Study Resource: Differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese

These are some of the major grammatical differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese, summarized.

• Continuous Tenses:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  estar Translation: to be  -ndo Eu estou aprendendo português. Translation: I’m learning Portuguese.	estar Translation: to be  a  infinitive verb Eu estou a aprender português. Translation: I’m learning Portuguese.

• Use of the verbs ter (meaning to have) and haver (meaning to be, there is/are):

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  Use either ter and haver as auxiliary verbs, though ter is more common in everyday language, while haver is more formal.	Ter (meaning to have) is the standard auxiliary verb for both formal and informal contexts.
  Ter and haver are also both used to indicate existence or the presence of something. Ter is more common in everyday language, and haver in written and formal language.	The verb haver is the one used to indicate existence or the presence of something in both formal and informal contexts.

• Subject Pronouns:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  Você (meaning you)is used in formal and informal contexts.	Tu (meaning you) is used in informal contexts in European Portuguese.
  O senhor (meaning you, sir), a senhora (meaning you, lady), os senhores (meaning you, sirs/gentlemen), as senhoras (meaning you, ladies) are used when you want to be highly formal.	There are three possible ways to say “you” in formal contexts (você is avoided wherever possible). Conjugate the verbs in their você form without using the word você, as in: Quer um café? Translation: Want a coffee? Replace você with the person’s name, as in: Marta quer um café? Translation: Marta, do you want a coffee? Use o senhor (meaning you, sir), a senhora (meaning you, lady), os senhores (meaning you, sirs/gentlemen), as senhoras (meaning you, ladies), as in: A senhora quer um café? Translation: Madam, do you want a coffee?

• Possessive pronouns and adjectives:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  Use the possessive adjective of the second person singular você: seu, sua, seus, suas (meaning your)	Use teu, teus, tua, tuas (meaning your) in informal contexts and seu, seus, sua, suas (meaning your) in formal contexts.
  The possessive adjective for vocês (meaning you, pl.) can be seus, suas or, more often, de vocês (meaning your, pl.), as in: Essas roupas são suas/de vocês? Translation: Are these clothes yours?	Use vosso, vossa, vossos, vossas (meaning your pl.) as a possessive pronoun, as in: Essas roupas são vossas? Translation: Are these clothes yours?

• Object Pronouns:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  Usually, place object pronouns before the verb, as in: Eu me chamo Gabriel. Translation: My name is Gabriel.	Except in special cases, place object pronouns after the verb, as in: Eu chamo-me Gabriel. Translation: My name is Gabriel.

• Indirect Object Pronouns:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  Usually, we use the preposition para (meaning to, for) followed by the personal pronouns ele, ela (meaning he, she), eles, elas (meaning they), as in: Vou dar um presente para ele. Translation: I’ll give him a present.	Use the pronouns lhe, lhes to indicate the recipient of the action, as in: Vou dar-lhe um presente. Translation: I’ll give him a present.

• Demonstrative Pronouns:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  In everyday language, we don’t differentiate este(s), esta(s) and esse(s), essa(s), meaning Brazilians tend to use only esse(s), essa(s).	The demonstratives este(s), esta(s) and esse(s), essa(s) are used differently.

• Definite Article:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  The definite article in Brazilian Portuguese tends to be less used than in European Portuguese.	The definite article is often used, especially before possessives pronouns and names.

• Preposition of movement a (meaning to):

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  The preposition of movement a (meaning to) tends to be replaced by the preposition em (meaning in) and its contractions in everyday language.	The preposition of movement a (meaning to) is always used with verbs of movement.

• Pronunciation:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  The sound of unstressed vowels is clearer in Brazilian Portuguese when compared to European Portuguese.	The sound of unstressed vowels is shorter than in Brazilian Portuguese.
  The syllables de, di and te, ti are often pronounced like [jee] and [chee], respectively.	European Portuguese pronounces de, di, te, ti like [dee] and [tee], similar to what the English pronunciation would be.
  The consonant l is pronounced [oo] when it's before another consonant or at the end of a word.	The l has the sound of [l], which is more similar to the sound of l in English.
  The consonant r at the end of the word is usually not strongly pronounced.	Stronger pronunciation of r when it's placed at the end of the word, with a clear [r] sound.
  Usually, syllables ending with an s + p, t, c, or f produce the [s] sound.	All syllables ending with an s + p, t, c, or f produce the [sh] sound.

• Spelling and Accents:

  Brazilian Portuguese	European Portuguese
  Clusters with the consonants p and c are clearly pronounced, like in the word recepção (meaning reception).	Clusters with the consonants p and c are not written nor pronounced, like in the word receção (meaning reception).
  Usually we don’t keep the consonant c when the following syllable starts with t or ç, like in the words fato (meaning fact) and ação (meaning action).	The consonant c is kept when the following syllable starts with t or ç, like in the words facto (meaning fact) and acção (meaning action).
  It’s common to use the accent circumflex ( ^ ) when a vowel comes before nasal sounds, like in the word gênero (meaning gender).	Sometimes the acute accent ( ´ ) is used when a vowel comes before nasal sounds, like in the word género (meaning gender).