Learn basic words and phrases
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| Hi! Welcome to Introduction to Portuguese. My name is Alisha and I'm joined by... |
| Hi everyone! I'm Ana Clara |
| In this lesson, we'll focus on teaching you the most useful Portuguese words and phrases for absolute beginners! |
| Make sure you're repeating the words out loud after I say the examples! |
| Are you ready? Let's get started! |
| Expressing Thanks and Forgiveness |
| The best phrase to learn when studying a new language is one that expresses gratitude and appreciation. If you had to learn only a single phrase, this would be it! |
| We taught you this word in the first lesson of this series. Do you remember what it was? |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| It means “Thank you.” |
| Say Obrigado if you're male, or Obrigada if you're female. |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| “Thank you” |
| Keep repeating after Ana Clara until you get it! |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| Your turn! |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| Do you remember how we talked about pronunciation of the letter R here, in lesson 2? Don't pronounce it like an English R; don't roll your tongue. Listen to how Ana Clara is pronouncing this sound. |
| ri |
| Think of the quick tapping motion your tongue makes as it strikes the top gum ridge in words like “ladder” or “butter.” |
| ri |
| ri |
| Altogether it's... |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| Ok, one last time. |
| Obrigado / Obrigada |
| Ok. The next phrase we'll teach you is perhaps the second most useful phrase of all. It's to excuse yourself. |
| Com licença |
| It means “excuse me” |
| Com licença |
| “Excuse me” |
| Use this phrase when you want to grab someone's attention or when you brush by someone in the streets. |
| Com licença |
| If you recall, we talked about nasal vowels in lesson 2 too. Like this one: |
| en |
| To pronounce it, you need to lower your soft palate and the back of your tongue, unblocking the nasal passage, and allowing air to pass through the naval cavity and out through the nose. |
| Imagine you're humming with your mouth open, and add the E vowel sound to it. |
| en |
| Now you try. |
| en |
| Again! |
| en |
| Altogether it's... |
| Com licença |
| On a daily basis, Brazilians tend to drop the first word, saying simply... |
| Com licença |
| And what about showing forgiveness? That is very important in any country. In Brazilian Portuguese, the most common way to say “I'm sorry” is... |
| Me desculpe |
| “I’m sorry” |
| On a daily basis, people often drop the pronoun “Me,” saying just |
| Me desculpe |
| But it can also be said |
| Me desculpa |
| “I’m sorry” |
| or simply |
| Desculpa |
| “Sorry” |
| Both ways are correct. Note that this variation is due to conjugation aspects, and it's not gender related. You can say both ways regardless of your gender. Let's listen. |
| Me desculpe |
| “I’m sorry” |
| Desculpa |
| “Sorry” |
| It's very useful when you bump into someone when taking the busy subway lines of São Paulo. Let's practice a little. |
| Me desculpe |
| “I’m sorry” |
| Now you try! |
| Me desculpe |
| “I’m sorry” |
| Now let's try the variation. |
| Desculpa |
| “Sorry” |
| Desculpa |
| “Sorry” |
| One last time. |
| Desculpa |
| “Sorry” |
| Great! |
| Now you can say "thank you," "excuse me," and "I'm sorry" in Portuguese. Let's move on. |
| Where is...? |
| Asking where something is is an incredibly important and useful phrase to learn. You're going to need this when asking where the bathroom, the subway station, the bus stop, or where the hotel is. |
| To ask where something is, you should say... |
| Onde fica... |
| “Where is…” |
| Then, you should verify the gender of the location you want to know about, so you can place the proper article: feminine “a” or masculine “o.” |
| Onde fica a/o.... |
| “Where is the…” |
| Lastly, add the location. If you want to know where the bathroom is, you should say |
| Onde fica o banheiro? |
| “Where is the bathroom?” |
| The word for “bathroom” in Portuguese is a masculine gender. So, like Ana Clara said, we put the definite masculine article “o” before the noun. |
| “Where is the bathroom?” |
| Onde fica o banheiro? |
| For the subway station, it'll be... |
| Onde fica o metrô? |
| “Where is the subway?” |
| And so on. Just remember the gender to use the correct article. Let's see some vocabulary so that you can use in this sentence! Here are some of the most common words you'll need to learn: |
| Banheiro |
| “Bathroom” |
| Onde fica o banheiro? |
| Where is the bathroom? |
| Next... |
| Metrô |
| “Subway” |
| Onde fica o metrô? |
| “Where is the subway (station)?” |
| If you ask this question, they'll direct you to the closest subway station. If you'd like to ask where a specific station is, like Consolação station, for example, simply place the name of the station after “subway.” |
| Onde fica o metrô Consolação? |
| “Where is Consolação (subway) station?” |
| Or you can say just “station” instead of “subway.” |
| Onde fica a estação Consolação? |
| Where is Consolação station? |
| Next... |
| Hotel |
| “Hotel” |
| See that in Portuguese, H as the first letter is always silent, except for specific foreign loanwords. |
| Onde fica o hotel? |
| “Where is the hotel?” |
| For a specific hotel, do the same as before. Just place the name after “hotel.” |
| Hotel Intercontinental |
| “Intercontinental Hotel” |
| Onde fica o Hotel Intercontinental? |
| “Where is the Intercontinental Hotel?” |
| Next... |
| Padaria |
| “Bakery” |
| Bakeries, especially in São Paulo, are really popular. There are a lot of bakeries in the city, and they usually are a blend of a bakery, a deli, a coffee shop, a restaurant and a pizza parlour all in one place. Often even a mini-market as well, and sometimes, acting as a bar at night. There are enormous franchise bakeries as well as smaller family ones. So, knowing this is extremely useful, especially in São Paulo. |
| OK. So how do we ask where the bakery is? |
| Onde fica a padaria? |
| “Where is the bakery?” |
| You can substitute almost anything and simply add... |
| Onde fica o/a...? |
| “Where is the…?” |
| to ask where something is in Portuguese. |
| In this final lesson, you learned how to say “thank you,” “excuse me,” “I'm sorry,” and to ask where something is in Portuguese. |
| And in this series, we introduced you to the basics of Portuguese pronunciation, grammar, writing, and more. Let's conclude with some parting advice from Ana Clara, and listen to some of her tips on how to learn Portuguese from a native Brazilian perspective. |
| Parting Advice - Insider Knowledge |
| The best way to learn Portuguese, particularly if you want to improve your communication skills, is to watch and study contemporary Brazilian videos, like soap operas and news programs. That way you can learn expressions and the peculiarities of pronunciation that you can't learn from regular grammar books and methods. A great way to learn, which is also pleasant, is studying with MPB – Brazilian popular music. Brazil is famous for this unique type of music, and the lyrics usually mix formal and informal Portuguese in a rich and poetic way. You can increase your vocabulary while enjoying good music and learning more about the country's culture and history. |
| A big mistake I see learners make is not asking native speakers for help with the language. Brazilians are in general very warm and receptive; they want to be polite, so they won't correct your grammar or pronunciation. They are usually flattered and happy to see the effort in Portuguese, so they reciprocate with doing their best to understand foreigners and not paying attention to their mistakes. Because of that, a lot of learners end up plateauing in their Portuguese by getting too comfortable. Don't do that! |
| Ask your Brazilian friends and colleagues to help and correct you. Tell them it will not offend you – on the contrary, it will make you very happy. If you're not in Brazil, a tip is to browse the web for Brazilians who are willing to be your friends. It shouldn't be difficult! Practice your pronunciation a lot, and try your best to remember noun genders; make a list, if you need! It's very common for learners to mix the genders up, as there is no exact rule to determine when a noun is masculine or feminine. |
| Watching contemporary videos, such as our videos here at PortuguesePod101, will ensure that you're learning real, applicable Portuguese in the fastest and most effective way. |
| You've reached the end of this course “Introduction to Portuguese,” but it's only the beginning of your journey to Portuguese fluency! Where do you go from here? Try our “Portuguese in 3 Minutes” series where we teach you beginner vocabulary and even more useful phrases! Or check out any of our other video series. We have many different categories for you to choose from. |
| Good luck as you continue learning Portuguese, and I'll see you in another video! |
| Bye! |
| Bye! |
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