Portuguese Phrases for Travel in Portugal and Brazil

Quick answer: the Portuguese phrases for travel that matter most are olá (hello), por favor (please), obrigado or obrigada (thank you), com licença (excuse me), quanto custa? (how much is it?), onde fica…? (where is…?) and a conta, por favor (the bill, please). They work in both Portugal and Brazil. Learn these, then keep an offline translator for everything else.

Portuguese looks familiar on paper if you know a little Spanish, but it sounds very different. Vowels are swallowed at the end of words, and many final s sounds become “sh” in Portugal. The phrases below come with simple English sound guides, plus notes where Portugal and Brazil use different words.

What are the basic Portuguese greetings?

Greetings are the phrases you will use most, so learn these first. A polite greeting before a question changes how people respond, in a shop or at a ticket window.

Use bom dia until lunch, boa tarde until dark and boa noite after that. Boa noite works as both hello and goodbye in the evening.

How do you say please and thank you in Portuguese?

Thank you changes with the speaker, not the listener. A man says obrigado. A woman says obrigada. Getting this right is a small detail that locals notice.

The “ão” in não is a nasal sound, close to “now” said through your nose. You will hear it in many common words, such as pão (bread) and estação (station).

What should I say when I don’t understand?

These phrases buy you time. Most people in tourist areas will switch to English or slow down once you ask.

1. Fala inglês? (FAH-lah een-GLAYSH): Do you speak English?
2. Não entendo. (nowng en-TEN-doo): I don’t understand.
3. Pode falar mais devagar, por favor? (POH-d fah-LAR mysh d’vah-GAR): Can you speak more slowly, please?
4. Pode repetir? (POH-d heh-peh-TEER): Can you repeat that?
5. Como se diz…? (KOH-moo s’ deesh): How do you say…?

In Brazil, the final s is softer, so inglês sounds closer to een-GLAYS and mais sounds like “mice”.

Portuguese phrases for restaurants and cafés

Ordering food is where most travellers need Portuguese. Café culture differs between the two countries. In Portugal, um café is a small espresso, and in Lisbon people often call it uma bica. In Brazil, um cafezinho is the small, strong coffee served after meals.

Queria (keh-REE-ah) is the polite way to order, a softer “I would like”. In Portugal you may also see “a ementa” for the menu, and “o prato do dia” means the dish of the day, often the best value on the board.

If the menu is on paper or a chalkboard, you do not have to type it. Portuguese uses the Latin alphabet, so a camera translator can read it directly. We cover the same method for other languages in our guide to translating a picture.

How do you ask for directions in Portuguese?

Onde fica…? (OHN-d’ FEE-kah) means “where is…?” and works for almost anything. Add the place after it.

Signs you will see often: Entrada (entrance), Saída (exit), Aberto (open), Fechado (closed), Puxe (pull) and Empurre (push).

Which travel words are different in Portugal and Brazil?

The grammar is shared, but daily vocabulary is not always. These are the differences most likely to confuse a visitor.

If you use the “wrong” word, people will still understand you. Brazilian TV is popular in Portugal, so Brazilian words are widely recognized there.

What Portuguese phrases do I need in an emergency?

Keep these somewhere you can find them quickly, such as a note on your phone.

1. Socorro. (soo-KOH-hoo): Help.
2. Preciso de um médico. (preh-SEE-zoo d’ oom MEH-dee-koo): I need a doctor.
3. Onde fica a farmácia? Where is the pharmacy?
4. Chame a polícia. (SHAH-m’ ah poo-LEE-see-ah): Call the police.
5. Perdi o meu passaporte. (per-DEE oo meh-oo pah-sah-POR-t’): I lost my passport.

The emergency number is 112 in Portugal and 190 for police or 192 for an ambulance in Brazil.

How can I translate Portuguese on my phone while travelling?

A phrase list covers the predictable moments. A translator app covers the rest: a question at a pharmacy counter, a parking notice, a long menu. Here is how it works in AI Translate:

1. Before you leave, download the Portuguese pack (about 30 MB) so it works without signal.
2. To say something, open the Translate tab, type or speak your sentence in English and tap the speaker button. The phone reads the Portuguese aloud with its installed text-to-speech voice.
3. To read a sign or menu, open the Text tab and point the camera at it. The English is drawn over the Portuguese, block by block. Tap Freeze to hold the frame.
4. For a photo you already took, tap the gallery button on the camera screen. The translation appears in a sheet you can copy.

Voice input uses your phone’s own speech recognition, so it works offline only where your phone supports offline dictation for Portuguese. Typed text, the camera and photo import work fully offline once the pack is downloaded. For Portuguese, the app plays the pronunciation as audio rather than showing a written sound guide, which is why the guides in this post are useful to keep. There is no account, no ad trackers, and photos are never uploaded. Our list of the best offline translator apps compares other options too.

If you are also heading to Spain, many Portuguese words look similar in Spanish but sound nothing alike, so it is worth having both packs. The Spanish translator page shows what that covers, and the offline translator page explains how the packs work with no connection.

Start with ten phrases

You do not need to learn everything here. Olá, bom dia, por favor, obrigado or obrigada, com licença, desculpe, fala inglês?, quanto custa?, onde fica…? and a conta, por favor will carry you through most days in Lisbon, Porto, Rio or São Paulo. For signs, menus and anything longer, see the Portuguese translator page for how to translate Portuguese with your camera, offline, in both Portugal and Brazil.