Portuguese for your first 48 hours in Brazil

The first two days in Brazil can include a CPF question at the till, lunch weighed on a scale, a choice of card instalments and a delivery left at the portaria. None happens at every counter or building, but each has a short conversation attached. So does checking that the car you are about to enter is the ride you booked. This page takes the 48 hours in order, from passport control to the office on day two, and puts the Portuguese for each stop next to it. Rows come from our Portuguese collection, 500 phrases we wrote and reviewed in the Brazilian variety with European forms noted beside them, and the six tables here hold 187 of them.

Oi, and the thank-you that changes with you

Oi, tudo bem? is the greeting and half of it is also the answer. Later in the day Boa tarde. takes over until it gets dark, and after that Boa noite. serves as both hello and goodbye, since Portuguese has no separate good night for leaving.

The word most visitors get wrong is thank you. Obrigado. agrees with the speaker rather than the listener, so a man says obrigado to everybody and a woman says Obrigada. to everybody, including each other. Nothing about who you are thanking changes the ending. The warm reply you will hear back is Imagina. which is closer to don't mention it than to you're welcome.

A shop assistant opens with Pois não? and it will sound to an English ear like a refusal. It means how can I help you, and said back to a request it means of course, which is a good early lesson in trusting the note column over the literal words.

Two rows set your register for the whole trip. Tá bom. is common in spoken Brazilian Portuguese. Está bem is another option when you want a less casual form. Beleza. is fine with a shopkeeper and worth holding back with an official. When you need a stranger to wait, Só um minutinho. asks for patience in a diminutive that promises nothing about the actual length of the wait.

Passport control, then the car you are about to get into

At the desk, Vim a passeio. explains that you are visiting for pleasure. Vim a turismo is also normal Portuguese; use the wording that truthfully describes your visit. Aqui está meu passaporte. and Vou ficar duas semanas. give your passport and the length of your stay. The officer may have further questions.

If you booked a ride through an app, the check before boarding belongs beside the vocabulary. Pedi um carro pelo aplicativo. tells the person meeting you what to look for, and Qual é a placa do carro? asks for the number plate. Compare the plate, vehicle model and driver's photo with the booking before getting in, as Uber's rider safety guidance recommends. A matching plate alone is not proof. In a taxi from an airport rank, Quanto custa até o centro? goes before the door closes, so you can establish whether the trip uses the meter or an official fixed fare.

Two more rows belong to the terminal. Onde compro um chip? asks for a SIM, which in Brazil is a chip and in Portugal a cartão SIM, and it is the first of many words this collection has to give you twice. Onde fica o banheiro? is the other one: banheiro here, casa de banho in Lisbon.

Across the city: the ônibus, the corner, the arrival message

Esse ônibus vai pro centro? is the sentence and pro is the giveaway. Pro contracts para o; pra is a shortened para. Both are common in informal speech and messages. The full forms remain normal too, especially in more formal writing.

On board, Me avisa quando chegar? asks the driver or the person beside you to flag your stop. It is a request, not a guarantee that someone will remember; keep track of the route yourself where possible. Getting out is Com licença, vou descer. Directions may use blocks and corners as well as street names and building numbers: Fica a duas quadras daqui. uses quadra, the city block, which is quarteirão in Portugal, and Pode me deixar na esquina? drops you at the corner, which is often easier than a number on a long street.

Estou chegando. means the speaker is approaching or about to arrive, but it gives you no fixed number of minutes. If the timing matters, ask where they are or how long they expect to take.

The chip, and what you need to activate it

Quero um chip pré-pago. asks for a prepaid SIM. A CPF is used in many activation flows, but a visitor without one is not automatically excluded: Claro says foreign visitors without a CPF can activate in a physical store with a passport or RNE. Check the chosen provider's process before travelling to a shop. The tax number is not an unavoidable first errand for everyone.

After that the questions are ordinary. Quanto custa o pacote de dados? asks the price of the data, and Como faço pra recarregar? asks how to top up.

The word you will meet most often online is cadastro. Preciso fazer um cadastro. covers any sign-up, on a website or on paper, and a lot of them end with a code arriving by text, which is why Não recebi o código. earned a row of its own. A local number can help with verification texts, but a site may have other registration requirements.

Pix, débito, and the question about instalments

Aceita Pix? asks whether Pix is accepted. Pix is Brazil's instant payment system; using it requires access through a bank or payment service that supports it, and Me passa a chave Pix? asks for the key you type into your banking app, which may be a phone number, email, CPF, CNPJ or a random key. Check the recipient's details before confirming.

On a card, the cashier asks Crédito ou débito? to establish which payment method you want. One way to answer is No débito. You may also be asked about paying in instalments. À vista ou parcelado? asks whether to pay in one payment or instalments. Before choosing parcelado, check the total price, interest and whether your card supports the offer. Pode parcelar em três vezes? asks whether three instalments are available; it is not a recommendation to use credit.

Two more rows are pure local procedure. CPF na nota? asks whether to include your CPF on the receipt. Consumer receipt programmes and benefits vary by state; não is an ordinary answer when you do not want to provide one. Pode me dar a nota fiscal? asks for the official receipt, which is useful proof of purchase. Keep it; the available remedy depends on the purchase and the reason for returning it.

Lunch on a scale, and the card you carry to the till

É por quilo ou à la carte? asks which pricing system the restaurant uses. In a restaurante por quilo you take a plate, fill it from the buffet with whatever you want, then have the plate weighed, usually before eating. The food price follows the posted rate by weight; drinks or other items may be charged separately.

Onde eu pago? matters in bars and bakeries, where you may be given a comanda, a paper or electronic tab recording what you order, and settle at the caixa. Check the procedure and keep any card you are given.

Coffee needs one more question if you care about sugar. Um cafezinho, por favor. asks for a small black coffee. It may arrive sweetened or with sugar separately; say sem açúcar when ordering if you want it unsweetened. Beer splits the same way: Um chope, por favor. is draught, and Uma cerveja bem gelada. asks for a very cold beer, without specifying a bottle. Com gelo e limão. will get you lime, because limão in Brazil is the green one and the yellow lemon needs its own name.

The bill has a line to read. O serviço está incluído? asks about the optional service charge Brazilian restaurants usually add, which people normally pay and rarely top up. Allergies go in early: Sou alérgico a amendoim. with alérgica for a woman.

The room, the building fee, and the man at the front desk

Tenho uma reserva no nome de Silva. is check-in. If there is a problem with hot water or air conditioning, O chuveiro está sem água quente. and O ar-condicionado não liga. are the two sentences to have ready, and não liga means it will not turn on rather than it is broken in principle.

Some buildings have a porteiro or portaria; others do not. Deixa na portaria, por favor. asks for a delivery to be left there, if the building accepts them, and O entregador está na portaria. says the courier is at the entrance or reception. Check the building's delivery procedure when you arrive.

If you are renting, two rows help clarify the terms. O condomínio está incluso? asks about the monthly building charge, which may be quoted separately from the rent. Ask what the advertised total includes. Precisa de fiador? asks about a guarantor. Other arrangements may be possible, such as a deposit or rental insurance, but they need to be agreed with the landlord; the phrase does not establish which terms apply to you.

The pharmacy, and the false friend that lands you in the wrong aisle

Tem uma farmácia aqui perto? asks whether there is a pharmacy nearby. Check its opening hours before travelling. Symptoms take a fixed frame: estar com plus the thing that is wrong, so Estou com febre. and Estou com dor de garganta. are built the same way and you can swap the tail.

One row carries a warning worth more than its translation. Estou resfriado. is how you say you have a cold in Brazil. Resfriado is the clear everyday choice here. Constipação in Brazil commonly refers to constipation, though nasal uses also exist; in Portugal constipado commonly means having a cold. Explain the symptoms rather than relying on a false-friend joke.

Precisa de receita? asks whether you need a prescription. If it goes further than the counter, Tenho plano de saúde. tells a clinic you have private cover. Foreign visitors can use the SUS urgent and emergency care network; that is not a promise that every treatment is immediately available at every facility. Pode me dar um atestado? asks for a medical certificate if you need one for work. The clinician decides what they can certify.

192, 190, 193, and the address you should already have

Brazil splits its emergency lines. 192 is the ambulance, 190 the police, 193 the fire brigade, and Portugal uses 112 for all of it. Chama uma ambulância! is what you shout at whoever is closest to a phone.

Ela está passando mal. says she is feeling unwell; use ele for he. It does not identify the symptoms or decide whether an ambulance is needed. Describe what is happening and follow the emergency operator's questions when calling for help. Me roubaram. is the other emergency, and it ends with paperwork: Quero registrar um boletim de ocorrência. asks to file a police report, which an insurer or consulate may require. Online reporting depends on the state and type of incident; use the official police service for that location. Call your bank while you are at it with Bloqueia meu cartão, por favor.

The gap here is the same one every phrase list has. An operator wants an address, and we cannot write yours. Save your accommodation address, complemento and all, but give the operator your current location if you are elsewhere, and keep Te mando o endereço. for the times somebody is coming to find you.

Day two: the CPF, the senha and the boleto

Preciso tirar o CPF. is the phrase if you need to obtain a CPF. The number is used in many financial and administrative processes, but it is not a prerequisite for every purchase or SIM activation. Check whether your particular errand requires it. Before you travel to any office, ask Tem que agendar pela internet? Appointment requirements depend on the office and service; ask before travelling.

Inside, Onde pego a senha? is the first question. Senha means both a password and the numbered ticket that gets you served, and this is the ticket sense. Precisa autenticar? asks whether a copy has to be certified at a cartório, the notary office, which is a step that catches people who assumed a photocopy was enough. Preciso de um comprovante de residência. asks about proof of address. A utility bill or a declaration may be accepted, but the institution sets the requirements; ask which documents it will take.

Two smaller things belong to the same day. Onde pago o boleto? is about the barcoded slip Brazil uses for rent, bills and online shopping, payable in a banking app or over a counter. Como se escreve seu sobrenome? will be asked of you constantly, and sobrenome is surname in Brazil while the Portuguese form says apelido, which in Brazil means nickname. Spell it slowly.

What this page leaves out

The variety line for our Portuguese 500 says Brazilian Portuguese with European variants noted, and this guide leans all the way into the first half. A reader landing in Lisbon gets a list aimed at São Paulo with a note column doing the translating: ônibus against autocarro, chip against cartão SIM, celular against telemóvel, suco against sumo, trem against comboio. That works as a glossary. It does not make this an arrival guide for Portugal, where even the emergency number is different.

Inside Brazil we mark nothing regional at all. The country is the size of a continent and our notes treat it as one voice, so a week in Recife or Porto Alegre will hand you vocabulary and a rhythm this list never mentions. That is a real limit and we would rather say it than pretend the list is bigger than it is.

Register is the other soft edge. Our line says você by default, with tu noted where the European form differs, and that skips over the parts of Brazil where tu is ordinary daily speech. The rows still work. They just are not the local version.

Last, speed. We wrote the contractions in on purpose, so the rows say tá and pra rather than está and para, which is already closer to what you will hear than most lists get. The step below that is cê for você, and we did not write it, because a list that teaches you to produce cê on day one is teaching the wrong half of the skill. Hearing it is the part that takes time.

Making it stick

Take the one section you will walk into tomorrow and say its rows aloud until you stop reading them. A counter tests retrieval with somebody watching. Rereading a table helps recognition; saying the phrase without looking practises a different part of the task.

The charger handles the rest. Plug in, and one entry plays: the Portuguese, a pause, the English, a pause, the Portuguese again. Set up the Shortcuts automation on iOS; on Android, check the background and battery settings for direct charger detection. Playback remains subject to platform restrictions. A weighted sampler picks which entry, favouring the ones you have not heard for a while, and that is a rotation rule with no opinion about what you have learned. The reasoning behind a single word at that moment sits in One word per charge: why a lesson would fail.

Collections start as web pages and become app packs with text-to-speech audio afterwards, with no date attached. All six lists and the way they were built are on The Vocabcord 500, and the Portuguese list in full, travel and work lanes included, is The 500 Portuguese phrases you actually need. If you already read Spanish, Portuguese after Spanish: what carries over is the shortcut worth taking first.

Common questions

Do you need a CPF to buy a SIM card in Brazil?

Not always. Claro provides in-store activation for foreign visitors without a CPF using a passport or RNE. Other providers and activation methods may have different requirements, so check before going. Quero um chip pré-pago. asks for a prepaid SIM; Preciso tirar o CPF. is useful if you do need to obtain the tax number.

What does the cashier mean by à vista ou parcelado?

Whether you want to pay the whole amount now or split it over months. À vista ou parcelado? may be offered at the till. Check the total price, interest and card eligibility before choosing instalments. Pode parcelar em três vezes? asks for three of them, and No débito. asks to pay by debit card.

What is the emergency number in Brazil?

Three lines, one per service: an ambulance answers on 192, the police on 190, the fire brigade on 193. Portugal folds the lot into 112, which matters if you learned this language for one country and end up using it in the other. Chama uma ambulância! is what you say to somebody nearer a phone, and Ela está passando mal. says she is feeling unwell. Explain the symptoms and your current location to the operator; this phrase alone does not establish what help is needed.

How does a restaurante por quilo work?

You take a plate, serve yourself from the buffet, and have the plate weighed, usually before eating. The food is priced by weight; drinks or extras may be separate. Ask É por quilo ou à la carte? on the way in. In bars and bakeries the other habit to know is the comanda, a tab card you carry to the till, which is why Onde eu pago? is a normal question rather than a lost one.