Learn Brazilian Portuguese for your trip
A travel guide for Rio, São Paulo and Salvador, with notes on where Brazilian Portuguese differs from the Portuguese of Portugal.
- 12 modules
- 4 missions
- 455 phrases to search, hear and save
- 2 games
Try it free for 14 days.
This is a travel guide, not a full course: First Steps and an Out and about track, with four missions (breakfast at a padaria, getting across the city by metro or bus, shopping at a feira and getting help at a pharmacy).
Real situations, one at a time.
4 missions, each a situation you will meet on a trip. You practise the key language, then the conversation.
Missions
Breakfast at a padaria
Order a coffee and a cheese bread at a padaria counter, the way the neighbourhood does, and pay.
Get across the city by metro or bus
Take the metro or a bus across a Brazilian city: find the right line, buy a ticket, follow the directions and get off where you meant to.
Shop at a feira
Buy fruit at a street market by the half kilo or dozen, taste first, and pay without any muddle.
Get help at a pharmacy
Explain a simple health problem to a pharmacist, mention an allergy, understand how to take the medicine and pay.
The Brazilian Portuguese you learn, in order.
It starts with First Steps, the survival language for your first hour, then a travel track for the places you will go.
- 1First StepsOi, tudo bem? Hello, thank you, and how to get what you need.
- 2Out and aboutÔnibus, feiras and farmácias: getting around and getting help.
- 12
- modules, each in short lessons
- 265
- words and expressions
- 29
- sentence patterns
- 455
- phrases in the phrasebook
Brazilian Portuguese you can use on day one.
These are from the first lessons. In the app each has audio, a note on when to use it, and a way to save it.
Boa tarde, senhor.
Good afternoon, sir.
Desculpa, senhora.
Excuse me, madam.
Onde fica o banheiro?
Where is the toilet?
Você fala inglês?
Do you speak English?
Pode repetir, por favor?
Can you repeat that, please?
A conta, por favor.
The bill, please.
Eu queria um café, por favor.
I'd like a coffee, please.
Three things about Brazilian Portuguese for a traveller.
A guide for a first trip
Twelve modules and 50 survival phrases are enough for a first trip. If you want a full Brazilian Portuguese course, you can request one.
Accents vary
In Rio many people pronounce a final s like "sh". In the south, around Porto Alegre, "tu" is common in many places. The notes mark both.
Brazil is large
There are notes for Rio, São Paulo, Salvador, Recife, Manaus, Brasília and Fortaleza, each saying what is particular to the place.
Places the course has notes on.
Each note is a habit of that place, so you know what to expect where you are going.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro city, Niterói, Paraty and Búzios. In Rio many people pronounce a final s like sh
São Paulo
São Paulo city and state: Brazil's biggest city, with food from all over the world and a busy metro
Salvador & Bahia
Salvador, Morro de São Paulo and the Bahian coast: Afro-Brazilian food and music, acarajé
Recife & Pernambuco
Recife, Olinda and Fernando de Noronha in the north-east
Manaus & the Amazon
Manaus and the Amazon: river boats and fruit you may not know
Porto Alegre & the south
Porto Alegre, Gramado and the gaúcho south, where tu is common in many places
Brasília
Brasília, the planned capital, with wide avenues and long distances between places
Fortaleza & Ceará
Fortaleza and the Ceará coast, including Jericoacoara, in the north-east
The same app plans the trip you are learning Brazilian Portuguese for.
Takes your phrases offline
Download the travel guide on Wi-Fi. The phrasebook, survival and travel packs, local notes and audio then work with no signal.
Plans the trip too
Put places on days, save the TikToks and reels that gave you ideas, see the stops on a map and share the plan.
Keeps your travel map
Colour in the countries you have been to and the ones you want to go to.
About learning Brazilian Portuguese.
How is it different from European Portuguese?
Pronunciation, some everyday words and the "you" forms differ. The Portuguese of Portugal course is separate, and the guide's notes point out where Brazil does something differently.
Is there a full Brazilian Portuguese course?
Not yet. The travel guide is what exists, and a full course can follow if people ask for it. You can request one on the site.
Do I need the internet in Brazil?
Download the travel guide on Wi-Fi and the phrasebook, packs and audio work with no signal.
Going somewhere else?
Say your first Brazilian Portuguese phrase in a few minutes.
Create a free account, pick Brazilian Portuguese, and start with the phrases for your first hour.
Try it free for 14 days.