Portuguese Lessons- Lições em Português

Greeting People – Cumprimentando as pessoas

When meeting new people, it is common to go beyond the initial “good morning,” and maybe
you are asked what your name is and where you come from. For this reason, it is beneficial to
learn some basic Portuguese phrases to use in those instances:

De onde você é? – Where are you from?

Sou de … – I am from

Por favor – please or excuse me

De nada – You’re welcome

Qual é o seu nome – What is your name

Meu nome é – My name is

Em que trabalha – What is your work?

Onde você mora – Where do you live?

Olá– Hello

Bom dia – Good morning (It literally translates to “Good day”)

Boa tarde – Good afternoon

Bem-vindo – Welcome

Tudo bem? – How are you (It translates to “Everything well?”)

Boa noite – Good night

Até logo –See you later or Until later (informal situations)

Até amanhã – See you tomorrow (It literally means “Until tomorrow”)

Tem passado bem? – Have you been well?

Adeus – Goodbye

Como está? – How are you?

Como vai?– How do you do? (It translates to “How do you go?)

Oi! – Hi

Alô –Hello

Tchau – Goodbye

Xau – Bye

E aí? – What’s up?

Abraço – Hug
Como você está? –How are you?

Como vai você? – How are you doing?

Querido(a) – Dear…

Beijinho – The literal translation is “little kisses.”

Até mais – Until later

Como foi o seu dia? – How was your day?

Qual é o seu nome? – What is your name?

Como é que é? – How is it? ( mainly used in Brazilian Portuguese and universally informal)

Those are the most common Portuguese greetings. But, you might have to know how to say
the correct greetings not only when you speak Portuguese and if you write to someone.

Formal Portuguese Greetings – Cumprimentos Formais

Knowing whether you should use formal or informal phrases can often seem like a tricky
dance, but the rule of thumb is that if you are talking to senior citizens, coworkers you have
met recently, your boss, shop assistants or anybody you do not know well, you should use
the expressions below.

Como está? / Como vai? (How are you? / How do you do?, lit. “How do you go?”)

This is the “How are you?” of formal greetings.

You can use it by saying “komoo SHTAH” (Portugal), “komoo eeSHTAH” (Brazil) or “komoo
VIGH” (both).

This is a good expression to use immediately after greeting the person with an introductory
expression, for example: “Olá, como está?” or “Bom dia, como vai?”

Tem passado bem? (Lit. “Have you been well?”)

If the previously mentioned Tudo bem? (lit. “Everything well?”) seems a little bit too
informal for the situation you find yourself in, you can always opt for a classier, more formal
version that literally translates to “Have you been passing well?”

All you have to do is pronounce it this way: “taym paSAH-doo BAYM?”

Cumprimentos (Greetings)
Used to either start or finish a formal letter or email (but never both in the same message),
“coom-pree-MENtoosh” is an objective, distant, polite way to address somebody, especially
if you have never met them before. It is suitable for addressing a potential employer, for
example.

Estimado(a)… / Caro(a)… / Prezado(a) Sr(a)… (Dear…)

If you would prefer to write a formal message but feel “Greetings” is way too distant and
you would prefer to mention a person’s name instead, go for polite salutations such as
estimado (esh-tee-MAdoo), caro (KAH-roo) or prezado (preh-ZAH-doo).

These are the equivalents to “Dear Mr./Mrs.” or “Dear Sir/Madam,” as you will have to
follow them with the person’s full name or last name.

Also, remember what we said before about having to adapt nouns to gender and number?
The same happens here, as there are several variations of the same salutation: estimado
(singular male), estimada (singular female), estimados (plural male or mixed group) and
estimadas (plural female).

The same logic applies to the others: caro, cara, caros, caras; and prezado, prezada,
prezados, prezadas!

Atenciosamente / Cordialmente (Sincerely, Best regards / Cordially)

These are the friendliest expressions one could use to finish a formal written message,
whether that be an email, a text message or a letter.

Since these do not need to be adapted to number or gender, they are practical and universal,
as well as understood throughout the Portuguese-speaking world!

If you were to use these expressions orally, you would need to say “atenSEEOH-zament” in
Portugal and “atenSEEOH-zamentsh” in Brazil or “cohr-dee-ALment” (Portugal) and “cohr-
dee-ALmentsh” (Brazil).

Informal Portuguese Greetings- Cumprimentos informais

Ready to impress your friends, family members, boyfriends and girlfriends with these laid
back, heart-warming greetings? Keep reading and make sure you practice these words both
out loud and through writing!
Oi! (Hi)

Widely used in Brazil, the term has spread to Portugal as well, although olá is still more
common and acceptable as a standard greeting.

You would see oi used both orally and in writing, especially when texting, on Whatsapp, on
social media and any other informal means of communication.

The word is pronounced “Oee,” with no difference from country to country.

Alô? / Está? / Estou sim? (Hello?)

As you might have guessed by now, “ah-LOH” is widely used in Portuguese-speaking

Alternatively, you might want to use Está? (lit. “Are you?” which is formal, but used with
everybody) or Estou sim? (lit. “I am, yes?”) in Portugal.

Usually, the intonation will rise toward the end of the word, not the other way around!

E aí? (What’s up?)

E aí? is a typical Brazilian expression, and it is not used by natives in Portugal. However,
pretty much everybody would understand you if you used it.

Meaning literally “And over there?” it is used as a substitute for both “Hi” and “How are
you?” and functions as a two-in-one. It just does not get more useful than that!

Alternatively, some young people in Portugal will use Como é que é? (lit. “How is it?”) with a
huge smile on their faces to informally ask what you have been up to.

Como você está? / Como vai você? (How are you? / How are you doing?)

It is important to note that in Brazil, the word você is used for informal situations to refer to
“you” (second person, singular, informal), while in Portugal it is almost never used, except in
extremely formal situations—and even then, most people would prefer not to use it at all.

For that reason, seeing the word você in a sentence can imply radically different tones
depending on the country where it is voiced. Here, Como você está? (How are you?) or Como
vai você? (How are you doing?, lit. “How do you go?”) are informal, as they are examples of
Brazilian greetings and are used everywhere with friends, family members, close coworkers
and so on.

Struggling with pronunciation? Try “komoo VOH-seh eesh-TAH?” or “komoo vigh VOH-seh?”

Como estás? / Como vais? (How are you? / How are you doing?)

If you are planning on applying your Portuguese skills in Portugal, these would be the
expressions to use informally to ask “How are you?”

You will see that the Portuguese language often omits the person (in this case, tu, second
person, informal), because it is implied by the way the verb is conjugated. This is one of
those cases! Rather than saying Como estás tu? or Como vais tu? you will often hear the
simplified version.

Here is a pronunciation tip: go for “komoo shTAH-sh?” or “komoo VIGH-sh?”

Querido(a) (Dear…)

Similar to the Spanish cariño or cariña, querido and querida are terms of endearment used
all over the Portuguese-speaking world and would be translated as “Dear” for male and
female, respectively.

Be careful, though: the letter “u” after “q” is 100% silent in this case! This means you would
actually pronounce them as “keh-REEdoo” or “keh-REEda.”

While you are free to use this term as you speak, here it is introduced as a greeting while
writing. You can begin any informal letter or email to a friend, family member or pen-pal
with Querido(a)... For example: Querida Maria, Querido José…

Abraço (Hug)

Since you will be starting a letter or email with Querido(a), why don’t you finish your
message in an equally comforting and memorable way?

Abraço (abRAH-so) literally means “hug,” and it is often used in writing to finish a
conversation in a chat, a friendly email or a letter. Of course, it would be equally suitable for
finishing a phone call!
Beijinho (Lit. “Little kiss”)

Perhaps one of the sweetest things about the Portuguese language is how it uses -inho or -
inha (again, the characteristic Portuguese sound is included here, and it would sound a little
like “-EENyoo” or “-EENya”). These are added at the ends of nouns or even names
(Ronaldinho, anyone?) to indicate endearment, as well as something of a small size.

That is the case with beijo (kiss) as it becomes beijinho (little kiss), to mean a very sweet,
quick kiss as a greeting.

Most would use this at the end of a phone call, but it can also be used in writing to end a
conversation. Alternatively, you could use beijinhos (plural).

Fortunately, it is pronounced and used the exact same way in all Portuguese-speaking
countries. Let’s say it together: “bay-JEE-nyoo.”

Tchau! / Xau! (Bye!)

As in several countries around the world, you can always use the term tchau when saying
goodbye at the end of a spoken or written conversation. It is quick, easy, understandable by
everybody and, above all, easy to pronounce (“TSHAH-oo”).

However, be careful, as it is informal and should not be used at the end of a more formal
situation like a meeting or a job interview.