How to say “hello”, “how are you” and “thank you” in Portuguese? Today we will focus on basic Portuguese and teach some Portuguese Phrases and many others, which you can learn in few minutes and put in practice right now.
The basic Portuguese for Survival
In order to “survive”, first of all you should know how to say do you speak english in Portuguese. It’s simple, just two words: Fala inglês?
The answer could be “sim” (yes in Portuguese) or “não” (no in Portuguese). Actually there are other ways to say “sim”. For example “falo” (= I speak), “um pouco” (= a little bit) or just answer in English. Although, “não” will be always “não”, and in this case we keep going in Portuguese…
Greetings and farewells
A good way to start a conversation is to say “Olá” (hello in portuguese) and then “Como está?” (how are you in Portuguese). Usually the answer is “Bem” (fine in Portuguese). You can say “Bem, obrigado” (I’m fine, thank you in Portuguese) if you are a man or “Bem, obrigada” if you are a woman.
Instead of “Olá”, which is considered informal, you can say “Bom dia” (good moorning in Portuguese), “Boa tarde” (good afternoon in Portuguese) or “Boa noite” (good evening/ goodnight in Portuguese). You can also use these three ways (bom dia, boa tarde, boa noite) to say goodbye.
However, if you want to say something different, then say “Adeus” (goodbye in Portuguese) in a formal situation or just “Tchau” (bye in Portuguese) among friends.
Being polite
In order to speak in a polite way, you have to know how to say excuse me in Portuguese. Here we have to ways. For example, if you want to pass, enter or close a door, you should say “Com licença”. But if you want to ask for something or call someone, you should say “Desculpe”. You can use “Desculpe” before you ask “Quanto custa?” (how much in Portuguese), and it will be “Desculpe, quanto custa?”.
The word “Desculpe” also means sorry in Portuguese. Again, there is a formal way, “Desculpe”, and an informal way, “Desculpa”.
The last polite aspect you must know is how to say please in Portuguese. In this case we have 3 ways to say it:
“Por favor”, “Se faz favor”, “Faz favor” and “Faça favor”.
“Por favor” and “se faz favor” are synonyms and we use them to ask something. For example: um café, por favor (= a coffee, please).
“Faz favor” and “Faça favor” are synonyms too and we use them when we give something. Example:
– Um café, por favor.
– Faz favor. (= take, please)
– Obrigado(a).
– De nada. (= you are welcome in Portuguese)
Portuguese for lovers
If you are in love and you want to express your feelings, you’d like to say I love you in Portuguese. Say “Amo-te”. Yes, it’s simple!
Another way to express your feelings is to make compliments. If the loved person is a woman, say:
És linda! (you are beautiful in Portuguese)
If is a man, say:
És lindo!
Dialogue
– Olá! Como estás? (Hello! How are you?)
– Bem, obrigada. E tu? (I’m fine, thank you. And you?)
– Também estou bem, obrigado. Sou o Pedro, e tu? (I’m fine too, thanks. I’m Pedro, and you?)
– Sou a Maria. Muito prazer. (I’m Maria. Nice to meet you.)
– Muito prazer, Maria. Estudas português? (Nice to meet you, Maria. Do you study Portuguese?)
– Sim, estudo português. (Yes, I study Portuguese)
– Falas português muito bem. Parabéns! (You speak portuguese very well)
– Obrigada. (Thank you)
If you want to check how it sounds like and learn a little bit of grammar too, we recommend you to watch this video:
Conclusion: How to learn Basic Portuguese Fast?
Portuguese isn’t an hard language to talk. For example, in our school students start to speak Portuguese in the first day. Another good aspect is that the Portuguese people understand foreigners easily, even when they do not speak fluently. Therefore, you do not need to worry too much about it.
However, there are some very specific things in the Portuguese language and in the way the Portuguese communicate. These specificities are the key to understand Portuguese people. That’s why at Caravela School we believe that the most important thing is to understand people. Therefore we focus on a communicative, interactive and step by step approach, which give you the tools you need to speak fluently.
Join one of our Portuguese courses designed for motivated people that want to learn Portuguese in an efficiently way, taught by an experienced native teacher.
For more information about us, visit our website! www.escolacaravela.pt/en
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