One of many free Portuguese Lessons is what you'll find here!

Learn this lesson today and start thinking in Portuguese!

Oi, tudo bem?

You may have come to this page because you may be looking for free Portuguese lessons.

You may also be looking for an easy way to learn Portuguese.

Let me tell you this: If you read this page and all the other pages of this site, you may find it easier to learn it here.

If this is the case, great! I'll be here giving you loads of free Portuguese lessons!

You may want to click the links below to access other free lessons:

Lesson 1 - Ordering Food.
Lesson 2 - Portuguese Numbers.
Lesson 3 - Verbs.
Lesson 4 - Personal Infinitive
Lesson 5 - Buying train tickets

OK, but today in this page, we are going to learn how to convert English words into Portuguese words.

Yes, it's true!

After reading this page, you'll be able to know hundreds, if not thousands of Portuguese words - in the blink of an eye!

I'm going to reveal a secret about cognate words.

What??? Cognate words?? What is he talking about???

I know, I know.

Let me explain!

Cognate words are words that can be easily transformed from English into Portuguese. If you are looking for free Portuguese lessons, you may be also looking for easy stuff to learn, and cognate words are one of them.

My aim here is to convert difficult stuff into easy stuff to learn. And for free! How does it sound?

Anyway, let me reveal the secret for you.

As I was saying, there are a great number of words that can be easily transformed from English into Portuguese. This rule applies to around 85% of the cases. Obviously, we need some exceptions to make it interesting!

OK. These cognate words are words that in English end in:

    1. ...ty

    2. ...tion

    3. ...sion

    4. ...stion

    5. ...gion

    6. ...ly

    7. ...ble

    8. ...ple

    9. ...ary

    10. ...acy

    11. ...ist

    12. ...ency

    13. ...ant

Read on to understand what we are talking about here

    1. English words ending in "...ty" in Portuguese end in "...dade" and are always feminine.

So, this is a piece of cake! Let's remember some words that in English end in "...ty":

English word
Portuguese word
City
A Cidade
University
A Universidade
Adversity
A Adversidade
Humanity
A Humanidade
Honesty
A Honestidade

So you see? Do you believe me now when I say that Portuguese is easy? In this case, all you have to do is replace the ending "ty" by "dade".

With words like "pretty" (bonito), or "beauty" (beleza) it doesn't apply, just because these words come from different origins, but if you learn the exceptions, and use them, you get a great opportunity to show off your Portuguese skills to your friends... (Ah, the word "opportunity" is "oportunidade" in Portuguese, by the way...!). You can learn other exceptions in other free Portuguese lessons.

But, as I was saying, this easy technique applies to most cases.

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    2. English words ending in ...tion in Portuguese end in ...ção [...saoong] and these are also feminine.

So, this is a piece of cake too! Let's make another effort in this free Portuguese lesson, and remember some words that in English end in "...tion":

English word
Portuguese word
Station
A Estação
Situation
A situação
Continuation
A Continuação
Communication
A Comunicação
Nation
A Nação

In this case you have very few exceptions. These words are feminine, as I said, except "Coração" [koo-rah-saoong] - "heart" and "Calção" [kal-saoong] - "beach shorts".

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Cool! Let's carry on with this free Portuguese lesson! Very similar to these previous ones you also have...

    3. English words ending in ...sion in Portuguese end in ...são [...saoong] and these are once again feminine.

English word
Portuguese word
Confusion
A Confusão
Illusion
A Ilusão
Expansion
A Expansão
Session
A Sessão
Progression
A Progressão

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In the following free Portuguese video-lesson you will find examples for you to practice these words with the correct definite article. Check it out!

Right! Let's carry on. The 4th case is...

    4. English words ending in ...stion in Portuguese end in ...stão [...staoong] and these are also feminine.

English word
Portuguese word
Combustion
A Combustão
Congestion
A Congestão
Suggestion
A Sugestão
Digestion
A Digestão
Question
A Questão

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    5. English words ending in ...gion in Portuguese end in ...gião [...gee-aoong] and these are also feminine.

English word
Portuguese word
Religion
A Religião
Region
A Região
Legion
A Legião
Subregion
A Subregião

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But hey! There are more!

    6. English words ending in ...ly in Portuguese end in ...mente [...mayn-teh (EU)] or [...mayn-chee (BR)].
In the pronunciation aid, (EU) stands for European Portuguese, and (BR) stands for Brazilian Portuguese.

These words have no gender because they are adverbs. Adverbs (words that qualify how a verb is doing) normally come from adjectives (which are words that give qualities to nouns). So, all you have to do is to take the adjective, put an "A" at the end, and add "mente".

Adjectives that end in "...e" like "aparente" you don't have to replace any letter to transform it into an adverb, just ad "mente" at the end (so, "aparente" becomes "aparentemente") Easy!!!

So, how are you finding this free Portuguese lesson? Useful, I hope!

English word
Portuguese word
Apparently
Aparentemente
Basicly
Basicamente
Rapidly
rapidamente
Historicly
Historicamente
Automaticaly
Automaticamente

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How are you finding these free Portuguese lessons and explanations? I hope you enjoy them as much as I am!

OK, let's move forward.

    7. English words ending in ...ble in Portuguese end in ...vel [...vail].

These words are generally adjectives, but you don't have to make any changes when it comes to gender because they fit masculine and feminine (e.g. A Maria era sociável. O José era sociável. - Maria was sociable. José was sociable).

Easy, once again! Let's see some examples:

English word
Portuguese word
Reasonable
Razoável
Convertible
Convertível
Reversible
Reversível
Tolerable
Tolerável
Compatible
Compatível

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OK. let's move on with these free Portuguese lessons and see the next example of words that can be easily transformed from English into Portuguese.

    8. English words ending in ...ple in Portuguese end in ...plo [...ploo].

English word
Portuguese word
Example
Exemplo
Triple
triplo
temple
Templo
Ample
Âmplo

Well, in this group of words of this free Portuguese lesson, you will notice that there are a few words to which you won't be able to apply this rule, such as "simple" (simples) or "sample" (amostra). However, when you talk to Portuguese native speakers, they will help you to find the right word.

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    9. English words ending in ...ary in Portuguese end in ...ário [...ah-ree-oo].

English word
Portuguese word
Seminary
Seminário
Itinerary
Itinerário
Visionary
Visionário
Urinary
Urinário
Literary
Literário

Wow! Can it get any easier?

Let me confess something to you: As I write these free Portuguese lessons I feel happy because I know you can start speaking quicker than anybody else who doesn't know these secrets. I imagine how much easier my life could have been if I had had someone explaining this to me when I was learning other languages...

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Anyway...

OK. Let's have a look at the next group of words.

    10. English words ending in ...cy in Portuguese end in ...cia [...see-ah].

English word
Portuguese word
Democracy
Democracia
Autocracy
Autocracia
Efficacy
Eficácia
Diplomacy
Diplomacia
Advocacy
Advocacia

Are you enjoying it? Me too!

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And the next group of words is:

    11. English words ending in ...ist in Portuguese end in ...ista [...eesh-tah].

These words do not need change in gender. They represent "Male" and "Female"

Let's keep on studying this free Portuguese lesson and look at the examples:

English word
Portuguese word
Dentist
Dentista
Economist
Economista
Scientist
Cientista
Ecologist
ecologista
Linguist
Linguista

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And we only have 2 more groups remaining.

The second last group of words in this free Portuguese lesson is:

    12. English words ending in ...ency in Portuguese end in ...ência [...ayng-seeya].

When you pronounce these words please note that you have to give emphasis to the vowel with the accent.

Let's look at some examples:

English word
Portuguese word
Emergency
Emergência
Agency
Agência
Tendency
Tendência
Latency
Latência
Fluency
Fluência

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And the last group is:

    13. English words ending in ...ent in Portuguese end in ...ente [...antay (EU)] or [...antchee (BR)].

Let's look at the last examples:

English word
Portuguese word
Imprudent
Imprudente
Pendent
Pendente
Content
Contente
Latent
Latente
Fluent
Fluente

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And tha's it for today. I hope you have enjoyed it!

Take your notes from this page and please do not learn anything else today, as your memory may feel overwhelmed. Be good to yourself.

Tchau!

Rafa x


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Here are some pages you may find interesting:


  • The Portuguese alphabet.
  • European Portuguese Pronunciation
  • Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation
  • Portuguese Determinants
  • Portuguese Nouns
  • Portuguese Verbs
  • Free Portuguese Verb Table
  • Portuguese Adjectives
  • Portuguese Prepositions
  • Portuguese Connectors
  • Portuguese Adverbs
  • Portuguese Question Words
  • Portuguese Numbers
  • Portuguese words similar to English
  • Direct and Reported Speech
  • Useful Portuguese Phrases
  • Days Of The Week
  • Phrases to get by - Brazilian Portuguese
  • Brazilian Portuguese phrases for second meeting
  • Some Portuguese Bad Words
  • Difference Between Por and Para in Portuguese
  • Present Subjunctive in Portuguese
  • Personal Infinitive in Portuguese
  • Future Subjunctive in Portuguese
  • Video-Lessons


  • * * * * *