Learning Notes

The verb is a very common, and important, Portuguese verb. Ficar is sort of like a Swiss army knife, as it can take on many meanings… but you also have to be careful with it! In most cases, this verb means to be, to stay, to become, or to keep. It implies that something happened or will […]

Wine is clearly the most popular beverage in Portugal, but let’s not forget about !Ordering a draft beer in Portugal will typically cost you about 1€ – 3€ (or even less if you go with a bottle)!

Portuguese cheese is a frequently found on the table, both at homes and in the restaurants of Portugal. Slices of regional cheese and ham are often served together with bread, olives and pates as starters. Although today there is a huge variety of cheeses and most are made on an industrial scale, traditional cheeses are […]

It’s almost that time of the year again! Whether you’re experiencing Christmas in Portugal firsthand or celebrating from afar, we want to share a number of our favourite resources to help you learn and communicate about the holiday season.

I like… The most important verb to learn when talking about likes and dislikes in Portuguese is . Let’s start with a simple example: It’s important to remember that the preposition goes along with the verb gostar. Adding de may seem strange at first to English speakers because we don’t use a preposition in this context. […]

To Kiss or Not to Kiss? There’s more to Portuguese greetings than just what you say, so let’s talk about the cultural aspect as well, plus some other phrases that may come up during introductions. There is quite a bit of variability in appropriate greetings within different contexts, so you can’t rely on any strict […]

With almost 1000 km of coast (not even counting the islands) and at 200 km wide, it’s only natural that Portuguese cuisine contains an abundance of fish dishes. We are, after all, the country that eats the most fish per capita in Europe! The most emblematic Portuguese fish is , which has been part of […]

This guide will focus on the differences between the Portuguese verbs falar, dizer, and contar. The meanings of these words are actually very similar because they all relate to speaking or communicating information. In fact, they’re often considered synonyms and can be used interchangeably in certain contexts. However, it’s important to understand the differences as you […]

are simply the result of merging two words into one. In English, this includes words like I’m (I + am), you’re (you + are), we’ll (we + will), etc. With Portuguese contractions, however, it typically happens when certain prepositions are combined with certain other types of words. Which Words Form Contractions in Portuguese? When these […]

In our unit on clitic object pronouns in Portuguese, we discussed where to place clitics within a sentence. More specifically, we talked about whether the clitic goes before the verb, after the verb, or in the middle of the verb. When auxiliary verbs get involved, there are now 2 verbs, so the rules get messy. […]

 Portuguese and English share a common alphabet, for the most part, and many of the sounds associated with each consonant are quite similar. If you’re a native English speaker, the pronunciations to pay special attention to are those associated with the vowels, which we will cover in a separate learning note, as well as […]

It’s time to take a deep dive into the pronunciation of vowels in European Portuguese! First we’ll invite you to play around with this interactive guide and then we’ll cover all the factors that go into creating the variety of subtle variations between each vowel sound. Pronunciation of Vowels in European Portuguese Explore the guide […]