Confusing Words in Portuguese: 5 Pairs Learners Always Mix Up

The most commonly confused words in Portuguese aren't long or fancy. They're tiny words you use in almost every sentence, like mas and mais or tudo and todo, and here in Brazil mixing them up can completely change what you're trying to say.

I've been teaching Portuguese to foreigners since 2013, and these confusing words in Portuguese show up with my students all the time, whether they speak English, Spanish, or something else. Some are Portuguese words that sound alike, others just look alike on paper. So below I break down each pair, from mas vs mais to tudo vs todo, with real sentences to practice and a short video, so you can stop second-guessing them for good.

If you want a longer list of Portuguese mistakes, check out the most common mistakes in Portuguese, when speaking and writing. This post zooms in on the five mix-ups learners make most often:

• A gente / As pessoas
• Nós / Nos
• Mais / Mas
• Ou / O / Um
• Tudo / Todo

The best way to really learn all these differences is by listening, speaking, reading, and writing in Portuguese, every single day.

In this video, you'll finally understand how to use each one of them =)

Video: 5 Common Portuguese Mistakes Learners Make

In this video I walk you through the five Portuguese mistakes I hear most often, with the pronunciation of each word. Watch it all the way through once, then come back to the sentences below to practice.

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Portuguese Sentences to Practice

Each pair of confusing words in Portuguese shows up here in an everyday sentence, with the key word underlined. Read them out loud: that way the right form sticks in your ear, not just in your eyes.

Some examples of the correct usage:

A gente / As pessoas

A gente means "we" in informal Brazilian Portuguese, even though "gente" looks like it should mean "people". It takes the same verb form as "ele" or "ela" (he or she): we say "a gente vai", not "a gente vamos". As pessoas, on the other hand, really does mean "people" in general. I've got more examples in a gente vs as pessoas.

• A gente vai sair pra uma festa hoje à noite, você vai?
• As pessoas gostam de sair à noite pra se divertir

Nós / Nos

Nós, with the accent, is the pronoun "we" and works as the subject of the sentence. Nos, without the accent, is either "em + os" (in the), as in "nos países" (in the countries), or the object pronoun "us", as in "ele nos ajudou" (he helped us). I explain how these words combine in contractions in Portuguese.

• Nós estamos pensando em morar em outra cidade.
• Esse tipo de coisa acontece nos países subdesenvolvidos.

Improve your Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation

Mais / Mas

Mais means "more" (quantity or intensity) and mas means "but". It's one of the most typical Portuguese mistakes in writing, partly because a lot of us here in Brazil pronounce "mas" with a little "i" sound, so mas vs mais can sound almost the same out loud. Quick trick: if you can swap it for "but", it has no i.

• Na próxima festa a gente vai convidar mais pessoas.
• Queria muito fazer outra festa mas o problema é que estou com pouco dinheiro.

How to use MAS and MAIS in Portuguese

Ou / O / Um

Ou means "or", o is the article "the" and um means "a" or "one". The sounds are what trip English speakers up: the article "o" usually sounds like "oo", while "ou" sounds closer to "oh". And "um" has nothing to do with the English filler "um": it's a nasal "oo" sound, said partly through your nose.

• Eu tô pensando em ficar na casa do meu tio ou do meu irmão, vou decidir.
• O dia tá muito bom pra tomar banho de piscina.
• Na semana passada o diretor da universidade anunciou que vai trazer um CEO muito importante pra dar uma palestra.

Tudo / Todo

Tudo means "everything" and never changes form. Todo (toda, todos, todas) goes with a noun and means "whole" or "every": "o dia todo" is the whole day and "todo dia" is every day.

• Tudo que você cozinha fica muito gostoso.
• Você viu o filme todo? (completo)

The difference between TUDO and TODO

More Portuguese Mistakes Worth Reviewing

These five pairs are just the beginning. Plenty of other words look familiar and aren't what they seem, and each one has its own trap. Before you open each guide, try to guess what the mistake is:

• Resolvido, devolvido and other past participles that look like mistakes
• Pão or pau: the riskiest mistake when ordering bread
• Saia or fralda: which one is the skirt?
• Porém, embora and ir embora
• How to say "don't bother me" in Portuguese
• 12 false cognates that will trick you
• 30 hard words in Brazilian Portuguese

How to Avoid Making These Mistakes Again

It's really important to correct yourself as early as possible so these mistakes in Brazilian Portuguese don't stick. The more you repeat a mistake, the harder it gets to unlearn it.

One tip I always give my students is to make sentences with the words they learn. Use a context that's easy to remember and, of course, keep it 100% in Portuguese, no translating.

I have a playlist with lots of tips on how to avoid mistakes in Portuguese.

[Full post here]

I recommend watching the video where I talk about how to learn Portuguese faster.

Get a list of sites with native Brazilian content to improve your pronunciation, listening, speaking, and writing. (Get the content)

What Is Portuñol?

Portuñol is what happens when Spanish and Portuguese get mixed together: you make spelling and pronunciation mistakes and, of course, you also get into some awkward moments with "false friends". In this video I explain all the details on how to improve your Portuguese without slipping into "portuñol".

[Start the No Más Portuñol Course Here]

Videos focused on teaching you Portuguese words that look a lot like Spanish but have different meanings.