If you’re preparing to visit Portugal, mastering a few essential phrases will go a long way toward making your experience smoother and more enjoyable. In this Unit (coming soon!) you’ll practice with simple phrases and vocabulary that could be useful on your first few days or weeks in Portugal. As you navigate the cities, see […]
Phrases For Your First Trip To Portugal
More Portuguese “Things”
Time for a Portuguese vocabulary boost! If you remember the Things 1 unit, we learned the names for a variety of common objects, such as writing materials and containers. This time, we’re focusing on other objects you find inside the house, or outside in nature, as well as things related to money, electricity, and more. […]
Talking About the Weather in Portuguese
It’s time to talk about the weather in European Portuguese! This is everyone’s favourite topic of conversation, right? Well, maybe not. But hey, it’s a good starting point, especially if you don’t know someone well, or you don’t have much else in common. Portuguese Weather Vocabulary The word for weather is the same as the […]
Spanish vs. Portuguese
Whether you’re a native Spanish speaker, or you just took a few years of Spanish in school, you may be curious about the similarities and differences between Spanish and Portuguese. Are 🇵🇹Portuguese and 🇪🇸Spanish Basically the Same? No. First, let’s clear one thing up: Portuguese and Spanish are not just dialects of the same language. […]
Com Licença? Desculpe? Perdão?
We often get asked about how to say sorry and excuse me in Portuguese. Is there a difference between Com licença and Desculpe? What about Sinto muito? Lamento? Perdão? With so many options that have similar translations, it’s important to take context and cultural norms into account. In this Learning Note, we’ll cover which phrase(s) […]
Compound Tenses – Subjunctive Mood and Nominal Verb Forms
Earlier in this unit, we focused on in the indicative and conditional moods. Now we’ll cover the compound tenses in the , as well as . Don’t worry, the basic formula is still the same 😉: auxiliary verb ter + past participle of the main verb.
Compound Tenses – Indicative and Conditional Moods
A Portuguese verb form can appear in a simple tense (only the main verb) or in a compound tense, which is a combination of an auxiliary verb and the past participle of the main verb. The most common used in is the verb ter. For example:
Buildings and Places in Portuguese
In these next 2 units (Places 1 and Places 2) we’ll cover vocabulary for many different types of buildings and places in Portuguese, such as stores, parks, banks, schools, cities, regions, and more. Whether you’re running errands, sightseeing, or just enjoying different regions of Portugal, knowing the names of places will help you communicate about […]
The Verb Saber
The Portuguese verb has two different meanings. Most of the time, it means 🧠 to know, but did you know in certain contexts it can also mean 👅 to taste? Saber is conjugated in the 3rd person singular in both sentences, so it’s written exactly the same, but with an entirely different meaning. In the […]
Saber vs. Conhecer
The verbs and cause a lot of confusion for Portuguese learners. If you translate them into English, both mean to know, but in Portuguese you also have to pay attention to the context in order to know 😉 which one to use. Saber: Talking About Information You Know We use saber to talk about facts […]
A Few More Common Irregular Verbs
If you remember the Common Irregular Verbs unit, this is part 2! As you may remember, Portuguese verbs can be irregular in the root, the ending, or both, and they are often irregular only in certain tenses. Here’s an overview of most of the verbs we’ll cover in the following Lessons. For now, we’re continuing […]
Portuguese “Things”
Time for a Portuguese vocabulary boost! This Unit will focus on objects/things from many different categories. Most of these words will be new, but some you may have already picked up. To test yourself, cover up the right side and see how many of these objects you can name. You’ll hear how to pronounce each […]
English Expressions in Portuguese
One challenge of learning Portuguese, or any language, is that you can’t simply translate literally. Each language has its own conventions for how to word different concepts. This is known as idiomatic language. In this Learning Note, we’re focusing mostly on how to translate English “phrasal verbs” into Portuguese. (If you’re looking for other types […]
Times of Day in Portuguese
Let’s go over the times of day in Portuguese! These are the from sunrise to sunset: – from until 6am/dawn (around ) – from about 6am until – from noon until about 6pm (or around when it gets dark) – from about 6pm to midnight
Forming Portuguese Numbers in the Tens, Hundreds, and Thousands
In the Numbers 1 unit, we gave you an overview of many different types of numbers, and we practiced with just 0-19. Now it’s time to pick up where we left off, so we can start using higher numbers. The lessons in this unit will focus on Portuguese numbers in the tens, hundreds, and thousands.
Spelling Variations in Regular Verbs
After learning the rules for conjugating verbs, you may have noticed that certain Portuguese verbs are not spelled the way you would expect… If a verb is spelled and spoken completely differently, this is because it’s an irregular verb. But if it’s still spoken as expected, it probably just means it’s a regular verb with […]
Family Members in Portuguese
In this Learning Note, we’ll present a lot of Portuguese vocabulary related to different family members and loved ones. Then you can practice using these new words in the Lessons that follow. You may wish to add some of these words to your Smart Review, depending on which members of you like to talk about […]
Choosing Between Portuguese Prepositions
When you start learning about Portuguese prepositions, you’ll quickly realize that the translation is very dependent on context. This makes it tricky for non-native speakers to determine which preposition to use. In this Learning Note, we’ll review some commonly confused prepositions to help clarify these distinctions. Location: When to Use “A” vs “Em” The preposition […]
Portugal’s Love Affair with Bacalhau
In addition to being one of the most difficult Portuguese words for foreigners to pronounce correctly, is Portugal’s most treasured dish and it is highly associated with its national identity.
Travel to Madeira – Tips and Vocabulary
~ Written by Edyta of the blog Say Yes to Madeira. Explore her blog for a complete guide to what Madeira has to offer! When visiting the Madeira archipelago, you will have a chance to learn some interesting vocabulary. Here are some useful words you will often encounter, plus a pronunciation guide to the island’s […]
The Galo de Barcelos
can be seen pretty much all over Portugal, especially in those cute little souvenir shops. Usually the galo comes in ceramic form, but you will also see it embroidered on towels and aprons, in woodwork, and even on key-chains! The most common version of the Galo de Barcelos is black with colourful dots and red […]
Writing an Email in Portuguese
Ever wondered how to start and end an email in Portuguese? It’s not always as simple as translating the phrases you would use in your native language. What sounds friendly or formal in one language might sound rude or unusual in another. And you don’t want to greet a friend the same way you greet […]
Basic Portuguese Grammar
This Learning Note was designed to serve as a very condensed overview of basic Portuguese grammar. We hope this will help give you a “big picture” view of the language before you dive into the details. You’ll notice there are many links throughout, in case you want to explore a particular topic, or bookmark it […]
Portuguese Clothing Vocabulary
Whether you’re going shopping for new clothes or you just want to talk about what you’re wearing, it’s helpful to know some vocabulary for basic clothing items in Portuguese. Get Dressed! First, let’s cover which verbs we can use to talk about getting dressed. Usar can be confusing because it also means to use, but […]