, you need to be able to recognize the variety of object pronouns as well as the complex combinations and changes they sometimes undergo.

Direct, Indirect, and Reflexive Object Pronouns in Portugal

The direct object pronouns are listed below, followed by their corresponding subject pronoun.

For example:

The indirect object pronouns are the same, but replace o / a with lhe and os /as with lhes.

Chamei-lhe de vaidoso. - I called him vain.

To phone someone is one of the few (only) verbs that takes an indirect object but takes no direct object in Portuguese. The same is true whether you use telefonar or ligar.

But if you're using the verb ligar in the sense of turning something on, it takes a direct object.

Ele lava-se. - He washes himself.

Eu lavo-me. - I wash myself.

Os senhores lavam-se. - The gentlemen (or you, formal and plural) are washing themselves (yourselves).

Eu vim-me. - I came (had an orgasm). [As noted in the above vocabulary table, this would be gozei in Brazil.]

And conversely chamar means the same thing but takes only direct objects for talking about the person being called, as seen just above. But if you call someone a name, then you use an indirect object for the person you are taunting.

I take the time to point these verbs out because they're the complicated ones in Portuguese, otherwise a verb taking a single object will take a direct object, and a verb taking two objects will have both a direct and indirect object.

The reflexive pronouns are also the same as the direct object pronouns, but replace o / a as well as os / as with se.

Placement and Modifying of the Object Pronouns in Portugal

An adverb (já, sempre, etc.)

A negative word (não, nunca, etc.)

An interrogative (question) word (quando, quem, etc.)

A conjunction (quem, enquanto, etc.; includes the interrogative words in their roles as conjunctions)

A preposition (por, em, para, etc.)

Brazilians love to place any object pronouns they do use before the verb, but in European Portuguese these "always" come after the verb (hyphenated).

The direct object is after the verb in Portugal (and we'll see in a moment why it is modified to become lo in this case).

But then of course there are the exceptions, in which case object pronouns come before the verb, such as when the phrase has:

If you're using the pronouns o / a / os / as after a verb and the verb ends in S, Z, or R, you will lose that consonant add an L before the pronoun.

If the verb ends in a vowel followed by an N or M (that is, the vowel is pronounced as a nasal vowel - the N and M are unpronounced), you will add a pronounced N before the pronouns o / a / os / as.

The above rules apply to present and past tenses. If you're dealing with the future or conditional, you should in theory put the object pronoun after the verb stem but before the conjugated ending.

However, that is not common in speech; Portuguese people are more likely to just reformulate to avoid the complications:

I've endeavored to walk the line between concise and complete, but any further notes from those transitioning from one variety of Portuguese to the other would be quite welcome in the comments. I'll update this post as need be in the future.

Thanks to Ana Cristina on Italki, who provided a lot of good insights as I was preparing this article. She's a top-notch teacher of European Portuguese, and is available for lessons one-on-one via Skype.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brazilian vs. European Portuguese: Key Differences to Learn in Grammar and Vocabulary

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
I've been speaking Brazilian Portuguese regularly for more than a decade, but have recently been spending more time in Lisbon and so I've had to make some adaptations for the European version of the language. So this will be my thorough guide to the differences to note between the two varieties; it's especially intended for ...

# data[].attributes.body
Eu gosto desse vídeo porque é bem curto e dá um breve mas bom resumo dos diferentes sotaques do português brasileiro. Um bom exemplo é o sotaque gaúcho, que cobri na aula, porque mostra os dois grandes aspectos: ausência de palatalização e uso do espanhol "r." Embora seja melhor ouvir sotaques de falantes nativos dessa região, este vídeo oferece uma boa comparação lado a lado.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
7 Portuguese Accents - 7 sotaques da língua portuguesa - Learn Portuguese Easy

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hello there! I made this video just to show you a few accents that we portuguese speakers have in our language. I hope you like the video! Olá pessoal! Eu gravei esse vídeo só pra tentar mostrar um pouquinho mais dos sotaques que nós falantes do português temos na nossa língua.

# data[].attributes.body
Escolhi este artigo porque acho a diferença entre discurso formal e gíria coloquial é muito interessante. Algumas dessas palavras e frases são familiares, enquanto outras são novas para mim. Por exemplo, reconheci a palavra "beleza" porque minha professora Sonia usou muito essa palavra. No entanto, têm palavras que eu nunca ouvi como joia ou cabeça-dura

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Visiting Brazil can mean a lot of things.
It can mean experiencing the iconic carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro.

Or it can mean sampling street food while embracing the urban hustle and bustle of São Paulo.

But however you plan to enjoy Brazil, there's one thing it means without a doubt: You'll need to interact with the locals.

Because of that, you'll also be exposed to a lot of Brazilian slang words and colloquialisms that sound completely nonsensical to the untrained ear.

That's just part of daily life in any country. Just as ESL students might struggle to understand some colloquial English terms, you'll likely become befuddled by some of the local Brazilian Portuguese lingo if you don't take the time to learn it.

Don't fret: We're here to show you the ropes and guide you toward slang proficiency!

Before we do that, let's take a closer look at how slang fits into the language-learning experience.

Why Is Learning Local Slang So Important?

Simply put, slang is an essential part of vocabulary-building.

Yes, your formal phrases, grammar rules and sentence construction are all vitally important-but language-learning needs to go beyond the textbook essentials to see how everything actually comes together in everyday interactions.

Because at the end of the day, you'll only become fluent in Brazilian Portuguese if you make your studies relevant and authentic.

Programs like FluentU offer some great ways to do this, even from the comfort of your own home. The more you incorporate native content like FluentU's Brazilian music videos, movie clips, authentic conversations and much more into your learning, the sooner you'll be able to communicate with Brazilians on their home turf.

A Portuguese FluentU program is currently in development, so check back soon for authentic, immersive learning.

This is also the reason why watching local Brazilian movies, listening to local music and reading literature are methods often recommended as supplementary study tools. Every bit of native language that you're exposed to will go the distance.

Slang is just one of the many facets of Brazilian Portuguese that you'll need to learn in order to achieve true fluency.

How to Learn Brazilian Slang

To learn some authentic slang, you'll need to find it, first. The 16 terms in this post will get you started!

But to go beyond this starter pack, you can research and study some common phrases and terms on your own.

Google and YouTube are both great resources for this: Simply look for authentic Brazilian content. Intermediate to advanced speakers can also consult the Dicinário inFormal to get new leads on colloquialisms-just keep in mind that all definitions provided are in Portuguese.

Once you've compiled a list of slang terms, enter each new term into your preferred dictionary app to check its meaning and click the audio button to hear how it's meant to sound. That's your cue to repeat the words to yourself a few times so you can get the pronunciation right.

As you gain more confidence with your newly acquired lingo, you'll want to start incorporating it into real-life exchanges. You don't have to go all the way to Brazil to do this: Finding someone to talk to can be as easy as going to Brazilian Portuguese language exchange Meetups in your area or signing up for an online language partner service like Tandem.

Now that we've covered all the basics, let's learn some slang!

If you want to speak like a true Brazilian, you'll definitely want to add these words and phrases to your vocabulary list.

E aí? is quite a colloquial way of saying "hi." It's pretty much like saying "what's up?" in English.
For example:
E aí pessoal? - What's up guys?

The word bacana means "good" or "awesome." You might hear someone exclaim Que bacana! ("That's awesome!") when they hear about your latest Brazilian travel plans.

It's generally used by Brazilians to describe something cool they've encountered recently.
For example:
Esse projeto é muito bacana. - This is a really cool project.

A loose translation for tá bom? is "all good?" It's a way of asking if someone agrees or is okay with a proposition.

We've used the exclamation form here, but tá bom can also be used as an affirmation-to express that you agree with something.

It's also quite common to leave the word bom (good) out completely and just use tá.
For example:
Amanhã a gente conversa sobre isso, tá bom? - We'll talk about it tomorrow, okay?
- All right.

In a literal sense, beleza means "beauty" but in colloquial parlance it's commonly used to show agreement.

Occasionally, you might hear someone sarcastically utter Que beleza ("Wonderful") to express disdain about something they've seen or experienced-but for the most part, beleza is a positive term.
For example:
Vamos ao cinema amanhã? - Do you want to go the cinema tomorrow?
Beleza, te encontro as 5h. - Okay, I'll meet you at 5 p.m.

Another way of showing agreement. The literal translation for joia is "jewel" but Brazilians use it to express that they're on board with something (the same as with beleza) or to tell someone that they're well.
For example:
Tudo bem? - How are you? Tudo joia! - I'm great!

Cara is colloquially used to mean "face" but it's also slang used to talk about a guy or a man.

We'll provide a few examples that showcase both senses.
For example:
Esse cara é louco. - This guy's crazy.

Ela me deu um tapa na cara. - She slapped me in the face.

Cara, a prova foi muito difícil. - Man, that test was really hard.

For the unprepared, hearing someone described as a "cat" (gato) might sound a little weird. But in Brazil, that's how people describe someone who's "hot" or good looking.
For example:
O ator principal dessa novela é um gato. - The leading man in this TV soap is very attractive.

(Cultural tip: Brazilian soaps/TV dramas are very popular both locally and abroad. You should definitely take a look at few if you want to learn about what makes the society tick and to hear some of the colloquial language we've mentioned thus far being put into good use).

In English, someone might say "My bad!" when they've made an obvious blunder. The Brazilian Portuguese alternative is foi mal.
For example:
Ops, foi mal! Não era pra fazer isso! - Oops, my bad! I wasn't meant to do this!

Falou comes from the past tense of the verb falar (to talk or to say).

As a slang word, falou is used in a similar manner to tá bom -it's a way of saying "okay," in both an interrogative manner and as an affirmation.

Again, we'll provide a few examples for this one.
For example:
Amanhã eu te passo os detalhes, falou? - I'll send you the details tomorrow, all right?

Te vejo no sábado as 10h. - I'll see you 10 a.m. on Saturday.- Okay, see you then.

Valeu comes from the past tense of the verb valer (to be worth something). Colloquially, it's used to say thanks.
For example:
11. Cabeça-dura

Literally a "hard-head," cabeça-dura is a phrase that describes someone who's very stubborn or stuck in their ways.
For example:
João é um cabeça-dura, ele nunca vai mudar. - João is very stubborn, he'll never change.

12. Mandar-se

A colloquial verb that's best translated as "to get out."

It can be used in an imperative manner (as in, to command someone to leave) or in a descriptive sense to talk about your own pursuits of leaving a place where you don't want to be.
For example:
Se manda daqui! - Get out of here!

Vou me mandar para as ilhas do Caribe nesse inverno. - I'm setting off for the Caribbean islands this winter.

Esse lugar é muito perigoso, vou me mandar daqui. - This is a really dangerous place, I'm getting out of here.

You might be able to guess the literal meaning of this one: rolar is the infinitive of the verb "to roll." But it's not used in the same way as the English-language "let's roll." Rather, Brazilians use rolar to talk about an event-in the past, present or future.
For example:
Vai rolar uma festa na casa do Lucas amanhã. - There's going to be a party at Lucas' place tomorrow

Rola um churrasco esse fim de semana? - Shall we have a barbecue over the weekend?

This is quite a straightforward one to learn: topar is a colloquial verb that means "to agree" or "to accept" to do something.
For example:
Ele topou me ajudar com o meu dever de casa. - He agreed to help me with my homework.

15. Pisar na bola

Literally translated as "stepping on the ball," pisar na bola describes a situation when someone messes up or lets someone down.
For example:
Sua irmã pisou na bola feio comigo. - Your sister really let me down.

Se você pisar na bola de novo, está fora do time. - If you mess up once again, you're off the team.

In Brazilian Portuguese someone who's a "hard-bread" (pão-duro) is a miserly scrooge-in other words, a very frugal and stingy person.
For example:
Esse cara é um pão-duro. - This guy's a scrooge.

As you might have noticed in the last example, some slang terms can actually go quite well together.

That's the beauty of slang: The more vocabulary words you learn, colloquial or otherwise, the easier it'll be to form patterns and sentences like a native Brazilian speaker.

So go forth, keep practicing and don't forget to put all these great phrases to good use with your other study materials.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Local Lingo: 16 Brazilian Slang Words to Speak Like a Native

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Visiting Brazil can mean a lot of things. It can mean experiencing the iconic carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro. Or it can mean sampling street food while embracing the urban hustle and bustle of São Paulo.

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo é interessante porque discute como os portugueses evoluíram no brasil. O artigo fala sobre coisas que discutimos em sala de aula, como o idioma geral e as palavras emprestadas de línguas indígenas. Também mostrou expressões emprestadas de línguas indígenas como "andar na pindaíba" que significa "being penniless" em ingles. Finalmente, o artigo fala sobre o futuro do português brasileiro e a importante função que ele terá no futuro.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Just like Spanish, Italian and French, Portuguese is also a Latin derived language. Most of Brazilians are not aware about the history of their language and its relation to the many others languages that were spoken in the country, prior to the arrival of the Portuguese Pedro Alvares Cabral; as well as the other languages that were spoken before and after Brazil's colonization.

Portuguese is the official language of Brazil, the seventh most spoken language in the world, and the third with most speakers in Europe. According to some historians, when Brazil was found by the Portuguese, there were more than a thousand different languages in the country being spoken by Indians of different ethnic groups.

A little bit of brazilian history

Portuguese colonization started gradually along the coastline in 1532 when the "capitanias" (the Administrative division and hereditary fief of the Portuguese state in some of its colonies) were institutionalized. During this period, many communities of the "Tupi" and "Guarani" Indians could be found on the seaside, from Rio de Janeiro in the south through Pará in the north. To establish a communication with the natives, the Portuguese started to learn the language and dialects used by the Indians. From the Tubinambá, spoken by the groups more open minded to the contact with the colonizers, a common language was created to be used by Indians and Europeans.

In 1595 Father José de Anchieta registered that this was the most spoken language on the Brazilian Coast. This general language derived from Tupinambá, which was the first influence of the Portuguese language in Brazil.

The Africans, who were brought as slaves to the country when the Sugar-cane cultivation began, were in the Capitanias of São Vicente (currently the state of São Paulo), Bahia and Pernambuco. At the beginning of the colonization, Portuguese was a gradual influence in Brazil. An intensification could already be felt in the century XVII. The slaves obviously ended up learning the Portuguese to communicate with their Lords and also learned the general Indian created language - the most talked among the settlers.

According to a text written by the Father Antonio Vieira in 1694, the language spoken by the Portuguese families living in São Paulo was an Indian language. The children of these families learned how to speak Portuguese at school. Only in the second half of the eighteenth century Portuguese becomes the most spoken language. The reason for this was the exploration of the countryside by the "bandeirantes", and the discovery of the diamond and gold mines, and the consequent raising of the Portuguese immigration. In August 17 of 1758, Portuguese became the official Brazilian language by an act signed by the Marquês de Pombal that also banned the use of the general language.

A mix of cultures

At this stage, Portuguese had already progressed as all languages naturally change through time. It's good to point out that when Pombal signed the decree, the Brazilian Portuguese speakers had already incorporated many Indians and African words derived from Indian languages in their vocabulary, like the name of plants, fruits and animals that have their origins in the Tupinambá. There's many examples to be told like caatinga, caju, capim, capivara, carnaúba, cipó, cupim, curió, ipê, jaboticaba, jacarandá, mandacaru, mandioca (cassava), maracujá (passion flower), piranha, tatu (armadillo) and the famous abacaxi (pineapple).

Among the indigenous words that were incorporated to the Brazilian Portuguese are: Aracajú, Avaí, Guanabara, Guaporé, Jabaquara, Jacarepaguá, Jundiaí, Parati, Piracicaba, Tijuca (all names of cities or neighborhoods). It's interesting to notice that the Indigenous influence helped to create a lot of slang and idiomatic expressions that are still in use (things like "andar na pindaíba" that means something close to "being penniless"). The Africans form "Bantu" and "Yoruba" groups left a legacy of their own in the culture of the samba and bossa-nova country. The Afro-Brazilian culinary has the quindim, the abará, the acarajé and the vatapá. The candomblé (Afro religion) has the orixás yemanjá, oxum, Iansã, and so on.

The Quimbundo (spoke in Angola) gave its contribution to the Brazilian Portuguese with some words such as caçula (the youngest son), cafuné e moleque (or brat). Words used to express the way of life and the dance of the slaves such as senzala, maxixe, ginga and even samba, were also incorporated to the vocabulary. After the Brazilian Independence (in 1822), the traffic of slaves decreased until it completely stopped in the year 1850. From then on, many Europeans immigrants, mostly Germans and Italians, arrived in the country.

our language in literature

This contact of the Brazilian Portuguese with other languages was one of the most important coefficients in generating the many language regionalisms that can be found in the country nowadays. As an example we can say that the Northeast Portuguese was heavily influenced by the Indian and the Africans, especially in the States of Pernambuco and Bahia. At the same time, the Portuguese spoke in the south by its way was influenced by the European immigrants like German and Italians, especially in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul.

In the second half of the 19th century, the authors from the Romanticism tried to reflect on their works a "Brasilidade" (way or "art form" to be Brazilian) that distinguished the country from its former colony. This also happened at the beginning of the 20th Century with the modernists.

A good example for the first case can be found in the books by José de Alencar that used the exaltation of the Indian figure, bringing to literature the Brazilian way of talking. For the second case let's remember Mário de Andrade, one of the most famous modernists that later on would go back to the romantic idea of rescuing of the origins and the construction of a self identity.

" The Portuguese language allows its speakers to understand 85% of the Spanish, 45% of the Italian and 15% of the French languages.

" The Portuguese language is considered a very important language especially when one realizes that around the year 2015, Brazil will be the third or fourth biggest market of the world.

" The Portuguese is one of the languages in the political and economical dialogues in Europe, South America, Africa and the East Timor.

" The Portuguese is a language of the future and of global communication that will offer big opportunities of work and social interaction around the globe.

Throughout the years the Brazilian has adopted expressions not only from the indigenous and African languages but also from the Spanish, French, Italian and, more recently, the English such as the cases of words like, "gym" and "happy hour" among others. Another interesting fact is when you see Brazilians who have been living for many years in the U.S adapting verbs like "to park" to the Portuguese saying neologisms like "parkear" from the verb - to park, or phrase like "vai rolar um party a noite" (there's going be a party tonight with the English word taking the part of the Portuguese: Festa).

Regarding the Portuguese spoken in Portugal, we can say that the vocabulary is almost the same, but phonetically, differences are perceptible. We also recommend you to read Why Portuguese is the Language of Future Communication, as the language offers great possibilities to more jobs, business and social interaction associated with the globalized world.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Just like Spanish, Italian and French, Portuguese is also a Latin derived language. Most of Brazilians are not aware about the history of their language and its relation to the many others languages that were spoken in the country

# data[].attributes.body
Na aula discutimos muito sobre os detalhes e estrutura do crioulo cabo-verdiano, então pensei que seria interessante ver a história da linguagem e como o funciona em cabo verde. Por exemplo, o português é a língua ensinada nas escolas, mas o crioulo é usado na mídia e na música locais. Outra coisa interessante que aprendi foi que existem dois dialetos principais da língua crioula em Cabo Verde.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Print |
This index was compiled by Nicolas Quint, head of research on African linguistics for the CNRS, within the project Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire (LLACAN, INaLCO/CNRS-UMR 8135), 2010. Nicolas Quint specialises in kordofanian languages (Koalib, Tira, Ko, Werni), Portuguese-based Creoles (Cape Verdean and other Afro-Portuguese Creoles from Western Africa) and Romance languages (Occitan, Aragonese).
Additional sources coleected and contributed by the Latin Union, engaged to promote the cultural heritages of their 37 member states.
Data on Cape Verdean:

Alternative names: Cape Verdean Creole, Cape Verde Creole, Kabuverdianu, Caboverdiano.

Classification: Portuguese-based Creole language, Western African Afro-Portugese Creole language family, which includes Cape Verdean, Bissau-Guinean (Guinea-Bissau), Casamance Creole (Senegal), and Papiamentu (Netherlands Antilles).
Main dialects:
There are two main Cape Verdean dialectical groups:

the Leeward Islands(islands of Brava, Fogo, Maio, Santiago, where 70% of Cape Verdean speakers live).

the Windward Islands (islands of Boa Vista, Sal, Saint-Antoine, Saint-Nicolas, Saint-Vincent, where 30% of Cape Verdean speakers live).

The two most spoken insular variations of Cape Verdean are the Santiagean (spoken by 55% of the Cape Verdean population) and the Saint-Vincentian (spoken by 18% of the Cape Verdean population).
Area:

On the Cape Verde archipelago off the coast of Western Africa, Cape Verdean is the majority language, and is spoken by 500 000 of its inhabitants (representing 90% of the population).

In addition, following a significant Cape Verdean diaspora, large Cape Verdean-speaking communities can be found in the United States (at least 200 000 speakers), in Portugal (over 100 000), in France (50 000) and in the Netherlands (50 000), in Senegal and in Angola (a few thousand speakers in each), and to a lesser extent in Brazil, in Italy and in Spain.
Number of speakers:

According to Quint, 1 000 000 speakers (including the inhabitants of Cape Verde and the members of the Cape Verdean diaspora).

According to SIL, 920 000 speakers.
Language status:
In Cape Verde:

No official status. Portuguese is the official language of Cape Verde, and is used within the administration.

National and common language in Cape Verde.

Not taught in schools: Portuguese is the only language used in the education system.

Within the diaspora, Cape Verdean is treated as an ethnic minority language. It is taught in certain schools in the United States, alongside English.
Vitality & transmission:
In Cape Verde, Cape Verdean is by far the majority language, and its oral usage shows no signs of decreasing. In fact, in order to integrate into normative social life in Cape Verde, allophone immigrants (often of continental African or of Chinese origin) learn to speak Cape Verdean instead of Portuguese. On the other hand, in its lexicon, its morphology and its syntax, modern urban Cape Verdean is increasingly influenced by Portuguese.

In the Cape Verdean emigrant communities, the Cape Verdean of younger generations is gradually being replaced by the languages of the host countries. The rate of retention of Cape Verdean is nevertheless relatively high. For example in the suburbs of Lisbon (notably, Amadora), in certain neighbourhoods with a Cape Verdean ethnic majority, Santiagean Cape Verdean is a local necessity for daily communication among the younger generations, even for those from non-Cape Verdean backgrounds.
Media & education:
Cape Verdean is widely used in locally produced television broadcasts, including interviews shown during newscasts.

Some radio stations broadcast exclusively in Cape Verdean ( Praia FM). Equally, the vast majority of songs from Cape Verde are written and performed in Cape Verdean.

On the other hand, Portuguese is dominant in the written language, with most of Cape Verdean literature written in Portuguese. The Cape Verdean education system is conducted entirely in Portuguese, and only Portuguese language textbooks are used in schools.

Historical observations:

1974: In April, "Carnation Revolution" in Portugal accompanied by protests on the streets of Cape Verde. In December, Cape Verde is granted internal autonomy.

1975: In July, Cape Verde obtains its independence.

Ethnographic observations:

The majority of the Cape Verdean population is of mixed race (Portuguese and West African descent), and Catholic (90% of the population).

Generally speaking, Cape Verdean culture combines varying degrees of European (in particular Portuguese) and West African elements.

Linguistic observations:

Cape Verdean is a relatively analytical language, with a S-V-O (Subject-Verb-Object) pattern.

Over 95% of the Cape Verdean lexicon is drawn from Portuguese. However, it has also been strongly influenced by West-African languages (notably Wolof and Mandinka), especially in regards to verbal morphology and semantic structure.

Sources & bibliography:

Sources collected by Nicholas Quint:

BAPTISTA, Marlyse. 1997. The morpho-syntax of nominal and verbal categories in Capeverdean Creole [PhD thesis]. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University.

BAPTISTA, Marlyse. 2002. The syntax of Cape Verdean Creole. The Sotavento Varieties. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

CARDOSO Eduardo Augusto (1989), O crioulo da ilha de S. Nicolau de Cabo Verde, Lisboa/Praia: Instituto de Cultura e Língua Portuguesa/Instituto Caboverdiano do Livro.

DE PAULA BRITO, A., 1967 [1885], "Apontamentos para a gramática do crioulo que se fala na Ilha de Santiago de Cabo Verde",in J. Morais Barbosa (dir), Estudos Linguísticos Crioulos, Lisbonne, Academia Internacional da Cultura Portuguesa, 329-403.

DELGADO Carlos Alberto (2008), Crioulo de Cabo Verde, Situação Linguística da Zona do Barlavento, Praia: Instituto da Biblioteca Nacional e do Livro.

FERNANDES Armando Napoleão (1991), Léxico do Dialecto Crioulo, do Arquipélago de Cabo Verde, Mindelo: Ivone L. R. FERNANDES RAMOS.

Grupo para a Padronização do Alfabeto (2006), Proposta de Bases do Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Cabo-verdiano, Praia: Instituto da Investigação e do Património Culturais.

LANG Jürgen (2002), Dicionário do Crioulo da Ilha de Santiago (Cabo Verde), Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

LANG, J. (2007), "O problema da nasalidade no crioulo de Santiago (Cabo Verde) : uma resposta", in M. Schrader-Kniffki, L. Morgenthaler García (dir), La Romania en interacción : entre historia, contacto y política, Madrid / Francfort, Vervuert-Iberoamericana, 515-535.

LANG, Jürgen (2009) Les langues des autres dans la créolisation, Théorie et exemplification par le créole d'empreinte wolof à l'île Santiago du Cap-Vert. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.

LOPES DA SILVA Baltasar (1957), O Dialecto Crioulo de Cabo Verde, Lisboa: Junta de Investigações do Ultramar/Centro de Estudos Políticos e Sociais.

MENDES Mafalda, QUINT Nicolas & RAGAGELES Fátima "Apresentação do dicionário bilingue caboverdiano-português", in : Actas do XV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Braga, Éditions Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, 2000, Vol. II,pp. 183-198.

MENDES Mafalda, QUINT Nicolas, RAGAGELES Fátima & SEMEDO Aires (2002), Dicionário Prático Português-Caboverdiano, Lisbonne, Éditions Verbalis, 485 p.

OLIVEIRA ALMADA Maria Dulce de (1998), Bilinguismo ou Diglossia?, Praia: Spleen-Edições.

PEREIRA Dulce (2006), Crioulos de base portuguesa, Lisboa: Caminho.

QUINT Nicolas, "A realização do sujeito em português do Brasil : deriva versus crioulização", in : FIORIN, José Luiz & PETTER, Margarida (dir.), África no Brasil, São Paulo, Contexto, 2008, pp. 75-88.

QUINT Nicolas, "As formas divergentes em cabo-verdiano santiaguense", Português em contato (dir. Ana Carvalho), Francfort / Madrid : Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2009 (ISBN 978-84-8489-410-0), pp. 67-85.

QUINT Nicolas, "Contacts, échanges, créolisations : le cas du capverdien", in : Les langues néo-latines, Paris, Éditions Société des Langues Néo-Latines, 2002, nº320, Mars, pp. 63-80.

QUINT Nicolas, "Coordination et parataxe en capverdien moderne (dialecte santiagais ou badiais)", in : CARON Bernard (dir.), Subordination, dépendance et parataxe dans les langues africaines, Louvain / Paris : Peeters, 2008, pp. 29-48.

QUINT Nicolas, "Interacções morfológicas entre verbo e objecto no crioulo da ilha de Santiago (República de Cabo Verde)", in : Papia, Brasília, 2004, Nº14, pp. 71-83.

QUINT Nicolas, "La langue capverdienne en France et au Cap-Vert",in : Codification des langues de France, Actes du colloque "Les langues de France et leur codification." Écrits divers-écrits ouverts, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2002, pp. 443-456.

QUINT Nicolas, "Langues créoles, diachronie et procédés de reconstruction", in : Bulletin de la société linguistique de Paris, Paris, Éditions Peeters, 2001, Tome XVI, Fascicule 1, pp. 265-284.

QUINT Nicolas, "Le capverdien, la langue du Cap-Vert", in : Muzart-Fonseca dos Santos Idelette, Manuel Da Costa Esteves José & Rolland Denis (dir.), Les îles du Cap-Vert : langues, mémoires, histoire, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2007, pp. 23-38.

QUINT Nicolas, "Les Apontamentos de António de Paula Brito (1887) ou la naissance d'une tradition grammaticale capverdienne autochtone", HEL (Histoire Épistémologie Langage), Paris, SHESL, 2008, Nº30/1, pp. 127-153.

QUINT Nicolas, "Les créoles portugais ou l'autre frontière de la lusophonie : un aperçu de la dimension créole de l'œuvre de Paul Teyssier", in : Lisbonne, atelier du lusitanisme français [Actes du colloque organisé par le CREPAL les 23 et 24 janvier 2004 à l'Université Paris 3 - Sorbonne Nouvelle], Paris, Éditions Presses Sorbonne Nouvelle, 2005, pp. 123-134.

QUINT Nicolas, "Línguas crioulas num contexto de globalização - o caboverdiano : uma língua mundial", in : Papia, Brasília, 2005, Nº15, pp. 18-31.

QUINT Nicolas, "Norme, langue et normalisation au Cap-Vert et ailleurs", in : Travaux et Documents, Staudacher-ValliamÉe Gillette (dir.), Méthodes et problèmes de la collection des données : tradition orale créole, Saint-Denis (Réunion), Université de la Réunion, Nº27, Juin 2006, pp. 39-54.

QUINT Nicolas, "O crioulo de Santiago (República de Cabo Verde) ", in : Actas do XV Encontro Nacional da Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, Braga, Éditions Associação Portuguesa de Linguística, 2000, Vol. II,pp. 167-181.

QUINT Nicolas, "Un bref aperçu des racines africaines de la langue capverdienne", in : Cabo Verde, Origens da sua Sociedade e do seu Crioulo [Actes du Colloque International Erlangen-Nürnberg, 23-25 Septembre 2004], Tübingen, Gunter Narr, 2006, pp. 75-90.

QUINT Nicolas, "Vowels as a morphological tool in Santiago Creole Portuguese (Cape Verde)", in : Journal of African Languages and Linguistics (JALL), Leiden, Éditions Walter de Gruyter, 2001, nº22-1, pp. 69-80.

QUINT Nicolas, Dicionário de caboverdiano-português, CD-rom and paper, Lisbonne, Éditions Verbalis, 1.998, 120 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Dictionnaire cap-verdien-français, préfacé par Monsieur le Président de la République du Cap-Vert et Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Haut Conseil à la Francophonie, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 1999, 352 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Dictionnaire français-cap-verdien, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 1997, 100 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Grammaire de la langue cap-verdienne, préfacée par Monsieur le Président de la République du Cap-Vert et Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Haut Conseil à la Francophonie, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2.000, 436 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Kapverdisch (Kiriolu) Wort für Wort, Bielefeld, Éditions Reise Know-How, 2.007, 192 p.

QUINT Nicolas, L'élément africain dans la langue capverdienne / Africanismos na língua caboverdiana, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2.008, 134 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Le cap-verdien: origines et devenir d'une langue métisse, préfacé par Monsieur le Président de la République du Cap-Vert et Monsieur le Secrétaire Général du Haut Conseil de la Francophonie, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2.000, 364 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Le créole capverdien de poche, Chennevières-sur-Marne, Éditions Assimil, 2.005, 203 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Lexique créole de Santiago-français, Praia, République du Cap-Vert, Édition de l'auteur, Janvier 1.996, 140 p.

QUINT Nicolas, O Caboverdiano de bolso, Chennevières-sur-Marne, Éditions Assimil, 2009, x + 197 p.

QUINT Nicolas, Parlons capverdien, langue et culture, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2.003, 300 p.

SANCHES Maria de Fátima (2005), Atitude de alguns Cabo-verdianos perante a língua materna, Praia: Instituto da Biblioteca Nacional e do Livro.

SEMEDO Aires (traduit par QUINT Nicolas et RAGAGELES Fátima), Gó ki pórka dja torsi rábu / Le cochon qui tord la queue / Agora é que a porca torce o rabo, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2007, 16 p.

SEMEDO Aires (traduit par QUINT Nicolas), Lobu ku Xibinhu ku Nhordés / Compère loup, Compère lièvre et le Bon Dieu, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2.005, 16 p.

SEMEDO Aires (traduit par QUINT Nicolas), Lobu, Xibinhu ku Nha Tiâ Gánga / Le loup, le lièvre et la sorcière Tia Ganga, Paris, Éditions L'Harmattan, 2.005, 16 p.

VEIGA, Manuel (1995), Introdução à Gramática do Crioulo, Praia: Instituto Caboverdiano do Livro e do Disco.

VEIGA, Manuel (2002), O Caboverdiano em 45 Lições, Praia: INIC.

VEIGA, Manuel, 2000, Le créole du Cap-Vert, Étude grammaticale descriptive et contrastive, Paris / Praia, Karthala / Instituto de Promoção Cultural (I.P.C.).

Sources supplied by the Latin Union:

CHAUDENSON, Robert (1992), Les créoles, PUF, Que sais-je ?.
CHAUDENSON, Robert (2001), "Le cas du français", in R. Chaudenson (éd.), L'Europe parlera-t-elle anglais demain ?, actes du colloque international de Bordeaux, Goethe Institut / INTIF, mars 2001 ; Institut de la Francophonie / L'Harmattan, coll. Langues et développement, pp. 13-42.
CHAUDENSON, Robert (2002), "Le cas des creoles", in Hérodote, revue de géographie et de géopolitique, n° 105, pp. 60-72.
MONTEIRO DA VEIGA, Manuel (1998), "Le créole du Cap-Vert : étude grammaticale descriptive et constrastive", doctorat de Sciences du Langage, sous la direction de R. Chaudenson, Aix-en-Provence.

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have more information on this language: contact@sorosoro.org

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Print | This index was compiled by Nicolas Quint, head of research on African linguistics for the CNRS, within the project Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique Noire (LLACAN, INaLCO/CNRS-UMR 8135), 2010 . Nicolas Quint specialises in kordofanian languages (Koalib, Tira, Ko, Werni), Portuguese-based Creoles (Cape Verdean and other Afro-Portuguese Creoles from Western Africa) and Romance languages (Occitan, Aragonese).

# data[].attributes.body
Achei muito fascinante aprender em sala de aula que essa língua é falado no norte de portugal e é bastante diferente do português que falamos. Este artigo faz um bom trabalho ao mostrar os detalhes da língua, como pronúncia de vogal e consoante. Também incluiu algumas regras de gramática e pronúncia da língua, que são realmente legais.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mirandese is a Romance language closely related to Asturian spoken in northern Portugal by about 10,000 people. A further 5,000 or so people speak Mirandese occasionally. The majority of Mirandese speakers live in villages in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, and also in some villages in Vimioso, Mogadouro and Bragança.

Mirandese began to emerge as a distinct language during the 12th century, and Mirandese literature first appeared during the second half of the 19th century. The best known Mirandese writer is José Leite de Vasconcelos.

Today it is taught in some schools, articles in Mirandese appear some in newspapers and magazines, and there are occasional radio and television programmes in the language. Many young people view the language as archaic and underdeveloped and have little interest in it.

Mirandese alphabet

Mirandese pronunciation

Notes

b = [β] between vowels and after voiced consonants

c = [s] before e or i, [k] elsewhere

ç = [z] before words starting with voiced consonants

d = [ð] between vowels and after r

e = [ ɨ, ɨ̃ ] before stressed syllables

g = [ɣ] between vowels and after r. Before e and i, g = [ʒ]. g = [gu] in certain words such as guira,guiron and guirica. g = [gu̯] before a

gu = [ɣ] between vowels and after r

l = [ɫ] when in final position and befor consonants

o = [u] when unstressed

m is silent before nasalized front vowels, e.g. amportante

n is silent before consonants and at the end of words before nasalized front vowels, e.g. lhéngua, sons, quien

qu = [k] before e and i, and [kṷ] before a and en

r = [rr] at the beginning of words and after n

s = [s̻] when in initial position and before silent consonants. Between vowels and before voiced consonants, s = [z̻]

k, v and w are only used in loanwords from other languages

Download an alphabet chart for Mirandese (Excel)

Source: http://mirandes.no.sapo.pt/LMRNconvencao.pdf (PDF), Marcelo Luiz and Marcelo Manschein

Sample text in Mirandese

Quien dirie qu'antre ls matos eiriçados
Las ourriêtas i ls rius d'esta tiêrra,
Bibie, cumo l chaugarço de la siêrra,
Ua lhéngua de sons tan bariados?

Mostre-se i fale-s' essa lhéngua filha
D'un pobo que ten neilha l choro i l canto!
Nada por ciêrto mos cautiba tanto
Cumo la form' an que l'eideia brilha.

Zgraçiado d'aquel, qu'abandonando
La patri' an que naciu, la casa i l huôrto.
Tamien se squeçe de la fala! Quando
L furdes ber, talbéç que stéia muôrto!

A poem by J. Leite de Vasconcelos, source: http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Asturian-Mirandes/Texts/Mirandes-Poem.html

Sample videos in Mirandese

Links

Information about the Mirandese Language
http://www.uoc.es/euromosaic/web/document/mirandes/an/i1/i1.html
http://www.orbilat.com/Languages/Asturian-Mirandes/
http://www.eb2-miranda-douro.rcts.pt/mirandes/mirandes.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirandese_language

Romance languages

Languages written with the Latin alphabet

If you need to type in many different languages, the Q International Keyboard can help. It enables you to type almost any language that uses the Latin, Cyrillic or Greek alphabets, and is free.

If you like this site and find it useful, you can support it by making a donation via PayPal or Patreon, or by contributing in other ways. Omniglot is how I make my living.

Note: all links on this site to Amazon.com , Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.fr are affiliate links. This means I earn a commission if you click on any of them and buy something. So by clicking on these links you can help to support this site.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Mirandese language, alphabet and pronunciation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mirandese is a Romance language closely related to Asturian spoken in northern Portugal by about 10,000 people. A further 5,000 or so people speak Mirandese occasionally. The majority of Mirandese speakers live in villages in the municipality of Miranda do Douro, and also in some villages in Vimioso, Mogadouro and Bragança.

# data[].attributes.body
Escolhi este vídeo para elaborar mais sobre o primeiro artigo sobre português angolano.  A primeira coisa que notei no vídeo foi o como claro o orador era e o como fácil era seguir. Eu sei que parte disso foi para o vídeo, mas o dialeto era muito suave. O dialeto parecia bastante semelhante ao português europeu. Uma coisa que notei especificamente foi como o som soava como um dialeto europeu.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/7MVD/

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo é interessante porque fornece algumas dicas sobre o idioma portuguesa em angola, e também os outros idiomas comuns. Primeiro, apresenta um pouco da história da língua portuguesa em angola. Também mostrou algumas das palavras do Kimbundu são incorporadas na língua portuguesa em Angola. Observou também que o português angolano era semelhante ao português, mas com uma pronúncia mais européia que eu achei interessante.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A multilingual and multicultural country: Angola, as in most countries in Africa, has several national languages. Six Bantu languages are national languages and Portuguese remains the only official

# data[].attributes.headline
Português brasileiro vs. português europeu 

# data[].attributes.subject
Português brasileiro vs. português europeu 

# data[].attributes.body
Eu escolhi este artigo porque achei que seria uma boa maneira de mostra como o mesmo idioma pode evoluir para duas versões muito diferentes. O maior exemplo disso é o fato de que os europeus normalmente usam "tu", e os brasileiros usam "você." Outra grande diferença é que os falantes europeus colocam o pronome depois de o verbo e os brasileiros o colocam antes do verbo. Também, eles têm vocabulários diferentes e uso de palavras.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
While doing some research about the Portuguese language you'll find that there are two main types of it: Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. From vocabulary, grammar, & pronunciation there are many differences between Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese. Even natives can misunderstand each other!

Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese might seem the same to a non-speaker, however, there are considerable differences between the two: the most obvious is the accent but there are also differences in the grammar and there are even some words that sound perfectly normal in European Portuguese but are an insult in Brazilian Portuguese. So, where did the Portuguese language came from? How did it evolve? and what are the main differences between the two types. That's what we'll be looking at as the Brazilian Portuguese vs Portugal Portuguese battle begins.

Where is Portuguese spoken? How many people speak Portuguese?

It might be hard for you to believe but, the truth is, Portuguese is the sixth most spoken native language in the world. The amount of native Portuguese speakers is estimated to be around 220 million people. Portuguese is spoken in ten different territories in four continents including:

If you search for sites to learn Portuguese online, you'll find a lot of options but there's one thing you'll definitely notice: most of these sites and information are related to Brazilian Portuguese instead of European Portuguese. Even though Portuguese has its origins in Europe, there are way more Portuguese speakers in Brazil alone than anywhere else and that makes its accent the most spoken. To illustrate this, let's look at the population of Rio de Janeiro compared to Portugal: the Brazilian city has 12 million citizens alone while the whole country of Portugal has only 10 million. So obviously, most of the 220 million native Portuguese speakers are actually Brazilian.
Going to Portugal? Get my free Portuguese travel phrase guide
Can Portuguese and Brazilians understand each other?

Even though the language is exactly the same, there are some differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. When it comes to writing, both are very similar, but the pronunciation makes everything harder for Brazilians and the Portuguese to understand each other. Usually, it is more difficult for Brazilians to understand the Portuguese than the other way around. This might sound strange considering the language has its origins in Portugal but there are a few reasons why this happens. Portuguese people are used to listening to Brazilian Portuguese because there are a lot of Brazilian immigrants in Portugal. Another reason is the fact that the Brazilian culture is widely popular in Portugal. For many years, Brazilian soap operas were on the television in Portugal during primetime. Brazilian music is also extremely popular all over Portugal. Whilst Brazilian music and TV programs are popular in Portugal, the opposite is not true.

Why are there different types of Portuguese?

Just like the European Spanish is different from Latin American Spanish, so too is the Portuguese spoken in Europe compared to that in Brazil. Let's go back a few centuries and try to understand why there are so many different types and accents of Portuguese. Portuguese is a romance language that, just like , , and French, evolved from Latin after the Romans invaded the Iberian Peninsula 2,000 years ago. Portugal gained its independence in 1143, but it was only in 1290 when the first university was created in Lisbon by King Dinis that Portuguese was officially recognised as the official language of the country. From then on, the language was used for most official documents and, as time passed by, the similarities to Spanish faded as both languages evolved differently even though there are still lots of words that are written the same way.

During the Discoveries Era in the 15th and 16th century, Portuguese sailors brought their language to many parts of the world and that is the reason why the language is spoken in Europe, America, Africa and Asia. When taking the language to other territories, it ended up mixing with the language previously spoken in those areas.

The Portuguese discovered Brazil in 1500 and soon began to export their traditions, however, the language was only officially established in 1758. By that time, it had suffered from the influence of the indigenous people already living in the territories occupied by the Portuguese in the 16th century.

Colonies often follow the linguistic advances of the mother country but with a delay due to the geographical distance which leads some people to believe that the colonies often preserve the original language better than the mother country which has evolved faster.

The African countries that belong to the CPLP ("Comunidade de Países de Língua Portuguesa" or "Community of Countries with Portuguese Language" in English) use a Portuguese more similar to the European type than Brazil. That happened mainly because Brazil gained its independence from Portugal many years before the African countries. While Brazil was an independent country by 1822, Angola, for example, only became independent from Portugal in 1975 similar to most African countries. All those additional years of direct contact with the Portuguese makes the African accent more similar to the Portuguese accent.

Brazilian Portuguese vs Portugal Portuguese: What are the main differences?

By now you might be thinking: "what are these differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese you keep on mentioning?". Well, wait no more, here are some of the top 8 differences between European Portuguese vs Brazilian Portuguese:

1. 'Tu' vs. 'você'

Brazilians use the word 'você' both for formal and informal situations (just like with 'you' in English). That doesn't happen in European Portuguese. In Portugal, you either use 'tu' or 'você' depending if you're talking to someone in an informal or formal way. The ending form of the verb you use with 'tu' or 'você' changes accordingly.

2. The Gerund: When is it used?

Whilst in Brazil people use the gerund on a regular basis, the same doesn't happen in Portugal. Instead, European Portuguese uses a preposition followed by the infinitive of a verb. For example, to say "I'm making dinner", a Brazilian would say "estou fazendo o jantar" (auxiliary verb + gerund + noun) while the European Portuguese would say "estou a fazer o jantar" (auxiliary verb + preposition + verb in the infinitive + noun).

3. Pronunciation

Brazilians have an open pronunciation whilst European Portuguese have a closed one. Trying to explain it a little better, Brazilians pronounce every single syllable in the word while in Portugal people do not. Let's take the word "telefone" (telephone) as an example: Brazilian Portuguese would pronounce it accentuating every single vowel in the word while a Portuguese person would cut the first "e" and pronounce it something like "tlefone". This is one of the many examples there are as European Portuguese tend to cut a lot of vowels in the words making them harder to understand for foreigners and even Brazilians.

In addition to that, there's also the pronunciation of some consonants such as the "s" at the end of a word. In Portugal, the "s" at the end of a word is read as "sh" while in Brazil it is read as "ss". The word "dois" (two), for example, would be said "doish" in Portugal but "doiss" in Brazil. The "t" also has different pronunciations in both countries. While in Brazil you'd say the word "quente" (hot) as "quentchy" (adding a "ch" to the "t"), in Portugal you'd pronounce it solely "kent".

Another significant difference in the pronunciation is the way the letter "L" is said in both countries. In European Portuguese it is said the same way as in English but in Brazil it gains a whole different pronunciation which is one of the most typical characteristics of the Brazilian accent. To say 'Brazil' in Brazilian Portuguese, you'd say something like "Brásiu", replacing the "l" for an "u". This happens with all L's that are at the end of a word.

4. No need for personal pronouns before the verb

One of the biggest differences there are between Portuguese and English is the fact that you can omit the personal pronouns before the verb in Portuguese and still make yourself understood because the verbs are conjugated differently for all the pronouns. Even though that is acceptable in both European and Brazilian Portuguese, it is more commonly used in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese.

5. Spelling - The new writing agreement and its consequences

While pronunciation is different in both languages, the spelling is pretty much the same except for the when the words are different. In 2009 an agreement was signed in order to make the spelling of some words the same in European and Brazilian Portuguese. The biggest change was in European Portuguese where most words lost the silent consonants. For example, the word "baptismo" (baptism) lost its "p" in European Portuguese since no one would read the "p". The new word is "batismo" which is exactly how it was said in Brazilian Portuguese even before the agreement was implemented.

This agreement caused a lot of adverse reactions mainly from the European Portuguese side as it made the most changes to the spelling of the words. Even if there are words that lost their silent consonants in European Portuguese, there are the cases where those consonants still exist in Brazilian Portuguese. "Receção" (reception) is one of those cases. It used to be written "recepção" both in European and Brazilian Portuguese but with the new agreement it lost the "p" in European Portuguese but not in Brazilian Portuguese.

6. Pronouns - Do the pronouns come before or after the verbs?

The easiest way to know if you're reading something written in European or Brazilian Portuguese is where the pronouns are: either before or after the verb. In European Portuguese, pronouns come after the verb, while in Brazilian Portuguese the pronoun comes before the verb.

For example, let's take the way "I love you" is said in Portuguese. First of all, as explained before, you can omit the personal pronoun "I" (which is "Eu") yet it is much more common to do so in European Portuguese than in Brazilian Portuguese as it sounds better in both types that way. That said, in European Portuguese we would simply say "amo-te" while in Brazilian Portuguese we would have to say "Eu te amo". The "te", which refers to "you" changes its position in the sentence according to the type of Portuguese you are writing or reading.

Pronouncing this word or sentence is incredibly different too. As we saw earlier, Brazilian Portuguese is pronounced with an open accent while European Portuguese uses a closed accent. While in South America, natives would say this sentence as "eu tchi amo", in Europe natives would say something like "am't" cutting most of the sound of the vowels.

7. Vocabulary

Just like in American and British English, there are also different words for the same thing in European and Brazilian Portuguese. We could be here all day talking about those but here are some examples:

Some words, such as "ônibus" and "trem" have clear influences on English words with the same meaning. Some others like "fato" have a different meaning in European and Brazilian language. "Fato" means 'fact' in Brazil while in Portugal it is said "facto".

8. False friends

It might be the same language but there are some words that have completely different meanings in European and Brazilian Portuguese: "Rapariga" means "girl" in European Portuguese and is the most common word used for it. But do not call a girl "rapariga" in Brazil. It isn't something they won't understand, on the contrary, they will understand but won't take it as an ordinary word but as an insult - a big one as a matter of fact - as "rapariga" is another word for "prostitute" in Brazilian Portuguese.

"Propina" might sound like a perfectly ordinary word in Portugal. It is the fee students pay in the university. In Brazil, referring to a payment as a "propina" actually means "bribe".
"Apelido" refers to a name on both sides of the Atlantic yet asking for someone's "apelido" in both countries will get you different answers. In Brazil, people will tell you their nickname while in Portugal people will tell you their surname.
"Cara" means "face" in both types of Portuguese. In Brazil it is also commonly used to call someone. Kind of the equivalent to "dude" in English.

Which type of Portuguese is easier to learn?

Portuguese isn't the easiest language to learn, especially if you don't speak Spanish or Italian (which are fairly similar to Portuguese when it comes to grammar). People learning Portuguese tend to say that the Brazilian Portuguese is easier to learn and understand. That happens because of the pronunciation. As Brazilians say all the letters in a word with an open accent, it makes it easier to understand for a foreigner than when the Portuguese cut the sound of most vowels.

One thing for sure is you'll learn the language easier if you decide to study it in the country of its origin. When it comes to deciding whether you should study Portuguese in Portugal or in Brazil, there are some things to take into consideration. Portugal is much smaller than Brazil and it is more of a European country with a Mediterranean climate, while Brazil is a large country where summer lasts all year around. But, besides the language itself, there is one thing that unites these two countries: the people. Whether you go to Brazil or to Portugal, you will be made to feel welcome in both countries and you'll find people available to help you.

What are the main difference between Portuguese and English?/h2>

There are a lot of words that are similar in Portuguese and English but there are also a lot of differences mostly in the grammar. The most obvious difference is the verbs conjugations. While in English the regular verbs have the same conjugation for I, he/she or you, we and they, in Portuguese there are different conjugations for every person.
Another significant difference between the two languages is the verb "to be". In Portuguese it has two different meanings: "ser" and "estar". The difference is quite simple but doesn't exist in English: using the verb "to be" to say "I am American" or using it to say "I am in America" is completely different. For the first example, the verb "ser" is used in Portuguese while for the second example it is the verb "estar" that is used. "Eu sou bebedo" (I am a drunk) and "eu estou bebedo" (I am drunk) are two very different things yet in English they sound the same as the verb doesn't change.

In English, the adjective comes before the noun it is referring to while in Portuguese it happens the other way around. For example, while in English we'd say "a red hat", in Portuguese we'd say "um chapéu vermelho" ("vermelho" meaning red and "chapéu" meaning hat).

Which type of Portgueuse Should You Learn?

When it comes to deciding whether you should learn European or Brazilian Portuguese, it depends a lot on your personal goals. You'll be able to read in both types no matter which one you'll choose to learn even if there are a few differences. When it comes to speaking and listening, it won't always be easy for you to understand what people with a different accent are saying but, as we've learned, not even the natives can understand each other all the time.

A big thanks to Lusa Language School who helped write this guide. Feeling inspired to learn Portuguese?

Learn European Portuguese in Portugal

Lusa Language School is a Portuguese school for foreigners located in Cais do Sodré, in the heart of Lisbon. Besides the courses, it has social activities such as dinners every Friday night and organises tours to some of the most famous monuments in Lisbon including the castle or Mosteiro dos Jerónimos.

Types of courses:

Sources
Lusa Language School / Oxford Dictionaries / Babbel / Mezzoguild

Like it? Pin it for later!

Want more? Here are some hilarious Portuguese expressions!

Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!

Over to you!

Are you learning Portuguese? Which of these differences surprises you the most?
Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.

Intensive course: 4 hours a day, 5 days a week for each module

Part-time course: 2 hours a day, 2 days a week, 5 weeks for each module

Full Immersion course: mixes the intensive course with 5 extra private lessons each week

Private classes

Online classes

Like what you see? Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Surprising Differences Between Brazilian Portuguese and Portugal Portuguese | The Intrepid Guide

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese might seem the same to a non-speaker, however, there are considerable differences between the two: the most obvious is the accent but there are also differences in the grammar and there are even some words that sound perfectly normal in European Portuguese but are an insult in Brazilian Portuguese.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu gosto deste artigo porque mostra a evolução do latim em cinco línguas completamente diferentes, o que fornece uma imagem mais clara de de como os diferentes línguas evoluem de acordo com seus próprios ambientes. A palavra usada para o exemplo é "herba", que era a palavra latina original para grama, e isso levou a diferentes grafias e usos da palavra nas diferentes línguas. Em português, evoluiu para a palavra "era".

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Recent research has shown that all languages may be able to trace their roots back to a common tongue spoken thousands of years ago. But how does the process of language creation take place? It can be clearly illustrated by taking a look at Latin and its daughters: The Romance languages.

Latin started as a language that was spoken in what is now Italy. Latin was one of many Indo-European languages, a little cluster of languages called Italic. None of them live today except Latin. It happened that the peoples who ended up creating the Roman Empire spoke Latin. So Latin ended up moving around a lot more than the typical language did or even does today.

The Roman Empire was relatively unique in that the Romans, as they spread far beyond their original boundaries, had a mission to spread Romanness, which included imposing their language on other people-a relatively new concept at the time. An empire could prosper without subjects speaking the language. Throughout human history, that has very often been the case. What we now know as Iran used to be a major geopolitical player in the world. The Persian Empire extended westward all the way to the shores of Greece and a considerable degree eastward of what is now Iran. Persian remains spoken in Iran. If subjects were brought to what was then Persia, then they probably learned Persian. But as far as the Persian Empire in Babylonia or the Persian Empire anywhere else, Persian was not spoken. It was used only for very official purposes, and the Persian rulers accommodated the languages that were used in those places. The common coin language was Aramaic, which is not related to Persian.

Latin Variations Become the Romance languages

The Romans, however, were interested in spreading Latin. As Latin spread to various Western and Eastern European locations, it was imposed upon people who were speaking other languages. Suddenly Latin was spoken all over this vast region. This means that Latin is not only developing from point A to point B in Italy, but you've got Latin doing that same thing in Gaul, Spain, not to mention other parts of Italy, and in Romania. The point is that you start having new Latins. Latin is developing in different directions in each place.

Once that process is started, if you fast-forward, what you're going to have are Latins that are so different from each other that they are new languages. That's exactly what happened to create what we know as the Romance languages. The big five are French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian. The five of them give great evidence of being related; if you learn one, another one is pretty easy.

The Fragile H

We can think about how Latin transitioned to Romance languages just by looking at one word. The word for grass in Latin was herba. It's our English word for herb with an a at the end: herba. That same word exists in French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, and Romanian, but sound change has gotten its hands on the word and created a different rendition in each language. As a result, we have a kind of variety. In French it's herbe, in Spanish it's hierba, in Italian it's erba, in Portuguese it's erva, and in Romanian it's iarbã.

All of these words, even when you just hear them, are clearly related, but they're different. If, for example, Latin had herba, which began with an h-but in all five of these languages the h is gone, the h drops off. French and Spanish keep it in the spelling; French spell the word herbe h-e-r-b-e, but the h hasn't been pronounced for a very long time. Spanish has the word hierba; the h sound is long gone.

H is fragile and has a way of disappearing in languages. There's the Pygmalion ( My Fair Lady) obsession with poor Eliza dropping her h's and saying 'orse instead of horse. She's typical in this worldwide. If you see h's at the beginnings of words, chances are that h is fragile and that in some closely related language those h's aren't going to be there. Or, if you often deal with speakers of the language you find they often drop the h 's.

That happened with Latin to the Romance languages. There's no h in any of them. We're just left with the erba. Italian, of the five Romance languages, is closest to Latin. Italian is what's called a conservative language-it hasn't gone as far in its changes as some of the others, such as French and Romanian.

So, Latin was herba, Italian dropped the h, but other than that it still got erba. An Italian wouldn't have much trouble talking to one of his or her ancestors from the Roman Empire in that sense. It would just sound like a sloppy version of herba.

Other languages, though, have gone a little bit further. In French, it's herbe, and that means not only did they drop the h, but they dropped the a at the end. It's spelled with an e at the end, but that e is not really pronounced. It's rather like our silent e -it's just gone.

Then, you have in Portuguese erva. The b changed to a v. This is another one of those alphabet things. In the alphabet, b is up near the beginning, and v is way down at the end. In real life, if you think about it, b and v are kind of related in terms of how you pronounce them in the mouth. Just like a t will often become a d, so, too, you can feel a d as kind of a version of t, just with a little bit more belly in it, as I sometimes put it. A b is often going to become a v; there's a relationship.

For those of you who know Spanish, think about the pronunciation of b as v in many Spanish dialects. That's not an accident. The Spanish hierba in Portuguese is erva. Spanish and Romanian do funny stuff with the vowels. In Spanish the "her-" has become a "yer-" and so you have " yerba" instead of the " erba " of Italian.

Romanian has gone even further. Instead of "her-" to "yer-," it's "her-" to "iar-." Talk about the great vowel shift where the vowels just lurch and change. Instead of an - a at the end (herb-a/erb-a), it's made into a kind of schwa-y indistinct sound. What is that? Is it an a, e, i, o, or u in terms of how it's said? Really, it's this muddy, crummy little sound. Lemon: What's that last vowel? "Uh," it's just that.

Same thing: iarbã. That's the word for grass in Romanian. All of that goes back to herba. So we have erba, herbe, erva, yerba, and iarbã all from this original herba. That kind of change happens to every word in the language. Very few words in any of these languages trace back to Latin in anything like an unbroken form.

As a result you have what's obviously a new language. None of the people who speak these five languages could make their way in Latin. They'd have to learn it in school. A Latin speaker who listened to any of them would be baffled. If they could get any of it, they would think that something had gone terribly wrong. There couldn't be a conversation. These are brand-new languages. That's how one word became five-from Latin to the Romance languages.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Language Evolution: How One Language Became Five Languages

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Latin started as a language that was spoken in what is now Italy. Latin was one of many Indo-European languages, a little cluster of languages called Italic. None of them live today except Latin. It happened that the peoples who ended up creating the Roman Empire spoke Latin.

# data[].attributes.body
O artigo discute algumas das origens da língua portuguesa de várias culturas. Fala sobre algumas das influências latinas do português, como a palavra "cadeira," derivada do latim. O artigo também menciona algumas outras culturas que os portugueses emprestaram, como a cultura muçulmana, fenícia, e ibérica, e dá exemplos de cada uma. Algo muito estranho foi aprender que a palavra "camisa" veio dos celtas, o que eu achei interessante.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Probably you didn't know about that but once a year, just for a few days and in the heart of Lisbon you can visit underground roman galleries.

Roman galleries? Yes, Romans have been there too and they left a very big heritage: part of it is underground and almost secret, as the galleries, part of it is still undiscovered and the rest is quite evident. Portuguese language, for example! In fact, the language developed from Latin brought by Romans back in the 3rd century BC.

Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula inhabited the territory before the Romans' arrival. Iberians, Celts, Phoenicians and many others had their own language long before Latin became the main language spoken. Nowadays, only a few words are still used and confirming the origins is not always an easy task. Wondering which ones are still alive? Well, Iberians (probably) left us words like cama (bed) and sapo (frog), from the Celts we got camisa (shirt) and from the Phoenicians mapa (map).

Later on, Latin came leaving us a huge heritage: 90% of portuguese words come from Latin. However, the language spoken by Roman soldiers and merchants was not a "pure latin", yet the language of everyday people called "vulgar latin". Are you curious about the evolution from pure latin to portuguese? Check this example:

classical latin - vulgar latin - portuguese
cáthedram cathédra

After the decline of the Roman Empire, in the late 5th century, Germanic tribes (mainly Suevi and Visigoths) entered the Iberian Peninsula. They considered education a distraction for soldiers and decided to close all roman schools. The result? Vulgar latin was no longer teached and every region started developing his own dialect. However, those warriors left us a few words from the military domain, the most known being guerra (war). They also gave to us a new human feeling...or at least a name for it, orgulho (pride)!

After germanic tribes, time for the Muslim army to invade the Peninsula. Their contribution to the vocabulary was remarkable: a lot of terms (about 800) were introduced in the language before the Reconquista ("reconquest"). Those words are often recognizable by the initial arabic article "al". Want some example? Alface (lettuce), aldeia (village), almofada (pillow) and, last but not least, Algarve, the sunny region of Portugal that literally means "the west".

The road has been long and, in parts, an arduous one, but we have now a beautiful language rich of surprises!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
history portuguese language origin latin romance arabic germanic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Probably you didn't know about that but once a year, just for a few days and in the heart of Lisbon you can visit underground roman galleries. Roman galleries? Yes, Romans have been there too and they left a very big heritage: part of it is underground and almost secret, as the galleries, part of it is still undiscovered and the rest is quite evident.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu escolhi este artigo porque achei legal ver mudanças em uma língua que está evoluindo. Normalmente, quando a língua evolui, parece que o notamos em nosso próprio nível pessoal, mas é legal ver uma mudança oficial feita com base em como as pessoas realmente usam a língua. Por exemplo, uma grande mudança é a descontinuação do trema.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Most Recent Changes to the Portuguese Language | Grammar Index |

Numerous orthographic changes to the Portuguese language were agreed upon in 1994 to take effect in 2009. While the majority of these changes alter the spelling used in Portugal and the Portuguese speaking parts of Africa (to make them coincide more with Brazilian norms), many of the changes are directly relevant to Brazilian Portuguese. Even through implemented in 1994, few (if any) of these changes have been fully adopted by most Brazilians including the Brazilian print media. Full adoption of these changes will most likely require a generation or more.

The most significant of these changes are:

1. Addition of the letters k, w and y to the Portuguese alphabet even though, in Portuguese, they are still only used in words or names of foreign origin.

2. Elimination of the use of the trema (umlaut) where it was formerly used in such words as freq üência and freq üentar. They are now spelled without the umlauted u ( ü), for example, freq uência and freq u entar.

3. Use of a hyphen (-) between compound words where the ending letter of the first word and the starting letter of the second word are the same, for example, contr a-almirante, hipe r-resistente and ant i-i mperialismo.

4. Use of a hyphen (-) in compound words where the second word begins with an h, for example, anti-higiênico and circum-h ospitalar.

5. Elimination of the h and use of a hyphen (-) in compound words starting in des and in that were formerly coupled with a wordstarting with the letter h, for example, des-humano is now spelled desumano and in-hábil is spelled inábil.

6. Elimination of the circumflex (^) on the first o of words ending with a double o ( oo), for example, v ôo should now spelled v oo, enj ôo should now spelled enj oo and abenç ôo should now spelled abenç oo.

For those interested in reading more about all of these changes:

A Nova Ortografia da Língua Portuguesa
Antônio Houaiss
Editoria Ática, 1993

ISBN 85 08 039743

Copyright ©2010 Brazil Consulting. All rights reserved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Most Recent Ortographic Changes to the Portuguese Language

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Most Recent Changes to the Portuguese Language | Grammar Index | Numerous orthographic changes to the Portuguese language were agreed upon in 1994 to take effect in 2009. While the majority of these changes alter the spelling used in Portugal and the Portuguese speaking parts of Africa (to make them coincide more with Brazilian norms), many of the changes are directly relevant to Brazilian Portuguese.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu gostei muito deste artigo porque é realmente simples e fácil de entender. Eu também gostei disso porque tive muitos problemas com demonstrativos. Eu pensei que a parte mais difícil sobre eles é conhecer a situação de cada demonstrativo. As situações para usar cada demonstrativo sempre pareciam aleatória e arbitrária. Contudo, este artigo ajudou muito mais do que eu pensava.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A YouTube subscriber emailed me the question:

"Can you talk about the difference between este(a), esse(a) and isso? Is there even a difference or is it just a different way of saying the same thing??"

This is a great question. In fact, many Brazilians don't remember what the difference between ESTE and ESSE is. In everyday spoken Portuguese, the difference is almost completely ignored.

The Demonstrative Pronouns

In English you have the demonstrative pronouns THIS, THAT, THESE, THOSE. In Portuguese you have:

Este (singular)

Estes (plural)

Esta (singular)

Estas (plural)

Isto

This/these

Used to refer to nouns (people, animals, objects) that are close in space or time to the speaker

Esse (singular)

Esses (plural)

Essa (singular)

Essas (plural)

Isso

This/these, That/those

Used to refer to nouns (people, animals, objects) that are close in space or time to the person you are speaking with

Aquele (singular)

Aqueles (plural)

Aquela (singular)

Aquelas (plural)

Aquilo

That/those

Used to refer to nouns (people, animals, objects) that are distant from the people in the dialogue

As you can see, ESTE, ESSE, and AQUELE agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plura) with the noun that they refer to. ISTO, ISSO, and AQUILO only have one form.

A Few Examples to Put the Grammar into Practice
Este telefone
Sara is holding her phone and telling her friend:

Este telefone é ótimo. = This phone is great.

Telefone is a masculine, singular noun. The phone is in Sara's hands. That is why she says ESTE. If Sara was holding two phones, she would say: " Estes telefones."
Esta caneta
João is holding the pen and thinking:

Esta caneta é enorme. = This pen is huge.

Caneta is a feminine, singular noun. He has the pen with him. Therefore he uses ESTA.
Essa blusa
Paulo is with his girlfriend Clarissa. He asks her:

Blusa is a feminine, singular noun. He is talking about Clarissa's blouse, so he says ESSA.
Esse livro
Bianca is having tea with her friend Melissa, who is reading a book. Bianca asks:

Livro is a masculine, singular noun. The book is closer to her friend than to herself. Therefore Bianca says ESSE.
Este/Esse, Esta/Essa
Here is one more example to illustrate that the difference between ESTE/ESTA and ESSE/ESSA is just a question of distance/perspective, and not a matter of meaning:

Esta flor é pra você. = This flower is for you.

Essa flor é pra mim? = Is this flower for me?

The person holding the flower uses ESTA. The other person uses ESSA.
Aqueles restaurantes, Aquelas casas
Antônio points to a couple of restaurants at the other side of the street and says:

Aqueles restaurantes são novos. = Those restaurants are new.

Aquelas casas também. = Those houses as well.

Restaurantes is a masculine, plural noun. The restaurants are not by Antônio or his friends. Therefore he says AQUELES.

Casas is a feminine, plural noun. That is why he says AQUELAS.

How About ISTO, ISSO, and AQUILO?

As you could see in the examples above, ESTE(S), ESTA(S), ESSE(S), ESSA(S), AQUELE(S) and AQUELA(S) agree in gender and number with the noun (object, person, animal) that they refer to.

ISTO, ISSO and AQUILO do not vary. They do not have feminine and plural forms.

In addition - this is very important - ISTO, ISSO and AQUILO are never followed by a noun (person, animal, object).

Examples:
Isto é açaí
Vicente is holding a handful of . He tells his friends:

It doesn't matter whether the object is masculine or feminine. It also doesn't matter if we have one object or many. What matters is that Vicente is holding the fruits, so he chooses to say ISTO.
O que é isso?
Ronaldo opens the box and feels puzzled. He thinks to himself:

Again, it doesn't matter whether the object is masculine or feminine. It also doesn't matter if we have one object or many. What matters is that the object is not in Ronaldo's hand, so he chooses to say ISSO.
O que é aquilo?
André sees something strange in the sky and asks:

O que é aquilo no céu? = What is that in the sky?

The object is not close to him or to his friends, so he uses AQUILO.

Does It Really Matter?

The difference between ESTE/ESSE, ESTA/ESSA and ISTO/ISSO is frequently ignored in spoken Portuguese in Brazil. However, if you are going to write documents for business or school, you should study the differences in more detail, as there will be differences in meaning.

I hope this helped solve the mystery of the demonstrative pronouns in Portuguese.

------

Street Smart Brazil offers one-on-one online Portuguese lessons. We have a fantastic team of tutors, exclusive class materials, and complete programs from absolute beginner to fluent. See what our customers are saying and book a Trial Lesson today.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Difference Between ESTE and ESSE in Portuguese | Street Smart Brazil

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A YouTube subscriber emailed me the question: "Can you talk about the difference between este(a), esse(a) and isso? Is there even a difference or is it just a different way of saying the same thing??" This is a great question. In fact, many Brazilians don't remember what the difference between ESTE and ESSE is.

# data[].attributes.body
O artigo sobre estrutura de frase é muito interessante porque explica muitos conceitos gramaticais difíceis. Por exemplo, discute conceitos simples como sujeito-verbo-jeito, mas também fala sobre conceitos mais difíceis. como a estrutura da pergunta. Outra coisa interessante que vi, mas não foi mencionada no artigo, é que ás vezes você solta preposições ao iniciar uma frase.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Portuguese learn you do to want?

Sorry, I mean: Do you want to learn Portuguese?

Wow! Placing words into their correct spots in a sentence makes a world of a difference, doesn't it?

If you were studying, say, Japanese, you'd have to learn to turn your thinking upside-down to form proper sentences. But if you're learning Portuguese and you already know English, you're in luck: Portuguese and English word order is very similar.

But not always.

If you want to communicate with Portuguese speakers, you'll have to learn to string together all those vocabulary words you've been learning in a way that makes sense in the Lusophone world.

Some of this will be familiar. Some will be new. If you don't want to earn the nickname Yoda, then pay attention!

A Quick Intro to Portuguese Sentence Structure

Like the English language, Portuguese follows what's known as the subject-verb-object sentence format.

This is exactly what it implies: you state who (the subject) is doing the action (verb) and to what/ under what context (object)-in that order.

Here are a few examples that demonstrate this concept more clearly:

Ele comprou um livro. - He bought a book.

In this phrase ele (he) is the subject, comprou (bought) is the verb and um livro (a book) is the object.

Nós fomos ao restaurante. - We went to the restaurant.

Here, nós (we) is the subject, fomos (went) is the verb and ao restaurante (to the restaurant) is the object.

Naturally, there are some subtle grammatical differences between the two languages.

One of the first things to keep in mind is that, unlike English, months, nationalities and days of the week are only capitalized in Portuguese if they appear at the start of the sentence:

Vou te visitar em outubro. - I'll visit you in October.

Segunda-feira eu volto lá. - (On) Monday I'll go back there.

You'll find other little peculiarities as you delve closer into the various phrases you might use on a day-to-day basis-which is exactly what we're focusing on next.

Portuguese Sentence Types, Explained

As previously stated, the best way to make sense of the similarities and differences between English and Portuguese word order is to look at the different types of sentences you'll be dealing with: statements, questions, negative statements and descriptions.

1. Make Statements

Statements or assertions are the easiest to get your head around, as this is where the subject-verb-object format is most evident:

Eu vou comprar uma casa. - I'll buy a house.

Meu vizinho saiu de férias. - My neighbor went on vacation.

See how easily these sentences flow into their subjects and what they're doing?

Where Portuguese differs from English is in the fact that it's what linguists call a null subject language. What this means is that it allows for, and sometimes mandates, the omission of certain subjects.

For example, the sentence "I'm going to Paris" can be written in full- Eu vou para Paris-or it can omit the "I" subject- Vou para Paris.

Here's another example: In Está a chover (European Portuguese) and está chovendo (Brazilian Portuguese)-both of which mean "It's raining"-the subject is ambiguous, and therefore omitted.

Put it into practice:

Spend some time looking at how the above rules apply to the sentences you've stumbled across in your studies. Whenever you're doing any kind of language practice, have a pen and some paper handy so that you can take note of the different statements that jump at you.

For instance, you might jot down the key phrases that appear in the exercises you've been doing via the FluentU app, the various exchanges you've seen in your textbooks or even the terms that emerged in the blogs, news sites and other leisurely online material you've been browsing in your down time.

One big bonus to using the FluentU program for this exercise is that you'll be using real-world examples of the language. Since FluentU uses authentic videos like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks, you'll be getting some great examples of the way actual Portuguese speakers form sentences. Dropping the pronoun, for instance, is more common than you might imagine!

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon.

The more relevant you can make this exercise to your learning, the better!

2. Ask Questions

This is one of the biggest differences between Portuguese and English as far as word order goes. But it actually works out in your favor!

While in English, the subject and verb word order needs to be reversed for a question ( "He is going home." → "Is he going home?"), all that differentiates a statement from an indirect question in Portuguese is its intonation.

For instance, the statement Ele é alemão (He's German) is easily transformed into a question by saying it in an interrogative manner: Ele é alemão? (Is he German?)

Of course, there are instances in English where you might ask a question in the same manner. The difference is, in Portuguese this is the case all the time, whereas in English you'd only apply an inquisitive tone to a statement when you're double-checking or are incredulous about a fact presented to you: "He's German? Really!?"

Also note that while in English you need to start your questions with an auxiliary verb, it's not a requirement in Portuguese:

Elas moram em São Paulo? - Do they (feminine) live in São Paulo?

You do, however, need to add your standard question words-who (quem), what (o que), when (onde), where (quando), how (como), why (por que)-to direct questions, just as you would in English:

Quando é a reunião? - When's the meeting?

Onde fica o restaurante? - Where's the restaurant?

Como você sabe? - How do you know?

Be extra careful when dealing with "why" and "because" as they're quite easy to get mixed up:

Por que você faltou da escola? - Why did you miss school? (Por que - Why)

Porque eu estava doente. - Because I was sick. (Porque - Because)

Put it into practice:

This is where you get to test your listening and speaking skills. Keep your ears peeled for any questions that come up on your favorite podcasts, audiobooks, movies and other listening tools-and repeat them out loud so that you're also working on your own intonation.

3. Craft Negative Statements

In order to make a sentence negative, you simply need to add a negating word before the verb.

Negative words that typically precede Portuguese verbs are não (no, don't or not, depending on context), nunca (never), and nem (nor). Jamais (never ever) might also be used on the odd occasion:

Eu não tenho ideia. - I have no idea.

Não faça isso. - Don't do this.

Ele não é muito simpático. - He's not very friendly.

Eu nunca comi caviar. - I've never eaten caviar.

Ela não quer sair. - She doesn't want to go out.

(Nós) jamais esqueceremos disso. - (We) will never forget this. (This is one of those sentences where you can omit the "we" subject if you wish.)

Não vi, nem quero ver. - I neither saw (it), nor do I want to. (And this is an example which mandates the subject to be omitted.)

Put it into practice:

Now's the time to focus on your writing skills. First up, grab your pen and notebook and start crafting some positive statements. Then, convert them into negative sentences.

Along with fine-tuning your knowledge of grammar rules, this'll add some much-needed spelling practice into the mix.

4. Get Descriptive

Now we get into adjective placement.

This is one of those areas you'll want to spend some time working on, as it'll go against some of the standard conventions you're used to.

In English, describing words come before the noun; in Portuguese, adjectives follow the nouns they modify.

If you're describing a red car, for instance, you need to invert your word order: um carro vermelho (carro - car, vermelho - red). Taking things literally, you're saying "car red" instead of a "red car."

The same rule applies to size, shape and other descriptors:

Ela mora em uma casa grande. - She lives in a big house. (casa - house, grande - big)

(Eu) Tenho cinco maçãs maduras. - I have three ripe apples. (maçãs - apples, maduras - ripe)

(Eu) Comprei um computador novo. - I bought a new computer. (computador - computer, novo - new)

We get that this probably sounds unnatural right now. But constructing descriptive sentences will get easier once you get used to the reversed order of things.

Put it into practice:

Let's mix things up a little.

Start by analyzing the various adjectives that emerge in your favorite study resources, Portuguese language apps, visual tools and audio aides. For this step, you should focus on how each describing word is used alongside questions as well as negative and positive statements.

Once you've done that, you can start building your own descriptive sentences -statements, questions, anything goes! It may be that you need to revisit some of the previous rules to do this. But in the end, the more creative you can be in your approach, the more memorable the experience will be.

That's all there is to it! We hope our study tips will help you hone your Portuguese sentence-building skills so that you, too, can construct your own path toward fluency.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Perfect Your Portuguese Word Order Skills in 4 Steps

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Portuguese learn you do to want? Sorry, I mean: Do you want to learn Portuguese? Wow! Placing words into their correct spots in a sentence makes a world of a difference, doesn't it?

# data[].attributes.headline
Objetos diretos and indiretos em português.  

# data[].attributes.subject
Objetos diretos and indiretos em português.  

# data[].attributes.body
Para mim, os pronomes de objetos são provavelmente o dispositivo gramatical mais confuso. No enquanto, eu achei este artigo um recurso bom para entender melhor as funções de objetos diretos e indiretos. Eu também gostei do artigo porque explica a colocação de palavras desses pronomes, que é possivelmente a parte mais difícil.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
are one of the trickiest things to learn and master in Portuguese. But don't despair - we're here to help! Throughout these lessons you'll learn how to use clitic pronouns correctly, but first you should understand more about the difference between direct and indirect objects.
The objects of a sentence can be represented in various ways, the most common being nouns and pronouns. Some verbs don't need objects for the sentence to make sense, while others demand them. These are called transitive verbs. For example, take the English phrase "She wants". That sounds incomplete, right? In English, want is a transitive verb, so you need more information. What does she want? She wants that car. Now it's a complete sentence, with " that car " being the direct object.

Direct Objects

A Eles vestiram They put direct object (complemento direto ) answers the questions "what?" or "whom?", and therefore shows a direct connection with the main verb, complementing it.
Let's look at a few examples:

as t-shirts. Eles vestiram- the t-shirts on. They put them on. nas.
As you can see, in the first example, the verb was performed directly to the mom, so is the direct object of the sentence. She called whom? The mom. Since mom is a female direct object, you replace it with the clitic pronoun a.
The same goes for the second sentence: They put on what? The t-shirts. So the t-shirts are the direct object. Because this is the plural of a female direct object, you would think it would be replaced by the clitic pronoun as, but since the verb vestiram ends in -am, you have to use nas. (This is a rule that makes the word easier to pronounce. You will learn more about this inflected form in this lesson.)

Indirect Objects

Indirect objects (complementos indiretos ) are objects that are connected to the main verb by a preposition, such as . You can locate the indirect object by asking a question like " to whom?", " from whom?", or " for whom?" because the person (or object) is indirectly affected by the main verb. Let's take a look at some examples:

What did he steal? The cookies. That's the direct object. From whom? From his friend. That's the indirect object. Notice the preposition à making the connection.

The questions have the same answer but now the indirect object is represented by the clitic pronoun "lhe". (Keep in mind that when you use a clitic pronoun as an indirect object, it is never preceded by a preposition.)

Word Order

Sentences can have indirect objects without direct objects, and vice-versa, and they can also have both, as seen in the example above. If both are present, and no clitic pronouns are involved, there's no particular order in which they should appear.

is the same as

The order starts to matter when you use clitic pronouns, however.

This is how this sentence would normally appear, with the verb first ( deu), followed by the indirect object pronoun (- lhes), followed by the direct object ( um presente).
You could re-write that sentence differently, placing the pronoun before the verb (with "ontem/yesterday" gone). The examples below are technically correct and make sense, but are not common in European Portuguese. The first one is either used in poetry or when you want to sound like Yoda, from Star Wars, while the second is commonly found in Brazilian Portuguese.

The Bottom Line on Word Order

The common practice is to place an indirect object (represented by clitic pronouns) before the direct object.
If the sentence is in question form or negative form, however, then the pronoun precedes the verb.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Clitic Pronouns - Direct & Indirect Objects | Practice Portuguese

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
are one of the trickiest things to learn and master in Portuguese. But don't despair - we're here to help! Throughout these lessons you'll learn how to use clitic pronouns correctly, but first you should understand more about the difference between direct and indirect objects.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu escolhi esse artigo porque eu acho que verbos reflexivos podem ser muito difíceis. Embora verbos reflexivos não possuam regras específicas, este artigo os esclarece um pouco. O artigo fala sobre os dificuldades de traduzir o uso de verbos reflexivos do inglês para o português, que eu gosto. Finalmente, também discute alguns erros comuns, como o posicionamento do pronome nesses verbos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Reflexive verbs express what a person does to him/herself.

In other words, reflexive verbs are used when the person who performs the action is also the person who receives the action. For example: "I cut myself cooking". The action reflects back on the subject. That is why they are called reflexive verbs.

Being a reflexive verb does not give the verb a new verb tense or conjugation. You conjugate the verb in the tense that you need just like any other verb.

What indicates that it is a reflexive verb is the use of a reflexive pronoun.

Let me show you how to use reflexive verbs. There are 15 examples in this lesson and flashcards to help you learn 29 commonly used reflexive verbs.

Examples of Reflexive Verbs in Action
Example 1:
Eu me cortei cozinhando. = I cut myself cooking.

The verb Cortar is conjugated in the past tense. Nothing new here: Eu cortei.

Now notice that ME before the verb. That is the reflexive pronoun associated with Eu.

In this sentence, it works as "myself" in English.

Example 2:
Ana se cortou cozinhando. = Ana cut herself cooking.

The verb Cortar is conjugated in the past tense: Ana cortou.

Before the verb, you see the reflexive pronoun SE which is associated with Ele, Ela.

In English you use "herself" or "himself"

Often times a verb is reflexive in Portuguese, but not in English. That is, it would not take "myself", "himself", etc. in English, but it is reflexive in Portuguese.

Example:

As crianças se divertem no parque. = Kids have fun in the playground.

So how do you know when you need to use a reflexive pronoun?

You just know. There is no simple rule here. You need to learn which verbs are reflexive and when. Check out our flashcards below to learn 29 common reflexive verbs.

Usually you have the option to place the pronoun before or after the verb.

In writing, especially formal writing for business or school, the preference is to place the pronoun after the verb.

Ana cortou-se cozinhando. = Ana cut herself cooking.

Use a hyphen when you place the pronoun after the verb,.

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, we usually put the reflexive pronoun before the verb:

Ana se cortou cozinhando. = Ana cut herself cooking.

With that said, there are a few situations in which you need to place the pronoun before the verb even in formal Portuguese. You don't have an option in these situations.

When You Need to Place the Pronoun Before the Verb

When you have a negative word in the sentence

Eu não me cortei. = I didn't cut myself.

Paulo nunca se diverte nas festas. = Paulo never has fun at the parties.

Ninguém se cortou. Que bom! = No one got cut. That's nice!

When you have a question word in the sentence

Quem se cortou? = Who got cut?

Quando Ana se cortou? = When did Ana cut herself?

After relative pronouns such as que and quem

Ana é a pessoa que mais se corta na cozinha. = Ana is the person who cuts herself the most in the kitchen.

There are a few other rules. These are the most common.

When you have two verbs in a row, you can place the reflexive pronoun:

1. between the two verbs; do not use a hyphen in Brazil

2. or after the second verb, using a hyphen

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, it is more common to place it between the verbs.

Eu vou me vestir. = I am going to get dressed.

Eu vou vestir-me. = I am going to get dressed.

Diana quer se levantar. = Diana wants to get up.

Diana quer levantar-se. = Diana wants to get up.

You cannot start a sentence with a reflexive pronoun.

But I need to say that this may be the most disrespected grammar rule in spoken Brazilian Portuguese. In fact, I will even recommend that you break the rule in order to sound more natural in Brazil.

Chamo-me Luciana. = My name is Luciana. (This sounds very formal in Brazil)

Me chamo Luciana. = My name is Luciana. (This sounds more natural in Brazil)

Well, they should. But as you know, sometimes people develop different ways of speaking in different parts of the country.

The rules above are the official rules for the whole country. But in some parts of Brazil you will hear some reflexive verbs used without the reflexive pronouns.

Should you do the same? If you live in one of these parts of Brazil, you may find it easier to speak like everyone else. But keep in mind that it sounds wrong to those who use the reflexive verbs correctly.

= Cristina fell in love with Brazil.

João e Clara se apaixonaram à primeira vista.

= João and Clara fell in love at first sight.

Daniel se arrependeu de ter saído do emprego.

= Daniel regretted leaving his job.

Ana está se arrumando para ir ao casamento de Priscila.

= Ana is getting ready to go to Priscila's wedding.

Ana geralmente não gosta de se maquiar.

= Usually Ana does not like to put on makeup.

= Ana gets dressed quickly.

= João doesn't like to shave.

Eu te dei o endereço errado. Desculpe. Eu me enganei.

= I gave you the wrong address. Sorry. I made a mistake.

Eu me levanto às 7 durante a semana. E você?

= I get up at 7 during the week. How about you?

= What is your name? (Literally: How are you called?)

A gente se divertiu muito no casamento.

= We had a lot of fun at the wedding.

Cadê a Ana? Ela foi embora sem se despedir?

= Where is Ana? Did she leave without saying goodbye?

= I am not feeling very well today.
Tips to use the flashcards

Use the dropdown menu below the cards to choose a study mode.

In Flashcard mode, click Options on the top right side to enable sound and choose if you want to see the English or the Portuguese card first, or if you prefer to see both cards at the same time.

Try the different study modes to make it more fun and see what works better for you.

If you like games, choose Scatter or Space Race study modes.

We have more flashcards in our Portuguese Starter Kit. Check them out too!

Learning Tip

One of the best ways to retain new vocabulary and make sure that you are using your grammar correctly is to use it in context. Your brain will retain the new words better if it sees them in real-life use.

If you have a Portuguese instructor, practice the reflexive verbs with your teacher. A good instructor will facilitate your learning through carefully selected class activities and exercises.

If you are looking for a great Brazilian Portuguese instructor, Book a Trial Lesson with a Street Smart Brazil teacher to see how we can help you speak Portuguese comfortably and correctly.

Happy learning!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reflexive Verbs Made Simple in Portuguese | Street Smart Brazil

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reflexive verbs express what a person does to him/herself. In other words, reflexive verbs are used when the person who performs the action is also the person who receives the action. For example: "I cut myself cooking". The action reflects back on the subject. That is why they are called reflexive verbs.

# data[].attributes.body
Eu escolhi este relatório porque acho que lida com um conceito difícil, que é preposições e artigos. A parte difícil com preposições e artigos é combiná-los corretamente, e acho que este relatório faz um bom trabalho simplificando-o. Enquanto mostra como combinar preposições e artigos, também mostra quando combinar itens específicos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is a Preposition?

Preposições Prepositions are short words that usually occur before a noun (or pronoun). They show how the noun relates to another element in the sentence in terms of time, location, movement, or other parameters.

For example, the English prepositions i n, at, on, and through could be used to create prepositional phrases such as in the morning, at the park, on the table, and through the rain.

To get us started, here are a few examples of Portuguese prepositions that translate somewhat easily into English:

You may have noticed that the first two examples use the same word in different ways:
Translating a preposition is often not very straightforward. There are many situations like this, in which a Portuguese preposition corresponds to multiple possibilities in English, or vice-versa.
Sometimes you'll even come across Portuguese phrases that use a preposition, while the corresponding English translation does not. For example:

Contractions Between Prepositions and Articles

In both English and Portuguese, prepositions are usually followed by an article ( in the, at a, for the, etc.) Unlike English, however, in Portuguese you often combine the preposition with the article in order to form a new word. These are referred to as contrações contractions

Prepositions + Definite Articles

The most common translation for "in" is em (one of the Portuguese prepositions). The word "the" corresponds to a for feminine nouns or o for masculine nouns. As a result, there are 2 different ways to say " in the ", depending on the gender of the noun that follows it.

There are many other contractions that are formed by combining different prepositions with the definite articles , , , or as. Below is a useful table showing some prepositionson the left column, the definite articles they combine with along the top row, and their respective contractions in the body of the table:

os the

ao

aos

dos

das

nos

nas

por

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Prepositions in Portuguese | Practice Portuguese

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
What is a Preposition? are short words that usually occur before a noun (or pronoun). They show how the noun relates to another element in the sentence in terms of time, location, movement, or other parameters. For example, the English prepositions in, at, on, and through could be used to create prepositional phrases such as in the ...

# data[].attributes.body
Em português existem muitos verbos irregulares que são difíceis de conjugar, mas este artigo ajuda a simplificá-lo um pouco. Embora o guia não seja uma maneira de conjugar verbos irregulares, ele fornece algumas regras básicas. Um bom exemplo é a palavra "conhecer" porque você deve manter o som "s" na palavra; portanto, é necessário alterar o "c" para ao conjugar na primeira pessoa.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Are you struggling with irregular verbs? No matter how hard you try, can you simply not remember all the irregular verb conjugations in Brazilian Portuguese?

Sure, it's rough. Verb conjugations in Romance languages are a rather arduir (to go)ous endeavor for English speakers because of all the wild irregularities.

Here's the upside: For a basic level of communication in Brazilian Portuguese, you can get by with just three tenses. If you can handle the present, the imperfect and the preterite indicative, you should be able to get your point across in most contexts.

In this post, we'll focus on the present, and specifically on the irregular verbs in the present.

This post isn't for those just starting out with Portuguese, but it's suitable for those who have been studying for a bit already and have some basic vocabulary and familiarity with the regular present tense conjugations.

For our examples here, we use the variety of Portuguese from the Brazilian states of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, which is the focus for most learners of Brazilian Portuguese.

The Portuguese for other parts of the world won't vary too much for this topic, with the addition of tu in some areas like Portugal and the very south of Brazil, plus quite different vocabulary in terms of example sentences in some of those dialects.

Having said all that, let's make sense of some irregular Brazilian Portuguese verbs.

The Importance of Learning Portuguese Irregular Verbs in the Present Tense

If your goal is just basic communication, studying present-tense indicative irregular verbs can get you a nearly maximal bang for your grammar-study-time buck.

You'd certainly not want to spend your limited time with the future tense, which is rarely used in spoken Brazilian Portuguese; the concept of the future is more often expressed by the irregular present tense verb ir that we'll see later in this article. And some perfect tense uses will make use of another irregular present tense verb that you'll see here, ter.

So even for those planning to move on eventually to more advanced concepts, you really need to know the irregular present tense conjugations well because they can become the base for other tenses that you'll learn later.

And finally, if you still need to be sold on this subject: The irregular present tense verbs became so irregular through heavy use-they're contorted precisely because they're generally the most common words in the language. Who wouldn't want to know those?

Recap: Regular Brazilian Portuguese Verb Conjugations

I'm assuming here that you know these, but they're absolutely essential for comparison to what's about to come, so here's a quick snapshot of the three regular conjugations in the present tense. (We'll include the translations for the first example but omit them in later examples, as they're self-explanatory.)

Verbs ending in - ar like comprar (to buy):

você/ele/ela compra - you/he/she buys

vocês/eles/elas compram - you (plural)/they (male or mixed gender)/they (female) buy

Verbs ending in - er like beber (to drink):

Verbs ending in - ir like abrir (to open):

As always, the alternate first-person plural a gente (literally "the people," but in this case "we") takes the você/ele/ela endings.

Good so far? Hang on, things will get weirder-but I'll start with the easy stuff.

You can see any of the words below in action on FluentU.

FluentU takes real-world videos-like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks-and turns them into personalized language learning lessons. This makes it easy to see words and concepts as they're actually used by real native speakers in everyday conversation.

A Portuguese learning program is currently in development, so stay tuned for an immersive, authentic way to learn Portuguese, coming soon!

Ever-so-slightly "Irregular" Present Tense Verbs: Spelling Changes

I might be exaggerating just a bit to use the word "irregular" here, but some verbs can look off-kilter to learners and don't at first glance seem to be following the rules above.

In this next example, see if you can spot change as compared to regular conjugation spellings.

Conhecer (to know someone or about something):
vocês/eles/elas conhecem
See how the c became a ç in the eu form? In both cases, the c is pronounced like an s-in the infinitive conhecer that's because the c is followed by an e that makes it all soft and hissy, and in the eu form it's because of that tail-like cedilla hanging from its bottom.

If you were just to speak and never write Portuguese, you wouldn't notice this irregularity at all, because conhecer when conjugated sounds just like any other -er verb. But to maintain the s sound in spelling, we need to change the c to a ç. Otherwise, we'd write a co at the end, and it would sound hard and weird and different from the infinitive, like a ku sound.

Similarly, we need to sometimes with Portuguese verbs in order to preserve the soft g sound.

For example, dirigir (to drive) in its eu form does just that:

We wouldn't want to put go at the end of that conjugation, because the o would give it a hard sound. But in terms of just pronunciation, this could be seen as a regular verb conjugation.
Dropping u
The third major spelling change to be aware of is that sometimes a letter must drop out to maintain consistent pronunciation.

You might recall that sometimes a u slides in after a g to make the g hard, but the u itself isn't pronounced. But we wouldn't want to start pronouncing that u all of a sudden in conjugations where the hardness is already evident (because there's an o after it, for example), so the u drops out.

This happens with conseguir (to obtain, to achieve):

Here are some examples of the verbs we saw in this section, brought to life in full sentences:

Eu conheço todos os forrozeiros de Recife. - I know all of the forró dancers in Recife.

Eu dirijo um carro verde. - I drive a green car.

Eu nunca consigo fazer nada. - I never succeed in doing anything.

But enough of irregular-lite verbs. Let's move on to some troublemakers.

Stem-Changing Verbs in Brazilian Portuguese

There's a weakness in the hearts of some verbs. The stress (pronounced emphasis) falls on the last syllable of Portuguese infinitives, but in the conjugated eu form the stress falls on the next-to-last syllable. Sometimes, that stress can be too much- the vowel under stress ends up changing to something else.

Here, we'll cover some of the most common patterns.

Some verbs stem vowels like in vestir (to dress):

Eu visto o meu filho de roupas roxas. - I dress my son in dark purple.

Recall that this stem change only happens in the eu form (at least of the present indicative, the verb tense we're discussing here). There's no change in the other present indicative forms:

Ele veste o seu filho de roupas roxas. - He dresses his son in dark purple.

Here's another example with the verb mentir (to lie):

Eu não minto nunca; as pessoas confiam em mim. - I don't ever lie; people trust me.

Or sentir (to feel), a verb that's great for waxing romantic:

Eu sinto o calor do abraço do meu namorado como um quente raio de sol de verão na minha pele. - I feel the warmth of my boyfriend's embrace like a warm ray of summer sun on my skin.

Other very common verbs that follow the above pattern include: digerir (to digest), preferir (to prefer), repetir (to repeat) and servir (to serve).

Changing o to u (and vice versa)

Similarly, sometimes stress causes an o to flip to a u in just the eu forms of - ir verbs.

For example, take the verb tossir (to cough):

Eu tusso quando estou resfriado. - I cough when I have a cold.

The reverse is also possible, within only the second- and third-person forms of the verb (but not the eu and nós forms).

Here's an example of this in action:

Ele sempre foge do baile quando vê o seu ex ciumento. - He always escapes from the dance when he sees his jealous ex.

Other verbs with this u to o change in the second and third persons include: subir (to go up, to get on), sacudir (to shake, to boogie down) and sumir (to disappear).

Other stem changes

There are also stem-changing verbs that follow the above e to i and o to u patterns, but do so in all present tense conjugations where the stress falls on that vowel (that is, all conjugations except for the nós form).

This happens with everyone's favorite carnival verb transgredir (to transgress):
você/ele/ela transgride vocês/eles/elas transgridem
Here's an example:

Eu transgrido as normas dos bloggers em apresentar tanta informação de maneira tão animadora. - I transgress bloggers' norms by presenting so much information in such an invigorating way.

You were hoping for a wilder example with transgredir, I'm sure. Let's settle instead on me giving you the absolute craziest, most far-out screwball Portuguese present-tense verb conjugations... coming up next!

Get Your Flashcards Ready: The Most Wildly Irregular Portuguese Present Tense Verbs

You may have felt I was reaching a bit in the previous sections to find patterns and bring order to the Portuguese verbal universe-but at least pretending there's an order can help us maintain the faith needed to memorize these verbs.

But here, my gentle flock, is where you can give up all hope and turn to agnosticism-or else drop Portuguese for a nicely ordered (but invented) language like the totally regular Esperanto.

I'll still try to point out some of the patterns for the following way-out Portuguese verbs where such patterns somewhat exist. But in general, this section is a strong case for flashcards, either literally or with an app like Anki (do create your own cards in the app, rather than downloading, as doing so can in itself be a learning experience).

I remember a decade back, thumbing through my irregular Portuguese verbs on scraps of paper in a park in São Paulo-and then using those same verbs on evenings out dancing samba rock. These are the verbs you use, since they're so common and integral to any conversation.

Irregularities in the eu form

First, there are verbs whose eu form is the only irregularity in the present tense indicative, so we'll just show it here.

caber (to fit):
Example:
Eu caibo nesse espaço pequenininho! - I fit in this tiny space!

saber (to know):
Example:
Eu não sei com certeza o que você acha. -I don't know for sure what you think.

Moving on, some verbs are more broadly irregular, but at least show a bit of a pattern in the non-eu forms.

trazer (to bring):
Example:
Eu trago um vinho para o jantar. - I'm bringing a bottle of wine to supper.

dizer (to say):
Example:
Eu digo claramente o que penso. - I clearly say what I think.

fazer (to do/to make):
Examples:
Vocês fazem bagunça o dia inteiro! - You misbehave/mess things up/make messes all day long!

Ele faz os deveres com o seu filho. - He does homework with his son.

No patterns here: irregular verbs you'll just have to memorize

Let's dive further down the rabbit hole, dears. From here on out you may see some vague semblances of patterns, but it's going to get messy.

ter (to have):
Example:
Tenho vontade de terminar os deveres. - I feel like finishing my homework.

The difference between tem and têm is purely written; the pronunciation in Brazil is identical.

vir (to come):

ver (to see):

As I mentioned earlier, the following verb is useful not just for transport, but also for talking about the future.

ir (to go):
Examples:
Vamos embora às 10:00 da manhã. - We're getting out of here at 10:00 a.m.

Vocês vão dançar um xote essa noite? - Are you guys going to dance a slow forró song tonight?

ser (to be [characteristic]):
Example:
Elas são as minhas amigas. - They're my friends.

The more temporary verb for being has different forms in written and spoken Brazilian Portuguese. The written version is:

estar (to be [temporary]):

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, the es- at the beginning of the above conjugations is only rarely pronounced. So we might write:

Ela está bem melhor. - She's feeling a lot better.

But we'd say:

Moving on, just a few more oddballs to go...

dar (to give):
Example:
E les sempre lhe dão um presente. - They always give him a present.

poder (to be able to):
Example:
No fim das contas, não posso ir, desculpa. - In the end it turns out I can't go, sorry.

querer (to want):
Example:
Quer dançar comigo? - Do you want to dance with me?

And that's it for our extensive dip into the most popular and useful irregular Portuguese verbs in the present tense.

There are some more irregular verbs out there, however. My Brazilian friends' favorite resource for conjugating any verb (it's tough for them too, sometimes) is Conjugação.com.br (if you try just Googling the verb plus "conjugation" you will, unfortunately, get Spanish verbs in many cases).

I also recommend the books "A Grammar of Spoken Brazilian Portuguese," "Portuguese: A Linguistic Introduction" and "Modern Brazilian Portuguese Grammar" for more detail on the patterns involved in the verbs as well as how to employ them.

I don't recommend conjugation list books, as that information is all available more readily on the conjugation site I mentioned and others.

Be careful as you're learning not to fall into the trap of only learning the conjugations out of context. You want to be able to actually use these odd words in conversation, not just spit them out in order when prompted with the infinitive.

As I mentioned before, for me that meant lacing up my dance shoes at the end of the day, meeting people and spitting out whatever sad little Portuguese phrases I could. For you that might mean any number of other activities (learning-related or not) that get you actually employing these verbs in sentences.

The irregular verbs are so common that you're bound to use them just about any time you open your mouth in the company of Brazilians.

Mose Hayward also writes about his Brazilian dancing adventures for Forró Club.

If you liked this post, something tells me that you'll love FluentU, the best way to learn a language with real-world videos.
Experience language immersion online
Portuguese Coming Soon!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Demystifying Present-tense Portuguese Irregular Verbs: Patterns in Irregularity

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Are you struggling with irregular verbs? No matter how hard you try, can you simply not remember all the irregular verb conjugations in Brazilian Portuguese? Sure, it's rough. Verb conjugations in Romance languages are a rather arduir (to go)ous endeavor for English speakers because of all the wi

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo tem muitas das mesmas regras que discutimos na aula, mas eu achei que era bom ter uma versão visualizada das regras. Por exemplo, fala sobre as regras de L e ão. Uma coisa importante que menciona é que os finais plurais de "ão" nem sempre seguem uma regra. Eu apenas pensei que era um bom artigo para se familiarizar com.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Plurals in Portuguese | Practice Portuguese

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A challenging part of learning Portuguese is realizing that some words need to be adjusted to agree with the gender and number of the people or objects we are talking about. Let's see a quick overview of which types of words change, and which ones stay the same.

# data[].attributes.headline
Palavras masculinas e femininas em português 

# data[].attributes.subject
Palavras masculinas e femininas em português 

# data[].attributes.body
No artigo, o autor diz sobre como palavras diferentes são atribuídas a um gênero. Às vezes o gênero se correlaciona com a última letra como "a mesa" ou "o prato." No entanto, as vezes as regras são menos claras e outras vezes as regras são quebradas. Por exemplo, palavras como "a cidade" ou "a mão" tornam as regras menos claras.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
As mentioned earlier and unlike English, nouns in Portuguese have a gender, either masculine or feminine. There are some general rules for determining the gender of the noun (although there are also exceptions, which we'll go over later).

Generally, nouns ending in "" are masculine words. Masculine words take on masculine articles.
Examples of masculine words:
Usually words ending in "" are feminine and they take on feminine articles.
Examples of feminine words:
Words ending in "" can be either masculine or feminine.

Nouns ending in "" can be either feminine or masculine

There are many nouns, especially those designating people or professions, that can be changed from masculine to feminine. These also have some general rules which are as follows:
1. When a noun ends in " o," you must change theo for "a" 2. When a noun ends in "r" or "s", just add "a" 3. When a noun ends in "ão", change ão to "ã" or "oa" 4. When a noun ends in "e", the word remains unchanged (but you can determine if it is feminine or masculine by the article used). 5. When a noun ends in "ista", the word also remains unchanged (but you can know if it is a feminine or a masculine word through the article used)
For more practice with masculine and feminine words, check out the vocabulary lists on this site.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Masculine & Feminine in Portuguese - Fun with Portuguese!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Masculine & Feminine As mentioned earlier and unlike English, nouns in Portuguese have a gender, either masculine or feminine. There are some general rules for determining the gender of the noun (although there are also exceptions, which we'll go over ... Continued

# data[].attributes.body
Aqui, o palestrante explica as diferenças entre sotaques do nordeste e do sul. Ele fala sobre como os brasileiros do sul têm um som mais severo que os do nordeste brasileiros, especificamente com o som "de". Outro exemplo é a letra "R", pois os brasileiros do sul têm um "R" mais pronunciado, enquanto os brasileiros do nordeste têm um som mais "H". É uma comparação legal.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Comparing Northeastern Brazilian to Southern Brazilian Accents

# data[].attributes.headline
Palavras em inglês que os brasileiros pronunciam errado

# data[].attributes.subject
Palavras em inglês que os brasileiros pronunciam errado

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo fala sobre alguns dos erros que os brasileiros cometem ao falar inglês. O primeiro exemplo que eles usam é a palavra maçã. Mostra como os brasileiros o pronunciam como "épou" porque eles têm problemas com o som escuro de "L". Eu achei esse artigo foi legal porque mostrou como os brasileiros incorporam seus sotaques em um nova língua.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
If you're like most Brazilians, you probably have a hard time pronouncing the word "Apple" in English. As this comical picture illustrates, Brazilians tend to incorrectly pronounce the word Apple in English as "Épou."

This is not incorrect when speaking Portuguese, but when you speak English, you need to adjust your pronunciation to a new set of sounds.

And this is just a classic example. We have "House" (Halls), "Bluetoof" (Bluetooth), and Burger King "Buh-guh King," amongst many others.

Because I'm also learning Portuguese, I can understand how difficult and frustrating it can be to learn the sounds of a new language. But I definitely try to have fun with it, and learning how to pronounce brand names (company names) is one of the most fun and effective ways to learn English phonetics.

As Brazilians, because you've probably spent your entire life learning how to pronounce words like Apple, Burger King and McDonalds in Portuguese, it is only natural that you have a much more difficult time pronouncing them correctly in English.

The problem is that your native language has programmed you with incorrect pronunciation models for not just the names of these global companies, but for the rest of your English as well.

Today I will share 7 of these words, help you learn the correct pronunciation, and recommend resources that will help you learn every aspect of pronouncing these sounds correctly in English.

1. Apple [*Épou]: The Big Apple (NOT, "the big épou")

A lot of Brazilians wrongly assume that because the first letter of the alphabet is "A," that Apple must be pronounced with a Portuguese "é," or in phonetics this what is called EH [?]. The "A" (AA [æ])from apple is much more like the "A" form the words Can, Fan, and Land.

Check out this amazing explanation from Rachel's English:

Learn the difference between American and British pronunciation of this sound here.
Problem 2: Apple - The Dark L
The second difficulty that Brazilians have with the word Apple is the "Dark L" sound at the end. Brazilians have a lot of difficulty with "L" sound in general, but in this case the "pull" at the end of the word is confused with "pou." Other examples of this common Portuguese mispronunciation can be found in the words Full and dull.

Here's another clear video explanation from Rachel. The explanation of the "Dark L" starts at 1:30 into the video.

2. Bluetooth [Bluetuf]
Problem: the voiceless "th" sound
The pronunciation problem that Brazilians have with Bluetooth is much simpler and obvious. The difficulty is that Portuguese doesn't have the "th" sound that we have in English. If you haven't learned it yet, relax, because it's not that difficult. It does demand practice though.

You can learn to pronounce the English "th" sound in just two to three 10 minute practice sessions. I use the following video with my students. Check out Chad's RealLife English article and video explanation (complete with transcript) here.

3. Halls [*Howz]

The Brazilian tendency in this word is to mispronounce the "A" in Halls as an "ow" instead of the English "Aw"

Learn the difference between American and British pronunciation of this sound here (it is explained at about 2:04 into this video).
Problem 2: Halls - The Dark L
Similar to the pronunciation of the "pull" in Apple, the word Halls employs the use of the "dark L" sound, but with an S on it. Brazilians tend to pronounce this almost like a mix between "Howz" and "House." Here's Rachel's pronunciation video again.

4. Burger King [*Booh-guh King]
Problem: Burger King - The IR Sound
For Brazilians, the "r" is one of the most difficult to pronounce sounds in English, and this is illustrated in Portuguese word "Hambúrguer," which has become the default pronunciation for the word "Burger" in Burger King. What makes "Burger" so hard to pronounce for Brazilians is that the E "ir" sound appears before and after the "G."
More examples:
It's also important to note that (1) the Portuguese pronunciation of "r" changes depending on the region. For example, in the São Paulo region the "r" is "porta" is much more similar to American English. Also, British English often eliminates the "r" sound.

Here's a video with a very helpful explanation at the 5:29 point.

5. Twitter + Tweets [twee-tah + Tweets]

Problem 1: "i" Vowels (Examples: live vs leave, bitch vs beach, shit vs sheet)

The word twitter illustrates one of the biggest pronunciation problems that Brazilians have. It's even more confusing because in Portuguese the word Twitter (the company) and Tweet (a Twitter message in 140 characters or less) are pronounced with the same vowel sound ("twee") while in English they are different.

As the video below illustrates, the "i" in Twitter is almost like a Portuguese "ê," while the "ee" in Tweet is like an "í" in Portuguese.

Note: keep in mind that the "r" at the end of twitter should have a strong "r" pronunciation (see the "r" sound in #4).
Problem 2: the American "T" (examples: better as "bedder," later as "lader")
Americans, which compose over 60% of the world's native English speakers, tend to pronounce the "t" between two vowels as an "American T" or "Flap T." Thus, in American English (if that's your dialect of choice), the "tt" in twitter should be "twi-der."

Here's a RealLife TV video lesson that will illuminate the "American T" and show you how Americans do it. Or you can check out the whole article (with transcript) here.

6. McDonalds [Mec/Mickey-Donalds]

Another problematic word for Brazilians to pronounce is McDonalds. In the United States we pronounce this as "Mick-Donalds" with the same "ih" sound as Twitter (above), or in words like "live" (not "leave"). You'll find a short video below teaching the correct pronunciation of McDonalds.

7. Redbull [hey-gee-boo]

This word is a little bit of an exaggeration, but it's definitely very different in English than Portuguese. There are several differences in the pronunciation of "Redbull" that create problems for Brazilians.
Problem 1: the R/H confusion
Brazilians everywhere constantly confuse words that start with "R" for "H." For example, they may pronounce the word "red" as "head," or vice versa. "Can you repeat?" becomes "Can you he peat?" and "Red Hot Chili Peppers" becomes "hea-gee-hodgee-shillee-peppers."

If you still have trouble with this, here is an article that will help: Top 5 English Mispronunciations Made By Brazilians
Problem 2: words that end with "D" with a "gee" sound.
The second problem with the word "Red-bull" is that Portuguese speakers tend to replace the "D" sound for "gee." For example, the name Brad is pronounced "Bra-gee," as Chad is "Tcha-gee." In this case, Brazilians tend to pronounce the word "Red" as "Hea-gee."
Problem 3: the Dark L
The final problem with the Brazilian pronunciation of the word "Redbull" is the Brazilian difficulty with the "Dark L" sound, as discussed in the words Ap ple (#1) and H all s (#3)

Here's an explanation from Rachel's English:

We really hope this video has been helpful. If you haven't checked out our FREE AUDIO PODCAST , we highly encourage you to do so. We teach native pronunciation and connected speech every podcast in a relaxed and fun way. We also provide DYNAMIC TRANSCRIPTS to our loyal podcast fans and newsletter subscribers.

Below you'll find some additional pronunciation help that may interest you. Thanks for reading and take care!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Top 7 Brazilian English Pronunciation Errors - Company Names (w/ Video)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
If you're like most Brazilians, you probably have a hard time pronouncing the word "Apple" in English. As this comical picture illustrates, Brazilians tend to incorrectly pronounce the word Apple in English as "Épou." This is not incorrect when speaking Portuguese, but when you speak English, you need to adjust your pronunciation to a new set of sounds.

# data[].attributes.body
No vídeo, o apresentador explica alguns problemas que os americanos têm ao falar português. Por exemplo, ele usa a letra "r" para mostrar como os portugueses a pronunciam em comparação com a maneira como os americanos a pronunciam. Eu também gosto porque demonstra como os falantes de inglês incorporam suas próprias pronúncias ao português.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What an American accent in Portuguese sounds like

# data[].attributes.body
Este vídeo é muito legal porque mostra os diferentes sotaques português em todo o mundo. O vídeo permite que você veja os como cada região pronuncia seu português. Por exemplo, no vídeo você pode ouvir como o português em Portugal é áspero e pontual. Por outro lado, você também pode ouvir como o português do Brasil é mais suave e flui mais juntos.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Portuguese Language in Different Accents

# data[].attributes.body
Eu escolhi esse vídeo em particular porque fala sobre uma língua crioula que é fortemente influenciada pelo português. É muito legal ver alguém comparar diferentes frases entre o português e crioulo cabo-verdiano. Outra coisa interessante sobre o vídeo é que crioulo cabo-verdiano soa um pouco semelhante ao papiamento que aprendemos na aula.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
My attempt to learn some Cape Verdean Creole

# data[].attributes.headline
Diferenças entre português europeu e português brasileiro 

# data[].attributes.subject
Diferenças entre português europeu e português brasileiro 

# data[].attributes.body
Neste vídeo, o apresentador conversa com uma pessoa de portugal para discutir as diferenças entre o português brasileiro e o português europeu. Eu acho o vídeo é muito interessante porque mostra como a mesma língua evoluiu de maneiras diferentes, o que levou as duas versões distintas do português. Também é muito legal ver exemplos específicos de como cada versão do português é diferente.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Brazilian Portuguese vs. European Portuguese | Speaking Brazilian

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo é interessante, pois mostra um pouco da influência islâmica no mundo português. Isso é importante porque o mundo árabe teve uma influência enorme no mundo português, algo que é frequentemente esquecido. Também achei que este artigo era bom porque mostra alguns dos conflitos modernos entre as culturas árabe e portuguesa, especificamente sobre religião.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
TAVIRA, Portugal - While converting the 16th-century Convento da Graça into a luxury hotel, developers ran into an unexpected problem that canceled plans for a basement spa and pool.

Beneath the old convent and the defensive walls of the ancient coastal city, the excavations uncovered a cobbled street and foundations of a dozen homes built more than 700 years ago by the Arab Muslims who then ruled much of Portugal.

Instead of the pool, there's now a small museum under the hotel bar. Walkways allow visitors to wander above what remains of the medieval Moorish neighborhood.

Like the streets of Tavira, the full extent of Portugal's Muslim heritage has long been forgotten or ignored.

Much of Portugal lived under Islamic rule for over 500 years from the early 8th century, when North African invaders overturned the Germanic kingdoms that had held sway over the Iberian Peninsula since the fall of the Roman Empire.

The Portuguese reconquista gradually forced the Arabs south, driving them from their last strongholds along the Algarve coast in 1249. In the neighboring Spanish region of Andalusia, the Emirate of Granada would hold out for another 250 years.

While seven centuries of Arab rule in Andalusia produced architectural treasures like the Giralda in Seville, Córdoba's Great Mosque and the Alhambra palace in Granada, the Islamic period in Portugal left few major monuments. The Andalusian cities developed as major centers of Islamic culture to rival Damascus or Marrakesh, but Portugal was always on the outer edge of the Muslim world and its frontier rulers invested little in grandiose construction.

But in recent years there's been a renewal of interest in Portugal's Arab legacy.

Next year, Tavira will open a much larger museum of Arab culture and the nearby city of Silves - capital of the medieval Muslim kingdom of the Algarve in southern Portugal - has hosted a Center for Portuguese-Arab Studies since 2004.

More generally, there's been a move by Portuguese scholars and public authorities to re-assess the influence of Arab rule.

"In the old days, the ideology clearly was that the Moors were the enemy," Nina Clara Tiesler of the University of Lisbon's Institute of Social Sciences said in a reference to the nationalist dictatorship that ruled Portugal until 1974.

"You still see something of that today. In school books the Moors are still the enemy, the other ... but among the elite there has been a re-evaluation of this legacy. Since the late 1990s they've tried to show the Islamic heritage as something positive."

The country's best-know example of Islamic architecture is in the small, southeastern town of Mértola where the slender columns and outline of a mihrab in the parish church recalls that the delicate white building was once a mosque.

Although the physical remains are few, the intangible influence of those centuries of Moorish rule in Portugal is immense.

The Portuguese language is peppered with words of Arabic origin, often those relating to food, farming and manual work. One commonly used is oxalá - a direct descendent of insha'Allah, the term meaning "God willing."

"If by magic it was possible to wipe out all the remnants of the Arab legacy from today's Portugal, our ethnic, cultural, physical and human landscape would be completely different," writes Adalberto Alves, the country's best-known expert in the field.

"We might be blond instead of dark, we'd stop speaking the Arabized-Latin that we call Portuguese and we'd loose over a thousand words from our dictionaries. So many of our villages and towns would no longer exist or have to change their names. We wouldn't know how to name the things we grow and eat. What would we call Jasmin, oranges, dates and pomegranates?"

In his book "Portugal: Echoes of an Arab Past," Alves goes on to list the areas where his country has been marked by that past: from poetry to pastries; carpet weaving and guitar music; from the minaret-shaped chimneys that still adorn southern homes to the navigational sciences that allowed Portuguese ships to expand the boundaries of the known world and the irrigation systems used to cultivate the Algarve's olive, fig and almond plantations.

These days, there is much talk in Portugal about a new Islamic presence. The Lisbon Islamic Community estimates there are 40,000 Muslims living in the mainly Roman Catholic nation of 11 million.

Many are Portuguese citizens of Indian origin who moved to Lisbon from Mozambique when the southern African nation became independent from Portuguese rule in 1975. Among the others are economic migrants from the former Portuguese West African colony of Guinea Bissau as well as newer arrivals from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Morocco.

Community leaders complain that their religion is often misunderstood and marginalized, particularly since the 9/11 attacks on the United States. There was much consternation when the Cardinal of Lisbon Dom José Policarpo last year warned Portuguese girls to "think twice about marrying a Muslim" to avoid running into a "heap of trouble."

However Tiesler, the Lisbon-based sociologist, says the fact that so many of the country's Muslims are well integrated, middle class, native-Portuguese speakers means Portugal has avoided the tensions seen in European nations with a large influx of workers from Islamic nations.

"It's not the clash you see in other European countries where you had guest workers," she said in a telephone interview. "The majority are Portuguese, they are not foreigners."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
TAVIRA, Portugal - While converting the 16th-century Convento da Graça into a luxury hotel, developers ran into an unexpected problem that canceled plans for a basement spa and pool. Beneath the old convent and the defensive walls of the ancient coastal city, the excavations uncovered a cobbled street and foundations of a dozen homes built more than 700 years ago by the Arab Muslims who then ruled much of Portugal.

# data[].attributes.body
Este artigo é sobre a evolução da língua portuguesa na península ibérica. Especificamente, como o português e o espanhol derivaram do latim. Essa análise é importante porque mostra os fatores históricos que moldaram a língua e a cultura portuguesas. O artigo também mostra os eventos que diferenciavam espanhol e português. Eu pensei que esta era uma explicação simples, mas eficaz, e é por isso que a escolhi.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"They look similar!" I can already hear you saying. "Look, just change this, and constituci ón becomes constituição. Todo is tudu and bien is bem. Lengua is lingua, and is idioma. They're just dialects of the same language."

Yes and no.

Now, no. Portuguese and Spanish are currently quite different. You can't learn one and expect to function effortlessly in the other. Portuguese sounds are quite different from Spanish ones, as are the two languages' vocabularies. And which variety of present-day Portuguese and Spanish are we talking about, specifically? There's Argentine Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, for starters, and Canary Islands Spanish and Guinean Portuguese, not to mention the regional differences between Portuguese and Spanish dialects within Portugal and Spain themselves.

But once upon a time, yes. Portuguese and Spanish were, basically, dialects of the same language. That language was Latin, the language of the Roman Empire, from which all Romance languages spring.

Hundreds of years later, how have Portuguese and Spanish grown apart, and why? And will they always be different?

Iberian siblings

Spain and Portugal presently occupy almost the entirety of the Iberian Peninsula, the spit of land that sticks out of Western Europe just below France. (Almost, but not quite: the tiny Principality of Andorra sits snug along the border of Spain and France, ensconced in the embrace of the Eastern Pyrenees.) The Iberian Peninsula is where Portuguese and Spanish were 'born' (if languages can be born) and it is also the main reason why Portuguese and Spanish are much closer to each other than to the other major Romance languages: it has allowed them to develop in relative isolation. Indeed, this is plain to see on a map: the oceans surround the western, southern and eastern edges of the Peninsula, while to the north, the Pyrenees form a natural border with France. It is for this reason also that Portuguese and Spanish are usually known as the Iberian or Iberoamerican languages.

But Portuguese and Spanish were not the first languages on the Peninsula, nor are they those first languages' descendants. They come from a very different place.

All roads lead from Rome

The story of Portuguese and Spanish, as with all Romance languages, actually begins in Italy. Or, more specifically, with the Roman Empire, which spoke Latin and spread the language across the lands that it conquered and governed.

At their height, the Romans controlled almost all the areas immediately surrounding the Mediterranean, including modern-day Italy, Croatia, the Levant (the area around modern-day Israel, Lebanon and Syria), the Maghreb (modern-day Morocco), and the Iberian peninsula (which the Romans called 'Hispania'). Latin, as the language of the Roman Empire, was thus brought into all these places, and it gradually began to supersede the use of many other languages on the Peninsula.

Aquitanian, Tartessian, Lusitanian, Celtiberian: these are some of the languages believed to have existed on the peninsula before the arrival of the Romans in 218 BCE. All have now been lost to history (except perhaps Aquitanian, which may have survived in its possible daughter language, Basque, and which you can read about here) because Latin superseded them all in the new Roman province of Hispania. At this time, there was no Spain or Portugal to speak of; there was only Hispania, initially divided into two sections, Hispania Ulterior and Citerior, which became three from 27 BCE: Lusitania (the south-west), Baetica (the south), and Tarraconensis (the rest); and then five from 284 CE, with swathes of Tarraconensis becoming the new provinces of Galicia (the north-west) and Cartaginense (the south-east).

Thus, for the next 600 years, Latin continued to reign supreme on the Iberian Peninsula, as it did in most of the other areas of the Roman Empire.

Latin, however, was itself changing. Just as there are formal and informal versions of Arabic and Tamil today, spoken in different contexts, so too were there different varieties of Latin emerging in the Empire. There was a standardised, 'higher' version of Latin, which we call Classical Latin, spoken in more formal contexts like matters of administration and, later, in churches; and then there was the more informal Latin that everyday people spoke, which gradually came to be called colloquial or Vulgar Latin.

Vulgar Latin developed differently in different parts of the Empire. Not all the reasons for the differences are known, but one main factor could be that different parts of the Empire had different indigenous languages that came into contact with Latin, and thus different parts of the Empire had different loanwords (and eventually vocabularies) in their versions of Vulgar Latin. For example, the Vulgar Latin spoken in Spain and Portugal might have included loanwords from Celtiberian, whereas the Vulgar Latin spoken in France might have loanwords from other indigenous languages instead such as Gaulish.

Of course, Vulgar Latin was frowned upon by authorities and those from the higher echelons of society, and Classical Latin remained their language of choice; they maintained it as a unifying language that was used for administration in all parts of the Roman Empire. Thus, as long as the Empire stayed intact, so too did Latin.

Gothic and Arabic

Like all great empires, however, the Roman Empire was destined to fall. As its influence and control over the territories on its periphery began to weaken significantly, territories like Hispania began in the 5 th century CE to experience several waves of invasions by Germanic peoples like the Vandals, the Alans, and the Visigoths. Eventually, Hispania came under control of this last group, the Visigoths, who were invited to rule the province for Rome by Emperor Honorius in 415 CE, and who gradually took complete control of it, especially after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE.

The new kings were native speakers of Gothic, a distant but now extinct relative of today's German and English. Gothic never really caught on in Hispania, and remained the language of the upper classes, while the majority of the population continued to use Vulgar Latin for everyday communication and interaction. However, with Classical Latin no longer readily available for 'reference' as the standard to aspire to, Vulgar Latin in Hispania likely began to change further, incorporating several new features from Gothic.

Then, beginning in 711 CE, Visigothic Hispania was almost entirely conquered by the Moors of the Umayyad Caliphate, becoming the new Muslim kingdom of Al-Andalus. In a series of swift, lightning-fast conquests, the Umayyads took almost the entire Iberian Peninsula, and replaced Gothic with Arabic as the language of the elite.

However, the Vulgar Latin dialects continued to survive in large part because most of the population remained Christian despite now being subject to heavy Arabic influence. For this reason, the Vulgar Latin of this time is known as Mozarabic. As had been the case under the Visigoth kings, Mozarabic was spoken by a large majority of the population, while Arabic was only used by the upper echelons of society.

Whence Portuguese and Spanish, then? At last, with the Muslim conquest of Spain, they were beginning to appear.

Beloved Homeland

In the northwest corner of Spain, the tiny kingdom of Asturias successfully resisted the Moors, and was able to recover and grow in strength throughout the 9 th and 10 th centuries CE. This one remaining Christian bulwark on the peninsula thus served as the nucleus of the movement known as the Reconquista or the Christian reconquering of Spain, and also as the nucleus from which Portuguese and Spanish as we know them today were eventually born.

At its inception, Asturias was composed of the modern-day regions of Asturias and Galicia, which were never fully under the control of the Moors. Indeed, Galicia especially had remained fiercely distinctive since the 4 th century. In 409 CE, slightly earlier than the rest of the peninsula, it had become a separate Roman vassal state under the Suebi, a separate Germanic race from the Visigoths, and remained an independent Suebi kingdom until 585 CE, when Visigoth King Leovigild absorbed it into the rest of Visigoth Hispania. Galician dialects of Vulgar Latin were thus already rather more divergent compared to Vulgar Latin and Mozarabic dialects on the rest of the peninsula, and even compared to their Asturian brethren.

Enter a Galician nobleman named Vimara Peres, who at the end of the 9 th century CE, led an Asturian force to conquer a sizeable chunk of Andalusian territory between the Minho and Douro rivers. Asturian King Alfonso III awarded the entire region to Peres as a County, and Peres resettled the area with Galician colonists. He also named it after the largest port city in the region, Portus Cale -taken today as the origin of the name Portugal. From this point on, Portugal began to develop its own regional identity, and indeed, its own distinct Vulgar Latin dialects, separate from the Asturian ones.

Portuguese and Spanish

Eventually, Asturias splintered into several successor states as various kings and heirs fought for control over the area. Two of these successor states were the Kingdom of Leon, and the County of Portugal, the latter of which declared its independence as a separate Kingdom from Leon in 1143 under King Afonso Henrique, and by which time had expanded to fill out most of the western coast of the Iberian Peninsula. Portuguese was also by this time a markedly different dialect from the other Vulgar Latin daughter dialects, and Portugal's separation from Leon ensured that this would continue to be so.

Meanwhile, Leon, later the Kingdom of Leon and Castile, gradually began to assert itself as the dominant force in the central area of the Peninsula. It eventually defeated the Moorish kingdoms, and expanded to control the territory of modern-day Spain by the end of the 15 th century CE. The Vulgar Latin daughter dialect that eventually became the language that we know today as Spanish was the Castilian dialect that originated with Leon and Castile, and which became standardised in written form in the 13 th century around the city of Toledo through the work of the Toledo School of Translators. Under the official patronage of King Alfonso X, this group worked to translate a large body of various Arabic and Hebrew texts into Latin and, for the first time, Castilian, giving Castilian a sizeable body of "official" written language, and in doing so laying the foundations for Castilian's eventual dominance over the other daughter dialects of Vulgar Latin.

Differences today

Today, both Standard Castilian Spanish and Standard Continental Portuguese reflect this rich tapestry of linguistic and cultural history, with a sizeable number of loanwords from Arabic, Gothic and (in the case of Spanish) Basque. Both languages retain similar grammatical features and syntax, and also share many cognates, or root word forms, as a result of their common descent from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the peninsula.

However, Portuguese and Spanish differ mainly because of their different origins during the period following the Muslim conquest of Iberia and the advent of the Reconquista. Modern-day Portugal was conquered and consolidated as a stable kingdom much earlier than Spain, and thus the process of the standardisation of Portuguese began earlier than that of Spanish, resulting in Portuguese retaining more recognisable features of Vulgar Latin than Spanish, whose original core dialects evolved and became standardised much later. Geography, both natural and political, has also played a part-had Portugal not remained an independent kingdom and state, it is conceivable that Portuguese might have deteriorated, much as the other Vulgar Latin dialects have today. (The reverse with Castilian Spanish is possible too, though much more unlikely, due to the relative size of the two polities).

Other Vulgar Latin dialects?

What happened to those, I hear you ask? After all, there were other successor states to Asturias, like Aragon, and Navarre. Surely they had their own unique dialects. And what happened to Leonese and Galician?

The answer is that with the process of standardisation, other dialects that have not been chosen as the standard often become marginalised and are left to simply fade away. In many cases, this is exactly what happened with the other dialects up until recent times: Aragonese, Leonese, and Navarrese are all still spoken, but by relatively few people, as Castilian Spanish became the sole language of use in almost all domains of public life after the 15 th century. Nonetheless, Galicia has managed to maintain its strong distinctive regional identity, and Galician has survived quite well into the present day as a strong marker of that identity. Galician and Portuguese continue to be rather more mutually intelligible than Portuguese and Spanish as a result of Portuguese's evolution from the Galician Vulgar Latin dialects; indeed, most linguists agree that Galician and Portuguese form a sort of continuum of intelligibility. Two other languages that have experienced a resurgence on the peninsula are Catalan, which after almost near-extinction has reemerged as one of the primary drivers of the Catalan independence movement, and Basque, very probably the last survivor of the languages originally spoken on the peninsula before the coming of the Romans.

The New World

Now that you know how Portuguese and Spanish came to be, the question is, where are they going?

In the 14 th and 15 th centuries, Portuguese and Spanish explorers were an integral part of the European Age of Exploration, which saw the colonisation and domination of Africa, the Americas, and much of Asia by European colonists. Portuguese and Spanish came to override indigenous languages in much the same way Latin did, and with almost identical end results: Spanish is now the dominant language in most of Central and South America at the expense of many native languages, while Brazilian Portuguese has far outstripped Continental Portuguese in terms of number of speakers and influence. Both languages have also left their mark on daughter languages as far flung as Tagalog in the Philippines, Kristang in Malaysia, and Guinean Creole in Guinea-Bissau.

With the collapse of the Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, all these varieties and offshoots of Portuguese and Spanish have been largely left to develop on their own, much as the various dialects of Vulgar Latin were left to their own devices after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. And already we are seeing marked differences: Brazilian Portuguese speakers, for example, often pronounce initial 'd' sounds with a sound rather like the English 'j', an innovation unknown to Continental Portuguese, while Argentinian Spanish speakers are famous for their almost lyrical intonation patterns, a feature not found in Castilian Spanish. Chilean Spanish is full of loans from Quechua, while informal Angolan Portuguese is filled with loans from Kimbundu.

It seems possible that both languages might go the way of their once dominant Roman parent. Already we sometimes speak not of Portuguese and Spanish, but Portugueses and Spanishes; in a hundred years, perhaps we might even speak of an Iberian language family. As the Spanish saying goes, no hay dos sin tres -never two without three.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Iberia's children: A short history of why Portuguese and Spanish are different | Unravel Magazine

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Once upon a time, Portuguese and Spanish were, basically, dialects of the same language: Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. Hundreds of years later, how have Portuguese and Spanish grown apart, and why? And will they always be different?