Basic directions: Asking for directions

💬 esta means "this" for feminine words like rua. With a masculine word it becomes este: este semáforo.

💬 por here means "along" or "through", not "for". Use it whenever you move along a route: por aqui "this way".

💬 sempre usually means "always", but in directions it means "keep going". Locals often add it: Siga sempre em frente.

💬 à is a "to" + a "the" merged into one. Right works the same way: vire à direita "turn right".

💬 no is em "at" + o "the" squeezed together. With a feminine word it becomes na: na rotunda "at the roundabout".

🇵🇹 Locals often give directions using landmarks like traffic lights, cafés or a church rather than street names, so listen for those.

💬 Portuguese uses the singular o semáforo where English says "the traffic lights", because it's one set of lights.

💬 The only difference from the statement É longe. is your rising voice. There is no word change and no extra helper word.

💬 The ão is nasal, like saying "now" through your nose: (nown), with the n barely there.

💬 Portuguese says são "they are" because the minutes are plural, where English says "it's". For one minute it's é um minuto.

💬 Use a pé for walking but de for vehicles: de carro "by car", de autocarro "by bus".

🇵🇹 Walking times given by locals in Lisbon or Porto often skip the hills, so a "five minutes" can feel longer on the climb.

🇵🇹 In Portugal, men usually say obrigado and women usually say obrigada. It matches the speaker, not the person being thanked.

💬 Por + a becomes pela, just like por + o becomes pelo. You'll see this a lot: pela estação, pelo centro.

🇵🇹 In Portugal, men usually say obrigado and women usually say obrigada. It matches the speaker, not the person being thanked.