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Starvard University · Brazilian Portuguese 101
You will hold simple, confident conversations in Brazilian Portuguese. You will learn the sounds, greetings, core verbs, numbers, food words, and travel phrases you need for real everyday talk, all in Brazilian Portuguese as people speak it in Brazil.
Hello, my name is Finn, and I'm going to help you understand this course.
Here it is, explained like you are 10:
Portuguese is the language of Brazil, a huge and friendly country. In this course you learn how the sounds work, how to say hello and introduce yourself, and how to talk about food, prices, time, and travel. You practice small, useful sentences from the start, so you can greet someone, order a meal, ask the price, and hold a simple conversation with confidence.
Brazilian Portuguese has a warm, musical sound. Some vowels go through your nose, like the sound in não, which means no, and pão, which means bread. This course explains those sounds in plain words, with no special alphabet to learn first. You also learn the two verbs that both mean to be, ser and estar, and when Brazilians use each one.
You will not learn every rule in this course, and you do not need to. You will learn the patterns that carry everyday talk: greetings, present tense verbs, numbers, and simple past tense forms. Short practice sentences run through every lesson. By the end, you can put them together into one friendly conversation from start to finish.
The whole course in brief
What you will be able to do after this course
This course gives you a real start, not fluency.
The ten lessons
Lesson 1
Portuguese is a world language with deep roots in Portugal and its biggest home in Brazil. Brazil has by far the largest number of Portuguese speakers, so Brazilian Portuguese is the variety most learners meet first, in music, football, film, and travel. Portuguese is also spoken in Portugal and in countries in Africa and Asia, including Angola and Mozambique. Learning it opens doors on several continents at once. It is also an official language of the European Union through Portugal, which gives learners another practical reason to value it.
This course teaches Brazilian Portuguese specifically. That choice matters for your ear and your mouth. Brazilian speech tends to sound open and musical, with clear vowels at the ends of words. In Portugal, unstressed vowels are often softer and shorter, so the same sentence can sound quite different. A few everyday words differ too. In Brazil a bus is um ônibus and a train is um trem, while in Portugal you will hear autocarro and comboio. A mobile phone is um celular in Brazil and um telemóvel in Portugal.
You do not need to master both varieties. Pick Brazilian Portuguese, learn it well, and people in Portugal will still understand you, because the grammar and most words are shared. Think of the differences as accents and local word choices, much like English in different countries. Start with greetings, sounds, and simple sentences, and let Brazil be your doorway into the whole Portuguese speaking world.
Lesson 2
Good news first: Portuguese spelling is friendly. Most letters keep the same sound most of the time, so once you learn the patterns, you can read new words out loud with confidence. The vowels a, e, i, o, and u are short and clean. Final o often sounds like oo, so gato sounds close to GAH-too, and final e often sounds like ee, so noite sounds close to NOY-chee in much of Brazil.
The sounds that are new for English speakers are the nasal vowels. A nasal vowel sends air through your nose as well as your mouth. You can feel it if you say não, meaning no, and hold the vowel: your nose buzzes a little. The wavy mark called a tilde shows nasality in ã and õ, as in maçã, meaning apple, and in lições, meaning lessons. Nasality also appears when a vowel comes before m or n in the same syllable, as in bom, meaning good, bem, meaning well, and também, meaning also.
A final m or n is usually not a full consonant in Portuguese. It mainly tells you that the vowel before it is nasal, so sim, meaning yes, ends with a nasal vowel, not with a hard m sound. Other useful sounds: ç sounds like s, as in ação, lh sounds like the lli in million, as in trabalho, and nh sounds like the ni in onion, as in manhã, meaning morning. Word initial r and double rr sound strong, like a breathy h, so Rio and carro start that sound with force. Practice slowly, out loud, a few words at a time.
Lesson 3
Start every conversation with a warm greeting. Olá means hello, bom dia means good morning, boa tarde means good afternoon, and boa noite means good evening or good night. Brazilians greet friends with warmth, often with a handshake, a hug, or a kiss on the cheek, depending on the place and the people. When in doubt, smile, say bom dia, and follow the other person lead.
To introduce yourself, say meu nome é, meaning my name is, followed by your name, or simply eu sou, meaning I am. Ask the other person qual é o seu nome, meaning what is your name. The question tudo bem means is everything well, and it works as both a greeting and a question. Answer tudo bem or estou bem, obrigado if you are a man or obrigada if you are a woman, meaning thank you. The word for thank you changes with the speaker, which is a kind detail to learn early.
Round out your first phrases with por favor for please, com licença for excuse me, desculpe for sorry, and tchau for goodbye, along with até logo for see you soon. A smile and a patient tone matter as much as the words themselves in these first exchanges. Use você for you in most of Brazil. It is friendly and safe for everyday talk. In Portugal, tu is more common among friends, but você will serve you well in Brazil from your very first day.
Lesson 4
Portuguese has two verbs that both translate as to be in English, and telling them apart is a core skill. The first is ser, with the forms eu sou, você é, ele or ela é, nós somos, and eles or elas são. Use ser for who or what someone is, for identity, origin, profession, and lasting traits. Eu sou estudante means I am a student, ela é do Brasil means she is from Brazil,.
The second verb is estar, with the forms eu estou, você está, ele or ela está, nós estamos, and eles or elas estão. Use estar for states and conditions that can change, for feelings, health, and location. Estou cansado means I am tired, ela está feliz means she is happy right now, and nós estamos em casa means we are at home. A simple memory aid helps: ser describes what something is, estar describes how or where something is at the moment.
Some adjectives change meaning with the verb, so listen for the verb first. Ser with a word often points to character, while estar points to a current state. Practice with short pairs about yourself: say who you are with sou, then say how you feel with estou. Say both verbs out loud in pairs until the choice starts to feel natural rather than memorized. With those two small verbs in place, you can already build honest, useful sentences about people, places, and your day.
Lesson 5
The present tense is where everyday conversation lives. Most Portuguese verbs fall into three families by their endings: verbs ending in ar, like falar, meaning to speak; verbs ending in er, like comer, meaning to eat; and verbs ending in ir, like abrir, meaning to open. Each family follows a clear pattern, so learning one verb teaches you how to use many others.
For ar verbs, drop the ar and add o, a, amos, and am for eu, você or ele, nós, and eles. So falar becomes eu falo, ele fala, nós falamos, eles falam. For er verbs, the endings are o, e, emos, and em: eu como, ele come, nós comemos, eles comem. For ir verbs, the endings are o, e, imos, and em: eu abro, ele abre, nós abrimos, eles abrem. Notice how much the three families share, especially in the eu and plural forms.
A few very common verbs are irregular and worth learning by heart, including ser and estar from the last lesson, ir meaning to go with eu vou and ele vai, ter meaning to have with eu tenho and ele tem, and querer meaning to want with eu quero. Build tiny true sentences every day: eu falo português, nós comemos arroz, eles abrem a loja. Write the forms for one new verb each day and say them aloud in order. Short, correct sentences beat long, shaky ones, and they are how real conversation skills begin.
Lesson 6
Numbers unlock prices, times, phone numbers, and addresses, so learn them in small groups. The first ten are um, dois, três, quatro, cinco, seis, sete, oito, nove, and dez. Then come onze, doze, treze, quatorze, and quinze, followed by dezesseis to dezenove, and then vinte, trinta, quarenta, cinquenta, sessenta, setenta, oitenta, and noventa. Cem is one hundred, and mil is one thousand. Um changes to uma before feminine nouns, and dois changes to duas, so say uma hora and duas horas.
Money in Brazil is the real, plural reais. To ask the price, say quanto custa for one item or quanto custam for several, and listen for the number in the answer. In shops and markets you will also hear quanto é, meaning how much is it. Practice by pricing things around you out loud: um café, dois pães, três maçãs. Counting real objects makes the numbers stick far better than counting in the abstract.
For the time, ask que horas são, meaning what time is it. Say é uma hora for one o clock, using é because the hour is one, and são duas horas, são três horas, and so on for the other hours, using são. Add e meia for half past, as in três e meia, and use da manhã for in the morning, da tarde for in the afternoon, and da noite for in the evening. With numbers, prices, and time, you can shop, plan, and meet people without guessing.
Lesson 7
Food is one of the great pleasures of Brazil, and this lesson gives you the words to enjoy it. Core foods include pão for bread, arroz for rice, feijão for beans, frango for chicken, carne for meat, peixe for fish, salada for salad, fruta for fruit, and queijo for cheese. Drinks include água for water, café for coffee, suco for juice, and chá for tea. Rice and beans together are a beloved everyday plate, so you will see arroz e feijão on menus everywhere.
In a restaurant, ask for o cardápio, meaning the menu, and say eu quero or eu vou querer, meaning I want or I will have, followed by your dish. Queria is a softer, polite way to say I would like. At the end, ask a conta, por favor, meaning the bill, please. In Portugal the menu may be called a ementa, but cardápio works and is understood. If you have needs, say sem, meaning without, as in sem açúcar for without sugar.
Markets, called mercados and open air feiras, are the best classrooms. Point, smile, and ask quanto custa isto, meaning how much is this, then buy one or two of something new. Vendors are usually patient with learners and proud of their produce. Learn the words for what you love to eat first, and every meal becomes a small, tasty lesson you will actually remember.
Lesson 8
Travel phrases keep you calm and independent. The key question is onde fica, meaning where is, followed by a place: onde fica a estação, onde fica o hotel, onde fica o banheiro. Listen for the answer in landmarks and directions. À esquerda means to the left, à direita means to the right, em frente means straight ahead or across from, perto means near, and longe means far. Perto daqui means near here, a phrase you will use often.
For transport, um táxi is a taxi, um ônibus is a bus, o metrô is the subway, and um avião is a plane. In Portugal, a bus is often um autocarro and a train um comboio, while in Brazil a train is um trem. Say eu quero ir para, meaning I want to go to, followed by your destination, and ask quanto custa a passagem, meaning how much is the ticket. Keep your address written down to show a driver when your pronunciation needs backup.
On foot, a rua is a street and uma avenida is a wide avenue. Ask com licença and then your question, and thank people with muito obrigado or muito obrigada. Most Brazilians will slow down, gesture, and even walk you part of the way. Getting lost with good phrases is rarely a disaster. It is usually the start of a story, and of a little more Portuguese learned the real way.
Lesson 9
To talk about yesterday, you need the simple past, called the preterite. Regular ar verbs take the endings ei, ou, amos, and aram, so falar becomes eu falei, ele falou, nós falamos, and eles falaram. Notice that the nós form looks the same as the present tense, and context or a word like ontem, meaning yesterday, makes the meaning clear. Regular er and ir verbs share endings: eu comi and eu abri, ele comeu and ele abriu, nós comemos and abrimos, eles comeram and abriram.
A few past forms are irregular and very common, so learn them as whole words. Ir, to go, and ser, to be, share the same preterite forms: eu fui, ele foi, nós fomos, eles foram. So eu fui ao mercado means I went to the market, and ele foi ótimo can mean it was great. Ter becomes eu tive and ele teve, and fazer, to do or make, becomes eu fiz and ele fez. These few forms will carry a large share of your stories.
Start telling small true stories about your own life. Ontem eu falei com um amigo, meaning yesterday I spoke with a friend, or nós comemos peixe, meaning we ate fish, are complete, honest sentences. Add ontem, depois for afterwards, and então for then to link your ideas. You do not need every past tense yet. One solid past tense, used well, turns your Portuguese from talking only about today into sharing your life.
Lesson 10
Now put it all together in one friendly conversation. Imagine you meet someone at a café. You greet them with bom dia and tudo bem, introduce yourself with meu nome é and eu sou de, naming where you are from, and ask qual é o seu nome and você é daqui, meaning are you from here. Each line uses a skill from this course, in the order real conversations use them.
In the middle, keep the talk moving with present tense verbs and small questions. Talk about your day with eu estudo português and eu trabalho, ask o que você faz, meaning what do you do, and order together using eu quero um café or eu vou querer um suco. If talk turns to plans or prices, your numbers lesson carries you: que horas são, quanto custa, and simple answers with horas and reais. If a word escapes you, point, smile, and say como se diz isto em português, meaning how do you say this in Portuguese.
To close, use the past tense for one small story, ontem eu fui ao mercado, and then say goodbye warmly with até logo, muito obrigado or obrigada, and foi um prazer, meaning it was a pleasure. Notice what you just did: you greeted, introduced, asked, ordered, paid, shared, and closed, all in Brazilian Portuguese. That is a real conversation. Keep having small ones, often, and each one will feel easier than the last.
Sources
This course is original teaching material written for Brazilian Portuguese, sanity checked against the free Wikibooks Brazilian Portuguese lessons for pronunciation, nasal vowels, greetings, and diacritics. The Wikibooks material is openly licensed and credited here.
Graduation
You learned why Brazilian Portuguese opens doors, how its sounds and nasal vowels work, and how to greet people and introduce yourself. You mastered ser and estar, present tense verbs, numbers, prices, and time, ordered food, found your way around, talked about yesterday, and held a full conversation from start to finish.
Keep learning
This course is part of Starvard University, striving for greatness.
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