The most useful phrases in Portuguese from Portugal for a beginner are bom dia (good morning), se faz favor (please), obrigado or obrigada (thank you) and desculpe (sorry). These are the Portugal forms, and a few of them differ from Brazilian Portuguese, so learning the Portugal versions first saves you correcting habits later.
A short set of phrases carries you a long way in Portugal. Greetings, please and thank you, and a few travel basics cover most everyday moments, from a café to a shop to a first hello with a neighbour. The trick is to learn the Portugal forms from the very start.
Some of these phrases are shared across the Portuguese-speaking world, but several differ between Portugal and Brazil. Because most apps and courses teach the Brazilian versions, a beginner aiming for Portugal can pick up habits that sound off on arrival. Learning the Portugal forms first avoids that.
The phrases below are grouped by how you will use them: greetings and courtesy, the words that differ from Brazilian, and getting around. Every phrase here is written the way it is said in Portugal.
Key takeaways
- In the Portuguese spoken in Portugal, a man says obrigado and a woman says obrigada for thank you, because the word agrees with the speaker.
- Se faz favor and faz favor are the common ways to say please in Portugal, alongside the shorter por favor.
- Several everyday words differ from Brazilian Portuguese, such as comboio for train and pequeno-almoço for breakfast.
- In Portugal, não percebo is the usual way to say I do not understand, where Brazilian speakers say não entendo.
What are the essential greetings and polite words?
These are the phrases you will use every day. They work in almost any situation, formal or informal, and they are the fastest way to sound polite from your first conversation in Portugal.
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
| bom dia | good morning |
| boa tarde | good afternoon |
| boa noite | good evening, good night |
| olá | hello |
| adeus | goodbye |
| se faz favor | please |
| obrigado / obrigada | thank you |
| de nada | you are welcome |
| desculpe | sorry, excuse me |
| sim / não | yes / no |
Where do European Portuguese phrases differ from Brazilian?
This is where a Portugal-bound beginner gets tripped up. The words below are everyday vocabulary, and the Portugal and Brazil forms are different enough that using the wrong one marks you out at once. The table gives the pairs that come up most often.
| Portugal | Brazil | English |
|---|---|---|
| Se faz favor | Por favor | Please |
| Não percebo | Não entendo | I do not understand |
| Autocarro | Ônibus | Bus |
| Comboio | Trem | Train |
| Pequeno-almoço | Café da manhã | Breakfast |
| Telemóvel | Celular | Mobile phone |
These are only the most common pairs. The two varieties also sound different and handle pronouns differently, which is covered in how different is European Portuguese from Brazilian Portuguese?
Why are obrigado and obrigada different?
This is the single phrase beginners get wrong most often. In Portuguese from Portugal, thank you agrees with the gender of the person speaking. A man says obrigado. A woman says obrigada. It does not change based on who you are thanking.
The same rule holds in Brazil, so it is worth fixing early. If you want to say thank you very much, add muito: muito obrigado from a man, muito obrigada from a woman. Getting this one habit right makes your Portugal Portuguese sound natural from the start.
Which phrases help you get around Portugal?
Beyond greetings, a handful of practical phrases handle most travel and daily errands. These are the ones worth memorising before a trip, because they cover asking for things, prices and directions.
| Portuguese | English |
|---|---|
| quanto custa? | how much is it? |
| onde fica...? | where is...? |
| a conta, se faz favor | the bill, please |
| fala inglês? | do you speak English? |
| pode repetir? | can you repeat that? |
One small note for coffee lovers: in Lisbon, an espresso is often called uma bica, though um café is understood everywhere in the country. Little touches like this are what mark out someone learning the Portugal variety rather than the Brazilian one.
How do you practise these phrases out loud?
Reading a phrase list is the easy part. The phrases only become useful once you can say them without hesitating, and that takes speaking practice, not just memorising. Saying each phrase out loud, in a real exchange, is what moves it from a list into your own speech.
This is where Fluentus fits. Fluentus teaches European Portuguese only, and its AI tutor holds spoken conversations with you 24 hours a day in a real human voice, so you can practise these phrases out loud and be corrected without booking anything. It runs courses from A1 to B2 with smart flashcards built from your own conversations, on iOS and Android. If you are starting from zero, the full path is in how to learn European Portuguese from scratch.
In one sentence: learn the Portugal forms of everyday phrases first, because a handful of them differ from Brazilian Portuguese and the Portugal versions are what people around you actually say.
Frequently asked questions
How do you say thank you in Portuguese from Portugal?
You say obrigado if you are male and obrigada if you are female, because the word agrees with the speaker, not the person you are thanking. This is the same in Brazil. A common fuller version is muito obrigado or muito obrigada, which means thank you very much.
Is it por favor or se faz favor in Portugal?
Both are correct in Portugal. Se faz favor and the shorter faz favor are very common in everyday speech, especially when asking for something in a shop or a café. Por favor is also understood and used. Brazilian Portuguese leans almost entirely on por favor, so se faz favor is a useful Portugal marker.
Are Portuguese phrases the same in Portugal and Brazil?
Many core phrases are shared, but everyday words differ enough to notice. Portugal uses comboio for train, autocarro for bus and pequeno-almoço for breakfast, while Brazil uses trem, ônibus and café da manhã. The Portugal forms are what you need if you are living in or visiting Portugal.
How do you say I do not understand in Portugal?
In Portugal, the usual phrase is não percebo, which means I do not understand. Brazilian speakers more often say não entendo. If you want someone to repeat themselves, you can add pode repetir, se faz favor, which means can you repeat that, please. Both percebo and entendo are understood across the language.