Portuguese Word Stress and Accent Marks
If you care about Portuguese pronunciation and want to get good at it, you’ll need to come to grips with its word stress patterns. That’s it. Here’s…
Portuguese Object Pronouns
Little words like lhe, te, or nos often surround Portuguese verbs. Those are object pronouns just like him, you or us in English. Simply put, object pronouns…
Two Worlds, One Language: Unveiling the Differences Between European and Brazilian Portuguese
You are probably aware that there are two well-established standards of Portuguese – the European and the Brazilian. Most language learners, though, don’t know much about their…
Portuguese vs. Spanish: How Similar Are They Actually?
Portuguese and Spanish are Romance languages that share a common root: they both stem from Vulgar Latin. But how similar are they? Portuguese and Spanish are different…
Portuguese Perfect vs. Imperfect Tense: Know When to Use Either
The Portuguese Perfect and Imperfect past tenses (aka Pretérito Perfeito and Pretérito Imperfeito in Portuguese) are often a headache for language learners whose native tongue doesn’t make…
Personal Infinitive in Portuguese (Infinitivo Pessoal)
The Personal Infinitive (Infinitivo Pessoal) is unique to Portuguese and commonplace. There’s no parallel in other languages and learners of Portuguese often struggle to wrap their heads…
Portuguese Prepositions and Contractions
In general, prepositions have an infamous reputation among language learners. Judging by all the whining and moaning I’ve heard from students throughout the years, Portuguese prepositions are…
Here’s Why Portuguese Sounds like Russian
I often hear people saying that Portuguese sounds like Russian! What is so striking about that comment is that Portuguese and Russian are relatively distant languages –…
Portuguese Present Subjunctive (Presente Conjuntivo)
The use of the Subjunctive in Portuguese (Conjuntivo) is way more frequent than in English. That alone can be a stumbling block for many language learners as…
Portuguese Verb Tenses and Moods Explained: A Usage Rundown Anchored to English
With so many conjugations, Portuguese verbs are a hard-to-chew bit for anyone learning the language, especially for those not acquainted with any Romance language from before. Now,…
Portuguese Conjunctions – All You Need to Know
Without conjunctions, we would sound rather clumsy and inarticulate: I like apples. I like pears. I don’t like bananas. No one speaks like that. In avoiding the…
The Imperative in Portuguese
Like other Romance languages, Portuguese has an abundance of verb forms. Adding to the pile is the Imperative mood. We use the Imperative to give instructions and commands,…
Speaking Portuguese with Confidence
Achieving fluency in Portuguese, arguably anyone’s ultimate goal, can feel daunting. Many learners believe immersion in a Portuguese-speaking country is the only path to mastery. But fear…
Portuguese Demonstrative Pronouns and Determiners
Demonstratives are words we use to point out a person or object, including their location concerning the speaker and hearer. Portuguese demonstratives work along the same lines…
Portuguese Spelling Reform
In 1990, various Portuguese-speaking countries agreed on a spelling reform to create and maintain a cohesive, international standard across borders. In Portugal, in particular, the spelling reform came…
Portuguese Definite and Indefinite Articles – How and When to Use Them
Most languages do well without articles. In this sense, English and Romance languages like Portuguese belong to a minority. The Portuguese definite articles – o, a, os,…
Portuguese Connected Speech for Enhanced Pronunciation and Listening Comprehension
It is often challenging to keep up with Portuguese native speakers, even for advanced learners. This is probably not because you don’t know the words they’re saying,…
Portuguese Possessive Pronouns and Determiners
Portuguese possessive pronouns and determiners indicate possession. In English, these are words like my, your, his, her, our, their (possessive determiners) and mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs (possessive pronouns). Possessive pronouns and determiners…