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Learn Brazilian Portuguese, one small step at a time

Short, friendly lessons for complete beginners. Hear every word, practice out loud, and start speaking from day one.

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How it works

How to Learn Brazilian Portuguese

There's no single trick to learning Portuguese. What works is a handful of habits that back each other up: reading, structured lessons, verb practice, flashcards, and a lot of listening and speaking. Here is the method this site is built around, and where to find each part of it. All of it is free.

1. Dive into the text

Start by reading. Seeing a word written down while you hear it makes it stick, and it shows you how Portuguese spelling matches its sounds: the nasal vowels, the two kinds of e and o, the r that sounds like an English "h". Read the dialogues and explanations slowly, look at the "sounds like" guide beside each new word, and read them again the next day. The pronunciation lesson is the place to begin, and the phrasebook collects the everyday phrases you'll want to read over and over.

2. Do the lessons in order

Lessons give you the language in an order that makes sense, so each new piece rests on one you already know. The 90-day course is the full path: one hour a day, each day with a dialogue, a short lesson, typed practice that's checked on the spot, and review of earlier days. If you have less time, the eight quick-start lessons cover the essentials in 15–20 minutes each. Either way, finish the practice at the end before you move on. Getting an answer wrong and fixing it teaches you more than reading the page twice.

3. Study the verb patterns

Verbs carry every Portuguese sentence, and the ending changes with who is doing the action and when. The good news is that most verbs follow one of three patterns, for verbs ending in -ar, -er and -ir. Learn those patterns with a few model verbs and you can conjugate hundreds more. Start with the 50 regular verbs.

Then learn the irregular verbs one at a time. There are fewer of them, but they are the ones you'll use most: ser and estar (to be), ter (to have), ir (to go), fazer (to do, to make). The 50 irregular verbs each have a full table, real examples and a short practice. Say every form out loud as you study it, so your mouth learns the pattern along with your eyes.

4. Review with flashcards

You'll forget a new word unless you meet it again, several times, spread over days. Flashcards do exactly that. Look at the English side, say the Portuguese out loud, then flip the card to check. The flashcards come in three decks, from your first words to idioms and slang, and they keep track of what you've learned. Five or ten minutes a day does more than an hour once a week.

5. Listen for at least 30 minutes every day

This is the part most learners skip, and it matters most. Spoken Brazilian Portuguese is fast, words run together, and it doesn't sound the way it looks on the page. Your ear only gets used to that through hours of listening, so make it a daily habit: at least 30 minutes, every day.

The audio lessons are made for this. Each one is 30 minutes, and you don't need a screen: listen in the car, on a walk or while you cook. When you'd rather read along, each lesson's page has a live transcript that follows the audio line by line. On the rest of the site, tap the 🔊 button beside any Portuguese word or sentence to hear it.

6. Say it out loud

Understanding Portuguese and speaking it are two different skills, and you only get the second one by using your voice. Repeat every new word. Answer the audio lessons out loud, before the speaker does. Read the dialogues aloud and play both parts. It feels awkward at first, and you'll make mistakes. That's how it's supposed to go: every sentence you say aloud is one you'll find more easily when you need it in a real conversation.

A daily plan

Put together, a day of study can look like this:

A little every day beats a lot once a week. If you only have 30 minutes today, spend them listening and speaking.

The 90-day course

One hour a day takes you from your first words to confident intermediate Portuguese. Every day has a dialogue to listen to, a short lesson, typed practice that's checked on the spot, a verb workout and flashcards. Earlier material keeps coming back, so you don't forget it.

Start Day 1 →

Taking the Celpe-Bras exam?

Celpe-Bras is Brazil's official certificate of Portuguese for foreigners. If you already speak some Portuguese, the Celpe-Bras course gets you ready in eight weeks: timed writing tasks in the exam's format, audio and video sources, an examiner's questions to answer out loud, model answers for everything, and two full mock exams. You can start it without doing anything else on this site.

See the Celpe-Bras course How the exam works

Audio lessons

Thirty minutes, no screen needed. You hear a sentence in English, say it in Portuguese, and follow a family's day in Brazil from one lesson to the next. Each lesson also has a live transcript, if you'd like to read along.

Listen to the audio lessons

Short on time? The quick-start lessons

Eight short lessons, about 15–20 minutes each, with the essentials for a trip.

• Lesson 1 · 20 minPronunciation and the AlphabetThe alphabet, the key sounds of Brazilian Portuguese, and how to read any word out loud.
• Lesson 2 · 15 minGreetings and IntroductionsSay hello and goodbye, introduce yourself, and be polite with the phrases you’ll use every single day.
• Lesson 3 · 15 minNumbersCount from 0 to 1,000, give your age and phone number, and understand prices.
• Lesson 4 · 15 minDays, Months and TimeName the days and months, talk about today and tomorrow, and tell the time.
• Lesson 5 · 20 minEssential VerbsThe four verbs in almost every sentence: to be (two ways!), to have and to go.
• Lesson 6 · 20 minFood and OrderingOrder food and drinks, ask for the bill, and discover what Brazilians love to eat.
• Lesson 7 · 15 minGetting AroundAsk for directions, understand the answers, and get around by bus, metro and taxi.
• Lesson 8 · 20 minFamily and Describing PeopleTalk about your family, say who’s who, and describe what people look like and what they’re like.

Verb guides

Conjugation tables, real examples and practice for 1,250 verbs, regular and irregular. Tap any form to hear it.

50 regular verbs 50 irregular verbs

Your first five words

Try these right now: tap to listen, then say them out loud.

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