Your First Trip to Brazil: What Portuguese Should You Learn First?
Prioritize a handful of flexible phrases and conversation-repair skills before collecting a long list of travel vocabulary.
Real Life Portuguese · 7 min read · Updated October 14, 2026
The short answer
For a first trip, start with phrases that help you enter a conversation politely. A greeting, por favor (please), and obrigado or obrigada (thank you) work in many situations. Then learn a few short questions you can adapt instead of memorizing one complete script for every shop or restaurant.
Learn how to open an interaction
Obrigado is traditionally used by a man speaking, and obrigada by a woman speaking. In a café, you can combine a polite opener with a simple request: “Oi, por favor. Um café com leite.” Tone and a friendly greeting do useful work alongside the words.
Oi, bom dia!
Hi, good morning!
Por favor, onde fica o metrô?
Please, where is the subway?
Obrigado pela ajuda.
Thank you for the help. (speaker: man)
Prioritize numbers, requests, and clarification
Numbers and a few question words can help you check prices, times, quantities, and locations. Practice quanto? (how much/how many), onde? (where), and que horas? (what time?) with nouns you are likely to need. If the answer comes quickly, a clarification phrase lets you stay in the interaction instead of pretending you understood.
You do not need perfect comprehension to communicate. Ask for a repeat or slower version, listen again for the key detail, then confirm it. A short, clear question can be more useful than a long memorized phrase you are afraid to adapt.
Quanto custa?
How much does it cost?
Pode repetir mais devagar, por favor?
Could you repeat that more slowly, please?
São vinte reais?
Is it twenty reais?
Add phrases for the situations on your itinerary
Once you have a greeting, a request, and a clarification phrase, choose vocabulary for the trip you actually plan to take. Someone staying near a beach may want words for sun and directions; someone visiting family may need introductions and polite ways to follow a group conversation. Learn the next most likely situation rather than trying to cover every possible one.
A reusable pattern gives you room to personalize a phrase. In “Pode me ajudar a encontrar esta rua?” (Can you help me find this street?), you can replace esta rua with a hotel, station, or address. Practice changing one detail while keeping the sentence frame.
Onde fica a estação mais próxima?
Where is the nearest station?
O que você recomenda?
What do you recommend?
A conta, por favor.
The check, please.
Put it into practice
Make a personal list with one greeting, one question, one phrase for your main activity, and one way to ask for clarification. I Speak Portuguese has a separate travel guide and Real Life Portuguese offers everyday Brazilian audio practice for the phrases you are learning.
Quick practice
Which Portuguese example matches “Could you repeat that more slowly, please”?
Choose an answer to check yourself.
This guide is an original Real Life Portuguese adaptation of an earlier article from I Speak Portuguese.
Keep practicing with the Real Life Portuguese app
Build on this guide with everyday expressions and native Brazilian audio. Choose iPhone, Android, or the web app.