Greetings & Formality
Greetings & Formality
European Portuguese keeps a live formal/informal split that English lost long ago — but its most distinctive quirk is a word for "thank you" that changes depending on who's speaking, not who's listening.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
obrigado / obrigada: "thank you" agrees with the speaker
obrigado (said by a man) / obrigada (said by a woman)
thank you
English "thanks" never changes form. Portuguese obrigado literally means "obliged" — a fossil of the older, fuller phrase "(muito) obrigado a vós" — and it still agrees in gender with whoever is speaking, not with the person being thanked. A man always says obrigado, a woman always says obrigada, regardless of who they're talking to. This is the single most common vocabulary slip English-speaking learners make: picking the form based on the listener's gender instead of their own.
tu vs. você vs. o senhor / a senhora
tu (informal) — você (neutral-formal) — o senhor / a senhora (most formal)
you (informal) — you (more formal) — you, sir/ma'am
European Portuguese keeps three real levels English lost. tu is for friends, family, children, and peers — its verb forms are distinct (you'll meet these in later lessons). você sits in the middle: polite but not stiff, common with strangers close in age or in many workplaces, and it takes normal "he/she" verb endings, as if you were talking about the person in the third person. o senhor / a senhora is the most respectful register — for elders, officials, or service formality — and also conjugates like "he/she". As a beginner, você is the safest default with anyone you don't know well.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- Hello
- English
- Good morning
- English
- Good afternoon
- English
- Good evening / Good night
- English
- Goodbye
- English
- See you later
- English
- Bye (casual)
- English
- Thank you (said by a man)
- English
- Thank you (said by a woman)
- English
- You're welcome
- English
- Please
- English
- Yes
- English
- No
- English
- Excuse me / Sorry
- English
- How are you?