In this lesson
Nothing here is grammar. Every line is a fixed chunk you memorize whole and say whole — the social glue that makes a Portuguese shop, café, or street exchange go well before you can say anything else. The kit at the centre of the lesson is more important than any vocabulary you will ever learn: it lets you take control of a conversation that is running away from you, politely and instantly, using six sentences.
By the end of this lesson you can open any interaction with the right greeting for the hour, get a stranger’s attention without offending them, thank people with the form that matches you, and recover from a reply you didn’t catch — again, slower, simpler, on paper, in English, or on your phone — in the right order and without embarrassment.
Tap each sentence and listen first, repeat it aloud, then check yourself against the text and meaning that appear — tap again to listen as often as you like.
Chunks: greetings for every hour
Portugal greets on the way in. Walking into a shop, a café, a pharmacy, or a lift without a greeting reads as rude; the greeting is the opening move, and the staff will return it. Three greetings cover the whole day, split by the light outside:
Bom dia.
Bom dia — good morning, until lunch. Two loud beats, “bõ DEE-uh”.
Boa tarde.
Boa tarde — from lunch until it gets dark. “BO-uh TARD” — the final e nearly silent, as Lesson 0 promised.
Boa noite.
Boa noite — after dark. It is also the goodbye after dark: you say it walking in to a restaurant at eight and again walking out at ten. Nobody minds if your switchover hour is off.
Olá.
Olá — hello, any hour. Friendly and safe on its own; even better stacked in front of the time-of-day greeting (Olá, boa tarde — hello, good afternoon).
Adeus.
Adeus — goodbye. In Portugal this is an ordinary parting word, not a dramatic one: leaving a shop, a café, a taxi.
Até logo.
Até logo — see you later, for anyone you’ll plausibly see again today: the hotel desk, the café you’ll be back at. Either goodbye works everywhere; pick the one that comes out.
Chunks: thank you, and the excuse-me that opens every door
Thank you is the one word in this lesson that depends on who is speaking. Play both:
Obrigado.
Obrigado — thank you, when a man is speaking. It’s about you, not the person you’re thanking: a man says obrigado to everyone.
Obrigada.
Obrigada — the same, when a woman is speaking. One letter, chosen by the speaker, always. Drill your own form; in the Anki deck, suspend the cards tagged with the other one.
De nada.
De nada — you’re welcome, literally “of nothing”. The reflex reply when someone thanks you.
Desculpe.
Desculpe — the most useful word in this lesson. It is both “excuse me” to get someone’s attention and “sorry” when you’ve done something: bumped a shoulder, blocked the aisle, taken the wrong seat. Open every approach to a stranger with it — it licenses the interruption. Say it clearly across a café to summon a waiter; that is correct, not rude. “duhsh-KULP”.
Com licença.
Com licença — the other excuse-me: for squeezing past someone on the tram, stepping through a doorway, or leaving a table. It asks for room, not attention. If in doubt, desculpe is never wrong.
Não faz mal.
Não faz mal — “no harm done”. The reply when someone else says desculpe to you — they bumped you, they were late, they got your order wrong and fixed it. It closes the apology kindly.
Chunks: yes, fine, okay
Sim.
Sim — yes. Real and understood, but here is the honest note: when a Portuguese person answers a question, they usually repeat the verb rather than say sim — “Do you have change?” gets “Have.” Lesson 3 teaches you to do the same. For now, sim is what you say to anything that isn’t a verb question, and what you’ll say alongside por favor (below).
Tudo bem?
Tudo bem? — “all good?” — is both the question and the answer: asked with a rise, it means “how are you / are we fine?”; said flat, it means “all good.” Someone asks it, you answer it back.
Está bem.
Está bem — okay, fine, understood. You’ll hear it constantly and say it constantly: agreeing to a table, a time, a price. One caution: it tells the other person the message landed, so never use it to smooth over something you didn’t understand — that’s what the repair kit below is for.
Chunks: please
Por favor.
Por favor — please. On its own, with a point at what you want, it is already a complete polite request (Lesson 2 puts a noun in front of it). It also goes at the end of nearly every sentence in the repair kit.
Se faz favor.
Se faz favor — the same “please”, in the form Portugal made its own. Use either; you’ll hear both. Said clearly across a room, it is also how you call a waiter over — that comes up in Lesson 5.
The full repair kit
This is the heart of the lesson. Every question you ask in Portugal invites a reply at native speed, and the first rule of this course is that you control the pace. The kit is a ladder: start at the bottom, climb one rung at a time, and deploy each rung the instant the thread slips — without apology, without embarrassment. Natives use these same sentences with each other. The rungs are numbered here, and only here, because the order is the skill: 0 preemptive → 1 again → 2 slower → 3 simpler → 4 paper → 5 English → 6 phone.
Falo pouco português.
Rung 0 — the preemptive floor. Falo pouco português — “I speak little Portuguese”. Say it before trouble, at the top of the exchange, and the other person resets their register for you: slower, simpler, more patient. It costs nothing and buys everything. (o português is the language — it comes back in Lesson 2.)
Como?
Rung 1 — again. Como? — “pardon?” — is what Portuguese people say when they missed something. One word, rising. It gets the whole sentence again.
Pode repetir, por favor?
The full version of the same rung: Pode repetir, por favor? — “could you repeat, please?” Memorize it whole for now; Pode…? becomes your all-purpose way of asking anyone to do anything in Lesson 5.
Mais devagar, por favor.
Rung 2 — slower. Mais devagar, por favor — “more slowly, please”. What it buys is the same words, slower — and that alone catches a surprising amount, because the vanishing vowels of Lesson 0 come back when people slow down.
Mais simples, por favor.
Rung 3 — simpler. Mais simples, por favor — “simpler, please”. This one asks for different words: the person swaps a hard phrase for a plain one. It is transparent enough to work on anyone.
Mais devagar e mais simples, por favor.
The combined ask. Mais devagar e mais simples, por favor. Real replies usually need both — slower and plainer — so once you own rungs 2 and 3, this is the one to reach for.
Pode escrever?
Rung 4 — paper. Pode escrever? — “could you write it?” For numbers, times, prices, and names: anything you’ll need to match against a sign, a ticket, or show to someone else. Portuguese spelling is regular, so a written word is worth a lot even before you can read the language.
Fala inglês?
Rung 5 — the English hatch. Fala inglês? — “do you speak English?” This isn’t repair; it leaves Portuguese instead of fixing it. In Portugal it works often, especially with anyone under forty and anyone in a tourist trade — and when it does, that is a win, not a failure. Try the Portuguese rungs first; the reception you get afterwards is different. (o inglês — English, the language.)
Não percebo.
The honest reset. Não percebo — “I don’t understand” — using Portugal’s own verb for understanding, perceber. Say it plainly whenever it’s true; it is the opposite of está bem, and it sets up the last rung.
Não percebo. Vou mostrar no telemóvel.
Rung 6 — the phone, and the end of the ladder. Não percebo. Vou mostrar no telemóvel. — “I don’t understand; I’ll show you on my phone.” Spoken repair has failed and there’s no English: declare the translation app and hold it up. It’s a statement, not a question — you’re not asking permission, you’re changing the channel. Memorize it whole; Lesson 7 takes it apart.
Here is the whole ladder said in order, once, all in your voice. It’s the one card in the deck that is nothing but you climbing:
Falo pouco português. Como? Pode repetir, por favor? Mais devagar, por favor. Mais simples, por favor. Mais devagar e mais simples, por favor. Pode escrever? Fala inglês? Não percebo. Vou mostrar no telemóvel.Chunks that snap together
The chunks combine, and the combinations are what you’ll actually say. No new words here — just the joins:
Desculpe, bom dia.
Attention plus greeting — the standard way to open on a stranger in the morning: Desculpe, bom dia.
Sim, por favor.
Sim, por favor — yes, please. The answer to any offer you want: a bag, a receipt, more bread.
Não, obrigado.
Não, obrigado — no, thank you, in a man’s voice. The polite refusal of anything offered: it is what sends the unwanted bread basket back in Lesson 5.
Não, obrigada.
The same refusal, said by a woman: Não, obrigada.
Desculpe, não percebo.
Desculpe, não percebo — sorry, I don’t understand. The polite version of the reset, and the sentence you’ll say most in your first week.
Está bem, até logo.
Está bem, até logo — okay, see you later. Agreement and exit in one breath, for the hotel desk or the café you’ll return to.
Chunks: the emergency cry
Socorro!
Socorro! — Help! One word, memorized whole, for real emergencies only: an accident, a fall, a theft in progress. It is not the everyday word for help — everyday help is Desculpe (excuse me) and a point, and Lesson 8 gives you Preciso de ajuda (I need help). It comes back in Lesson 10.
Dialog
Leaving a café after paying. The clerk sees you out, and says something you’ve never heard — which is exactly when rung 1 earns its keep. Listen to the whole thing cold first, then go line by line.
Boa tarde. Boa tarde. Desculpe — por favor. Está bem. Obrigada. De nada. Boa continuação! Como? Boa continuação. Obrigada. Até logo.Nine lines, nothing you don’t own, and one word you didn’t — handled by Como? and a thank-you. That’s the shape of most of your first week.
Repair drill
You’ve pointed at a pastry, and the clerk asks you something at full native speed — you are not expected to understand it. That’s the drill: notice the thread is lost, and deploy the kit, rung by rung, instantly and pleasantly.
Quer o pastel aquecido? E é para levar ou para comer aqui? Como? Quer o pastel aquecido? E é para levar ou para comer aqui? Mais devagar, por favor. Quer o pastel… aquecido? E é para levar… ou para comer aqui? Desculpe, não percebo. Fala inglês? Não, desculpe. Não percebo. Vou mostrar no telemóvel. Está bem.Notice what the slower rung bought: the same words, spaced out — not easier ones. When that isn’t enough, you don’t pretend; you say Não percebo and change the channel. The clerk’s Está bem is him agreeing to look at your phone, and the exchange ends with you understood.
The whole ladder: at the pharmacy
One more scene, and this one is deliberately over your head. A pharmacy counter, a headache, and questions you have no chance of parsing on Day 1. That’s the design: your side of the conversation is nothing but this lesson’s kit, deployed rung by rung — and it gets you through anyway. Listen to the whole thing cold first. Come back after Lesson 8 and you’ll understand the pharmacist too.
Boa tarde. Boa tarde. Falo pouco português. Não há problema. Tem receita médica, ou precisa de alguma coisa sem receita? Como? Tem receita médica, ou precisa de alguma coisa sem receita? Mais devagar, por favor. Tem… receita… médica? Ou precisa… de alguma coisa… sem receita? Mais simples, por favor. Tem papel do médico? Pode escrever? Sim, sim. Desculpe, não percebo. Fala inglês? Não, desculpe. Não percebo. Vou mostrar no telemóvel. Está bem.You show the translation app: headache, no prescription. He nods, reaches behind him, and you leave with the right box. Every rung was used, in order, and not one of his sentences was one you could parse. That is the point of the kit: it works before you understand.
How to behave: greetings, thanks and the two kisses
- Greet on entry, every time. Bom dia or boa tarde walking into any shop, café, pharmacy, or lift. Staff will greet you back; the exchange has started well.
- Boa noite is also a goodbye after dark — say it on the way out as well as the way in.
- Obrigado or obrigada is about the speaker. Men say obrigado, women say obrigada, regardless of who they’re thanking. Get yours right and it’s the most audible thing you’ll say all day.
- Two kisses are for friends; a handshake for everyone else. Don’t initiate the kisses; if a friend leans in, it’s right cheek first, then left, and it’s a light touch.
- Don’t default to Spanish. Portuguese people understand it and don’t enjoy being addressed in it. Broken Portuguese followed by Fala inglês? is the polite path, and it gets a far warmer reception.
Checkpoint
Your exit exam, out loud. Each line below sets a scene from this lesson — say the Portuguese before you tap; the tap plays the answer. Check yourself, repeat after the audio matching its rhythm and its swallowed vowels, and if one won’t come, replay its section. These are this deck’s speaking cards — in Anki they queue up after the listening cards, so you’ll always have heard a line before you’re asked to produce it.
In the Anki deck, a voice asks Como se diz isto em português? — “how do you say this in Portuguese?” — before each of these cards. It’s a real question, not a sound effect: Lesson 2 teaches you that exact sentence, and it’s how you’ll harvest new words from the people around you.
Still on the checklist — ears and behavior: did you greet on the way in? Did the sign-off Boa continuação get a thank-you and not a blank look? Did you catch the clerk’s Está bem as “okay, go ahead”? Those live in the Dialog and the Repair drill above.
Vocabulary reference
All twenty-eight chunks in one place, plus the two recognition lines. This table is a reference, not the lesson — the chunks live in the sections above.
| # | Portuguese | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bom dia. | good morning | until lunch |
| 2 | Boa tarde. | good afternoon | until dark |
| 3 | Boa noite. | good evening / good night | after dark — also the goodbye |
| 4 | Olá. | hello | any hour; stacks with the time-of-day greeting |
| 5 | Adeus. | goodbye | an ordinary parting in Portugal |
| 6 | Até logo. | see you later | for anyone you’ll see again today |
| 7 | Obrigado. / Obrigada. | thank you | the speaker’s form — men obrigado, women obrigada |
| 8 | De nada. | you’re welcome | the reflex reply to thanks |
| 9 | Desculpe. | excuse me / sorry | attention and apology — opens every approach |
| 10 | Com licença. | excuse me (passing through) | asks for room, not attention |
| 11 | Não faz mal. | no harm done / never mind | the reply to someone else’s desculpe |
| 12 | Sim. | yes | natives usually echo the verb instead — Lesson 3 |
| 13 | Tudo bem? | everything okay? / all good | question and answer |
| 14 | Está bem. | okay / fine / understood | never to paper over something you didn’t get |
| 15 | Por favor. | please | point + por favor = a complete request |
| 16 | Se faz favor. | please | Portugal’s twin; also summons a waiter |
| 17 | Falo pouco português. | I speak little Portuguese | rung 0 — say it up front |
| 18 | Como? | pardon? | rung 1 — one word, rising |
| 19 | Pode repetir, por favor? | could you repeat, please? | rung 1 in full |
| 20 | Mais devagar, por favor. | slower, please | rung 2 — same words, slower |
| 21 | Mais simples, por favor. | simpler, please | rung 3 — different, plainer words |
| 22 | Mais devagar e mais simples, por favor. | slower and simpler, please | the combined ask |
| 23 | Pode escrever? | could you write it? | rung 4 — numbers, times, names |
| 24 | Fala inglês? | do you speak English? | rung 5 — the hatch; often works |
| 25 | Não percebo. | I don’t understand | the honest reset — Portugal’s verb |
| 26 | Não percebo. Vou mostrar no telemóvel. | I don’t understand — I’ll show you on my phone | rung 6 — declare the app, don’t ask |
| 27 | Socorro! | Help! | real emergencies only — memorized whole |
| 28 | o português | Portuguese (the language) | inside the opener; Lesson 2’s harvesting question uses it |
| 29 | o inglês | English (the language) | inside the hatch |
Recognize only — never say these (you own the reply, not the line):
| # | Portuguese | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boa continuação. | Enjoy the rest of your day. (the same words, again) | the sign-off as you leave — cousins: Boa viagem (safe travels), Bom fim de semana (good weekend), Bom descanso (rest well); reply with your thank-you |
| 2 | Não há problema. Tem receita médica, ou precisa de alguma coisa sem receita? | No problem. Do you have a prescription, or do you need something without one? | their ’no problem’ (Não há problema) — the reply to your desculpe or your opener; parse it and move on. The rest is the pharmacy’s sorting question — prescription, or over the counter? — for Lesson 8 |
Anki deck
Drill this lesson’s audio anywhere: download the Lesson 1 Anki deck. Sentence cards are the course; vocab cards are backup — suspend them unless a word won’t stick. First import: suspend every card tagged with the other gender’s thank-you (speaker-m if you’re a woman, speaker-f if you’re a man) — How to Drill shows where.
Next up: Lesson 2 — Naming & pointing, where the first three sentence patterns turn pointing into ordering.