500 most useful Portuguese phrases

These are the 500 phrases we would hand someone landing in Brazil with a job to start, a flat to find and a CPF to get. They run in three lanes, survive, travel and work, grouped by the situations of a day: the till asking CPF na nota?, the bus driver waiting for Me avisa quando chegar?, the email that ends Fico no aguardo. The Portuguese in The Vocabcord 500 is Brazilian, because the app's Portuguese voice is Brazilian and because a list has to be right about one country; the notes carry the European form where daily use differs. This page will not teach grammar: Estou com fome comes with a note on why hunger takes estar com, and nothing on conjugating estar.

How to use this page

Each table has three columns: the phrase, the English, and a note. The note says what the translation can't: the register, a trap, or the word Portugal uses instead. The base is Brazilian, and the note says where daily use differs: the ônibus is an autocarro in Lisbon, the celular a telemóvel, and resfriado is the clear everyday word for a cold in Brazil, where constipação commonly refers to constipation. Você is common in Brazil, though tu is also used in several regions; the step up is o senhor or a senhora for an older stranger or an official, and Portugal's tu is noted where it changes a phrase.

All 500 also ship in Vocabcord as a downloadable pack, with text-to-speech pronunciation for every row. Get the app, choose Portuguese and open Vocabcord 500. It plays one phrase each time the phone goes on the charger: Portuguese, a pause, English, a pause, Portuguese again. One word per charge explains why it is one. You can also print this page or save it as a PDF.

Take it with you: the printable PDF or the CSV for a flashcard app. Link back when you quote a line; a licence covering the whole file is coming.

First contact: greeting, thanking, the repair kit

Of the 39, say Oi, tudo bem? and its echo Tudo bem, e você? first: question and answer are the same words, so a beginner holds a complete exchange on day one. Then the repair kit, Pode falar mais devagar? and Não entendi, because the speed of Brazilian speech is the first thing that beats a learner. The trap is thank you: it agrees with the speaker, so a man says obrigado and a woman obrigada whoever they are thanking. The list starts with Oi, a common informal greeting in Brazil. Olá is also used in Brazil as well as Portugal.

Arrival: passport control, luggage, the first taxi

At passport control, two possible explanations are Vim a trabalho or Vim a passeio. Vim a turismo is also normal. State the actual purpose of your visit and answer any further questions. Onde compro um chip? is here because the airport kiosk is where it first comes up. Ask the provider about visitor registration: Claro, for example, offers in-store activation with a passport or RNE for foreigners without a CPF. The phrase that saves money is Quanto custa até o centro?, asked before the door closes; the one that saves an evening is Qual é a placa do carro?. Compare the plate, vehicle model and driver photo against the booking before getting in; the plate alone is not sufficient.

Getting around: the bus, the metro, the ride app

The phrase that matters most is Me avisa quando chegar?, said as you board. It asks someone to flag your stop, but it does not guarantee they will remember; follow the route too. Dá pra ir a pé? is the second: dá pra is the everyday can I, and once it's automatic any verb goes after it. Brazilians measure the city in quadras, blocks, so Fica a duas quadras daqui is a real answer. Estou chegando says the person is approaching or about to arrive, without giving a fixed number of minutes. Ask for an estimate if timing matters.

Hotel and renting: check-in, the room, the landlord

Check-in has one line worth memorising whole, Tenho uma reserva no nome de Silva, because the receptionist asks for the name first and no nome de is the phrasing they expect. The renting half is the part a phrasebook skips. O condomínio está incluso? is the question: the building charge can be as large as a utility bill and is often quoted separately. Precisa de fiador? follows, to find out whether a guarantor is required. Any alternative, such as a deposit or rental insurance, needs to be agreed with the landlord.

Eating out: ordering, the bill, the delivery

Learn É por quilo ou à la carte? first. The por quilo lunch, fill a plate, weigh it, pay by the kilo, is how a working Brazilian eats on a weekday, and knowing the format is worth more than knowing the dishes. Two traps: Um cafezinho, por favor asks for a small black coffee, which may or may not be sweetened; add sem açúcar if that is what you want; and Com gelo e limão gets you lime, because limão in Brazil is the green one. The bill is where people overpay. O serviço está incluído? has a standard answer, a suggested ten percent already on the slip; paying it is expected and tipping on top is unusual.

Shopping and paying: Pix, cards and instalments

Two questions you may hear at the till. CPF na nota? is the cashier asking whether to put your tax number on the receipt, for a consumer receipt programme whose benefits vary by state; não is a full answer. Crédito ou débito? follows, and the reply keeps its preposition: No débito. Then a question about one payment or instalments, À vista ou parcelado? À vista means paying the whole amount now; parcelado spreads it across months. Check the total price, interest and whether your card supports the offer before choosing. We put Aceita Pix? ahead of any card phrase on purpose: it asks whether Pix is accepted. You need access through a bank or payment service that supports it; ask about other methods if you do not.

Numbers, times and dates as they come up

This is the shortest section because numbers belong inside the phrases that use them; a list from one to a hundred teaches nothing about the moment a shopkeeper says Deu trinta e cinco reais. Deu, it came to, is how a total is announced. The trap is the date: Dia quinze de março is day then month, and so is every form, so 03/05 is the third of May. Tenho trinta e dois anos is here because age takes ter, to have, and the English instinct to reach for sou produces a sentence nobody says.

Health: the pharmacy, the symptoms, the doctor

The trap in this table is worth the whole section. Estou resfriado is how a Brazilian says I have a cold. Resfriado is the clear everyday term here. Constipação commonly means constipation in Brazil, though nasal uses exist; in Portugal constipado commonly means having a cold. Resfriado is understood in both countries. Symptoms take estar com, so Estou com febre is the pattern and tosse and dor slot in after it. Precisa de receita? asks whether a medicine requires a prescription. Describe your symptoms; availability without a prescription does not establish that a medicine is suitable for you. Ask Pode me dar um atestado? before you leave the doctor's room; your employer will want it.

Emergencies: help, theft, lost documents

Three numbers and one phrase. The numbers sit in the note beside Chama uma ambulância!: 192 for an ambulance, 190 for the police, 193 for the fire brigade, 112 for everything in Portugal. The phrase is Ela está passando mal, because passar mal covers faintness, a bad reaction and a collapse. It says she is unwell without establishing the cause or urgency. Describe the symptoms and current location when asking for help. For theft, Quero registrar um boletim de ocorrência asks to file a police report, which an insurer or consulate may require. Socorro! calls for help; on an emergency call, answer the operator's questions.

Phone, data and online: the SIM, the wifi, the sign-up

The first line decides your first week. Quero um chip pré-pago asks for a prepaid SIM. Many activation flows use a CPF, but visitor procedures differ: Claro supports in-store activation for foreigners without one. Check the provider's accepted documents and process. Me liga depois carries the one grammar note we allowed ourselves: Brazilians put the pronoun before the verb, me liga, te ligo, where Portugal says liga-me. Preciso fazer um cadastro covers every sign-up from a loyalty card to a government portal, and the word will follow you for years. No app is named in the section; the phrases work whichever one the delivery came through.

Admin: the CPF, the bank, the queue

Use the first phrase if you need to obtain a CPF. Preciso tirar o CPF asks about getting a tax number, used in many administrative and financial processes. It is not required for every purchase or every visitor's SIM activation. Then Tem que agendar pela internet?, to check whether the particular office and service require an appointment. The trap word is senha: at a counter Onde pego a senha? asks for the queue ticket, on a website it is your password. Visa vocabulary is left out; it changes with the visa, and a page for everyone would get yours wrong.

The first day at work

The work lane starts with Oi, sou a Ana, comecei hoje, and the article before the name is what makes it sound like a colleague: most Brazilians say a Ana and o Marcos. Tem que bater ponto? is here because clocking in is written into the CLT employment law; Que horas é o almoço? because lunch is an hour, eaten away from the desk, and a sandwich over the keyboard reads as a statement. The softener to learn is Posso te interromper rapidinho? The diminutive is how Brazilians make a request gentle, and the trick transfers: um minutinho, um cafezinho, uma olhadinha.

Meetings and video calls

The phrase that does the most work is Desculpa, estava no mudo, because every remote meeting in Brazil opens with somebody saying it and no mudo is unguessable from English. Não concordo lands harder than I don't agree; give the reason in the same breath. Pode ser reads as a maybe and is often a yes; listen for the tone. Our favourite is Combinado. It closes a plan, a time or a favour in one word. Alguma dúvida? ends the meeting; dúvida here means a question, so tenho uma dúvida is how you raise one politely.

Messages, deadlines and time off

Written Brazilian Portuguese at work is shorter and warmer than the English it replaces. Segue em anexo is the first line of most emails with an attachment, and Fico no aguardo is the sign-off that reads as patient where I look forward to hearing from you reads as pressure. The phrase to say early is Não vou conseguir até hoje: a delay announced the moment you know it is forgiven, and a delay discovered at the deadline is remembered. Folga is a day off and férias is holiday, and Estou de folga hoje is a message to send the day before.

Asking for help, and money at work

The money half is the one nobody teaches. É CLT ou PJ? is the first question about any job in Brazil: CLT is the employment law that brings paid holiday, a thirteenth salary and clocking in; PJ means invoicing through a company of your own. É líquido ou bruto? sits next to it because the same offer can be either, at very different net figures. Tem vale-refeição? sounds small and isn't; the meal and transport cards are standard enough that asking is normal. Quem sabe mexer nisso? is the verb to keep: mexer em is how Brazilians talk about operating anything.

Small talk: where you're from, the weekend, a beer

Brazilians will ask Está gostando do Brasil?, hoping for Estou adorando; a lukewarm answer is met with concern. Que calor, hein? is the model for half the small talk in the country: any statement plus hein becomes an opening. Vamos marcar! is warmth, and it becomes a plan only when a day gets named. Vamos tomar uma? is the real invitation, and uma means a beer without saying so. This is the section we are least sure of: its beach and football are big-city office talk, and a reader headed for Lisbon will want to swap a third of it.

Feelings and opinions

Feelings take estar, the temporary verb, and most take estar com: Estou com fome, com sede, com frio. The one to get right is Estou com calor, because the direct translation, estou quente, means something you did not intend to tell a colleague. Estou com saudade de casa is here because saudade is the word every Portuguese course romanticises, and in daily use it is plain: you have it of your mother, your city and a particular bread. Foi tranquilo answers how was it, was it far and are you okay, and means no stress.

What we left out

We cut four kinds of phrase. Proverbs, because a foreigner quoting quem não tem cão caça com gato is performing a party trick. Textbook sentences, like the book is on the table. Slang that dates: legal and beleza have survived for decades and are in, but this year's abbreviations are out. And anything a course teaches for grammar rather than use, so conjugation tables stay in the coursebook and the only grammar in the notes is the kind that stops a mistake: ter for age, estar com for symptoms.

Two things a reader should add. First, the twenty words of your own trade; a nurse needs different nouns from a developer, and no general list can carry them. Second, the phrases of your own city. Rio and Porto Alegre disagree even on you, since the south says tu, and a week there hands you the local versions of what is here.

How to make them stick

Start with the situations you expect to use soon. Read it once, print the two sections you need this week, and let the rest arrive. A phone goes on the charger a few times a day and each time one phrase plays, but repeats mean those playbacks do not each introduce a new phrase. The sampler decides which phrase plays: each one's weight grows with the days since you last heard it, and a phrase never heard counts as long overdue, so new ones dominate early. In plain words, phrases you have not heard recently have better odds of coming back. The app does not test what you remember.

The full collection is available as a downloadable pack in the app, alongside the graded corpus of 5,960 Portuguese entries. The Portuguese corpus statistics page shows how those entries split by level and theme.

Common questions

How many Portuguese phrases do you need to get by in Brazil?

Choose by situation rather than aiming for a fixed number. The 39 phrases in first contact and 31 in shopping and paying are useful starting points for a visit. The work lane adds 130 phrases for situations such as introductions, meetings and deadlines.

Should I learn você or tu first?

Você is the base used in this collection and is widely used in Brazil. Tu is also common in several Brazilian regions and in Portugal, with usage depending on the relationship and location. O senhor and a senhora are more formal options.

Are these phrases for Brazil or Portugal?

Brazil, by choice: the app's Portuguese voice is Brazilian, and a list has to be right about one country. Where daily use differs, the note carries the European form, autocarro for ônibus, telemóvel for celular, and the constipado trap in the health section.

What is the fastest way to memorise them?

Pick a section you expect to use and practise a few lines aloud. Try them in that situation, then revisit what was difficult. For now these 500 are on the website; the app provides charger-triggered listening practice with its existing Portuguese vocabulary packs.

Why is thank you sometimes obrigado and sometimes obrigada?

Because it agrees with the speaker. A man says Obrigado, a woman says Obrigada, whoever they are thanking. The same rule runs through the page: perdido and perdida, alérgico and alérgica, cansado and cansada.