Portuguese cheat sheet

Agreement

Articles and many adjectives agree with the noun in gender and number.

o livro novo / os livros novos

Present-tense verbs

Regular verbs have endings linked to person and number. Pronoun choices and common forms differ by region.

eu falo / nós falamos

Nasal spelling

The tilde in ã and õ indicates nasal pronunciation. Written vowels and consonants interact with stress and position.

mão; não; corações

Contractions

Prepositions often combine with articles. Treat the combined form as part of the noun phrase.

de + o = do; em + a = na

Negation

Não normally comes before the verb in a simple negative statement. Additional negative words and informal varieties add other patterns.

Eu não falo português. — I do not speak Portuguese.

Past completed actions

The pretérito perfeito commonly presents a completed past event. Forms vary by conjugation and include irregular verbs.

Ontem falei com a Ana. — Yesterday I spoke with Ana.

Pronouns and verb person

Você normally takes third-person singular verb agreement; vocês takes third-person plural. Regional patterns involving tu and other forms vary.

Você fala. — You speak. Vocês falam. — You all speak.

Ongoing actions and variety

Brazilian Portuguese commonly uses estar plus a gerund, while European Portuguese commonly uses estar a plus an infinitive for an ongoing action.

Estou estudando. / Estou a estudar. — I am studying.

Worked example: a routine

Nós estudamos português todos os dias describes a routine, with the time expression todos os dias helping establish the present interpretation.

Nós = we; estudamos = study; português = Portuguese; todos os dias = every day.

Common mistake: one form fits every variety

Pronunciation, pronoun use and some grammatical preferences differ across Portuguese-speaking communities. Keep the variety consistent in a learning example without treating other varieties as errors.

Identify whether a resource models Brazilian or European Portuguese before comparing its forms.

Check your understanding

Which verb form agrees with vocês: fala or falam?

Falam: vocês normally takes third-person plural agreement.

Curriculum connections

Sources