How to speak Portuguese

Portuguese is a widely spoken global language, boasting over 250 million speakers across Africa, South America, Asia, and Europe. Whether you want to socialize with locals on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach or build professional connections in Porto and Lisbon, Portuguese offers versatile utility and abundant opportunities.

Learn Portuguese

Learn Portuguese efficiently

Learning Portuguese as an English speaker doesn't have to be daunting, especially with the right tools. Babbel provides Portuguese courses catering to all levels and abilities. Our learning app allows you to study Portuguese conveniently, with courses ranging from 1 to 12 months, all centered around real-life scenarios. Ready to get started? Signing up is quick, and you can download the app immediately. Here are some tips to assist you on your journey to mastering Portuguese.

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Pronunciation and grammar

Pronunciation is the biggest difference between Portuguese words and their English relatives. For beginners trying to learn Portuguese, correctly pronouncing words will likely be a challenge. You can probably guess the meaning of Portuguese words like paciência, cominição and visionário because they look like English words with the same meaning – but what about all those accent marks? They can make the written language seem daunting at first, but spelling rules are actually more consistent than English. Once you recognize the accent marks it becomes much easier to pronounce words you’ve never seen or heard before. With the help of Babbel’s speech recognition feature, you'll be able to practice your accent and ensure that your Portuguese is understandable.

Portuguese grammar may at first seem strange to an English-speaker, but its rules are easier than English grammar. And once you have a handle on Portuguese grammar, the rules are effectively unchanged for Spanish, Italian, and French. Since all four descended from Latin, the Romance languages have several grammatical rules in common: adjectives come after the noun they modify, all verbs are conjugated, the subject-verb order is inverted when asking a question, and all nouns have a gender designation. Being familiar with one Romance language will allow you to pick up others more easily.

5 easy tips to start with

  • Use repetition - practice speaking, reading and writing the same words over and over

  • Start with useful words and phrases (whatever's useful to you)

  • Listen to Portuguese podcasts

  • Cook Portuguese food

  • Try to speak the language every day

Learn Portuguese the Babbel way

Babbel’s Portuguese courses are affordable, accessible online, and proven to strengthen your reading, listening, speaking and comprehension skills. As a Babbel user, you have access to a diverse program of grammar, conjugation, pronunciation, listening comprehension, and writing exercises. You can practice on our website or via your iPhone or Android device. Whether you're too busy for a language class, needing to brush up before a vacation or business trip, or wanting to re-learn everything you've forgotten since high school, Babbel can be customized to your needs.

Try your first Portuguese lesson for free and discover Babbel’s easy and intuitive course system, which determines your individual level and accommodates different learning styles. You can learn at your own pace, set your own lesson plans, and receive helpful hints whenever you need them. You'll also be joining an entire community of learners. Babbel users can easily share questions, experiences and advice via message boards and chat, and the Babbel support team is always only a message away.

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