How to Learn Portuguese Words and Expressions (and Actually Remember Them)

If you speak English, you already know more Portuguese words than you think. Thanks to Latin, thousands of words look almost the same in both languages: "informação" and information, "possível" and possible, "música" and music. That's why so many people who decide to learn Portuguese vocabulary get through basic conversations in just a few months. But here's the catch: Brazilian Portuguese is also full of words and expressions that have nothing to do with English, and those are exactly the ones that slip your mind.

So in this post I'm sharing the 10 tips I recommend to learn Portuguese words and, above all, how to memorize Portuguese words without depending on translation: from a vocabulary notebook and flashcards to movies, reading and real conversations with us Brazilians. They're simple habits you can start today.

If you want to jump straight to the Portuguese words that trip learners up the most, check out my list of hard Portuguese words. And further down there's a video with examples of people who practiced every day and learned really fast. At the end, I also picked a few Portuguese words with no English translation, like "saudade" and "cafuné".

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How to learn Portuguese faster

The fastest way to learn Portuguese vocabulary is to have daily contact with the language and lock in every new word in its context, not in a list of translations. These are the habits I recommend to my students; if you want to go deeper, here I explain how to expand your Portuguese vocabulary.

• Have a motivating reason to learn the language
• Watch movies in Portuguese
• Every time you come across a new word or expression in Portuguese, write it down in your notebook
• Read everything you can in Portuguese, and switch the language on your devices and social media
• Keep flashcards with words and expressions to review
• Never translate words, understand them in context
• Find things you love doing and adapt them to Portuguese
• Surround yourself with people who speak Portuguese (native Brazilians are the priority)
• Talk with people from Brazil
• Subscribe to podcasts or YouTube channels (get access to native Brazilian content)
• Travel to Brazil
• Always ask questions: the more curious you are, the better, you'll get lots of chances to learn
• Have the discipline, motivation and self-confidence to know you're capable of learning Portuguese
• Use Portuguese material focused on teaching you vocabulary and expressions (My recommendation: Available courses here)

10 tips to keep in mind if you're learning Portuguese

These 10 tips sum up what everyone who learns Portuguese words and expressions without forgetting them does: daily exposure, curiosity and lots of practice in context. I explain each one in the video, and if you like learning by reading, practice with my short stories in Portuguese.

(Full post here)

Every person I know who learned Portuguese really fast, EVERY SINGLE ONE... WITHOUT EXCEPTION... followed all the recommendations mentioned here in this post.

I did the same when I was learning English, and I got to enjoy the whole process in a really dynamic and fun way.

It all depends on your creativity to bring Portuguese into your everyday life.

Learning new words and expressions in Portuguese will become SUPER easy once you have daily contact with the language.

Not to mention that one of the perks of learning another language is that it gets easier to learn any others you want, because your mind becomes more flexible at picking them up.

How to memorize Portuguese words

To memorize Portuguese words, what works best is reviewing them in context and at intervals: write down the full sentence where the word showed up, review it with flashcards over the next few days and use it yourself as soon as you can. That way the word moves from your short-term memory into your active vocabulary.

• Write down the whole sentence, not just the word: "Estou morrendo de fome" sticks much better than "fome = hunger".
• Review at intervals: the next day, after 3 days and after a week. Flashcard apps like Anki do this for you.
• Group words by topic, for example money in Portuguese or traffic vocabulary, so your brain connects them to each other.
• Watch out for false friends: some words look familiar but mean something else, like the ones on this list of Portuguese false friends.
• Say them out loud: make up your own sentence with each new word and use it in your next conversation with a Brazilian.

Examples of Portuguese words and expressions with no English translation

Some Brazilian Portuguese words have no exact English translation, and they're exactly the ones that are hardest to memorize. Here are five you'll hear all the time in Brazil, with their meaning and a sentence to practice.

Saudade

"Saudade" is the feeling of missing a person, a place or a moment that's gone. In English the closest words are longing or nostalgia, but here in Brazil it's such a part of who we are that we use it every single day.

• "Estou com saudade da minha família." (I miss my family.)

Cafuné

"Cafuné" is the gesture of gently running your fingers through someone's hair, with affection. There's no single word for that in English, and that's why those of us from Brazil are so proud of it.

• "Minha mãe fazia cafuné em mim antes de dormir." (My mom used to run her fingers through my hair before I fell asleep.)

Gambiarra

"Gambiarra" is a makeshift fix, put together with whatever you have on hand, to make something work even if it doesn't look perfect. It's pretty close to what you'd call a jury-rigged or duct-tape fix in English.

• "Consertei o chuveiro com uma gambiarra." (I fixed the shower with a makeshift hack.)

Dar um jeito

"Dar um jeito" means finding a solution, even if it's a creative or last-minute one. It's like saying "we'll figure it out", and it comes from the word jeito in Portuguese, which has tons of meanings.

• "Não se preocupa, a gente dá um jeito." (Don't worry, we'll figure it out.)

Puxa-saco

"Puxa-saco" is someone who flatters another person to get on their good side, especially a boss or a teacher. In English you'd call them a suck-up or a brown-noser, and the expression comes from the verb puxar in Portuguese.

• "Ele é muito puxa-saco do chefe." (He's a total suck-up to the boss.)

Do you know what "cadê", "travesseiro" or "chacoalhar" mean? I explain them in my list of hard Portuguese words. And if you want to keep going with expressions like "encher linguiça" or "estar de bobeira", check out these Brazilian words and expressions.

Want to keep learning more Portuguese?

Check out this other post where I talk about how to learn Portuguese faster, with tips to absorb the language in a faster and more fun way, so you don't end up mixing it with Spanish (Portuñol).