Top 50 phrases to get by Portugal (Advanced): Essential communication

💬 The ending follows the speaker, not the person being thanked: a man always says obrigado, even to a woman. It literally means "obliged", which is why it changes like a describing word.

🇵🇹 Use it to squeeze past someone on a crowded tram or to enter someone's office. To get a waiter's attention, a simple Se faz favor! "please!" is more usual.

🇵🇹 Use desculpe for an apology, but also to get someone's attention politely, like "excuse me." For squeezing past someone, com licença is often the more natural choice.

💬 está is the polite form, the same one used with você or a person's title. Among friends you'll hear Como estás? instead.

🇵🇹 Polite and safe with strangers, shop staff and older people. In Portugal, using você directly can sound a bit blunt, so people often leave it out, just like this phrase does.

💬 estou is for how you are right now, like your mood or health. For lasting facts like your job or nationality, Portuguese uses sou "I am" instead.

💬 Literally "I call myself", with me "myself" tacked on after a hyphen. This after-the-verb placement is standard in Portugal, while Brazilians say me chamo.

💬 Same verb as chamo-me, but here se comes before it because question words like como pull it to the front.

🇵🇹 Said with a handshake on first meeting. Between women, or a man and a woman socially, expect two cheek kisses instead, starting on the right.

🇵🇹 English is widely spoken in tourist areas, but opening with fala inglês? is appreciated and usually gets a warmer response than starting in English.

💬 To name the thing you have a little of, add de: um pouco de português "a little Portuguese", um pouco de água "a little water".

💬 Languages and nationalities take a small letter in Portuguese: português, inglês "English". The final s sounds like English sh: (poor-too-GAYSH).

💬 After quantity words like um pouco, Portuguese uses de: um pouco de português, um pouco de água. You can reuse that pattern with lots of nouns.

💬 pode plus any action makes a polite request: Pode falar mais devagar? "Can you speak more slowly?", Pode ajudar? "Can you help?"

🇵🇹 European Portuguese is spoken fast and swallows vowels, so locals expect learners to ask this, and most will gladly slow down.

💬 isto means "this" for something near you, like a word you're pointing at on a menu. For something farther away, use isso "that".

💬 Literally "the house of bath". It's the standard term in Portugal, while Brazilians say banheiro.

💬 To ask where a place is, use é rather than está: Onde é a farmácia? "Where is the pharmacy?"

💬 ão is nasal, said through the nose like a squashed "ow": (shtah-SOWN). The first e almost vanishes too.

💬 sempre usually means "always", but with directions it means "keep going". You'll hear it with à direita "to the right" and à esquerda "to the left".

💬 There's no word for "it": é alone does the job. A rising voice turns É longe "It's far" into a question.

💬 um goes with masculine words and uma with feminine ones: um bilhete, but uma água "a water".

💬 caro also means "dear", as in a letter. It changes to cara for feminine things: A casa é cara "The house is expensive".

💬 Changes to barata for feminine things, which also happens to be the word for cockroach.

💬 posso plus any action asks permission: Posso entrar? "Can I come in?", Posso sentar-me? "Can I sit down?"

💬 Portuguese uses com "with" for paying by card, where English says "by". For cash, say em dinheiro.

🇵🇹 Worth asking in small cafés and family shops, some of which are cash-only or have a minimum for cards. Locals often pay by Multibanco card or the MB WAY app.

🇵🇹 This is the polite, standard way to order in Portugal: Queria um café "I'd like an espresso". Quero "I want" sounds pushy from a customer.

🇵🇹 Restaurants bring bottled water, not free tap water. Specify água natural "still water" or água com gás "sparkling water".

🇵🇹 um café means a short espresso by default. In Lisbon you'll also hear it called uma bica.

💬 "Two" has a feminine form too: dois for men or mixed groups, duas for things like duas cervejas "two beers".

🇵🇹 In most restaurants you wait to be seated rather than taking a free table yourself.

💬 ementa is the Portugal word for menu, while Brazilians say cardápio. A set menu is menu do dia "menu of the day".

🇵🇹 In Portugal you normally ask for a conta at the end; the bill is not usually brought unless you request it.

🇵🇹 Small starters like bread, olives or cheese often arrive unasked and are charged if eaten. Send them back if you don't want them.

💬 It literally means "health", which is also why people say it when someone sneezes.

🇵🇹 Socorro! is for a real emergency, not a joking "help!" in everyday situations. In urgent cases, shouting it will be understood immediately.

💬 To say you need something, use preciso de plus the thing: Preciso de ajuda "I need help".

💬 De + um stays separate here: de um médico. Portuguese contracts many little words, but not every combination contracts.

🇵🇹 The emergency number in Portugal is 112.

💬 tenha is the polite form of ter "to have" used to give wishes and instructions. Same pattern: Tenha cuidado "Be careful".