The answer is… It depends on many different factors and scenarios

SCENARIOS

1 – STUDENTS WHO SPEAK SPANISH AND / OR ITALIAN

If you have a strong background in Spanish or Italian, it will be quite easy for you to understand what Portuguese people say. But it will be very hard for these students to “lose” the Spanish/Italian accent that will affect their Portuguese accent. After 6-9 months of hard work, many students can finish level B1 in Portuguese.

2 – STUDENTS WHO SPEAK MORE THAN ONE LANGUAGE (none of them is Spanish or Italian)

For those students, learning Portuguese in Lisbon is usually a quite simple process. Learning a third language is always easier than learning a second language. Those students are already comfortable with many concepts, such as verbs, regular verbs, irregular verbs, adverbs, adjectives, and prepositions. After 9-12 months, as a result of their effort, many students can already solve 90% of their problems in Portuguese (1 on 1 conversation) – B1/B2 students. In a group situation, with noise and with Portuguese native speakers speaking very quickly, these students will still face problems.

3 – STUDENTS WHO SPEAK ONLY THEIR MOTHER TONGUE (and that language isn’t Spanish or Italian)

For this final group, we have many different examples. We have several students that after 1 year are finishing level B1. But we also have other Portuguese students who struggle to maintain a simple conversation after 12 months (which means that they are still A2 students).

Concluding, it really depends on your background and also depends on the following decisions:

1. The number of hours per week that you will spend learning Portuguese.
2. Materials that you will use
3. The teacher that you are going to choose
4. How much you will enjoy your Portuguese lessonsand how keen you are to start speaking the language
5. Your personality.Extrovert people tend to learn Portuguese faster because they are not afraid of mistakes.

Are you planning to move to a region or a country that speaks Portuguese? If that’s your case you probably need to learn this beautiful language! Touristic areas (in Lisbon) tend to have a very high number of English speakers. But, the reality in Portuguese towns and villages is very different. Here, you have to be able to speak Portuguese, otherwise, people will not understand you. To learn Portuguese you have to… Start learning! Don’t forget that you will need several months of practice to grasp the language to an effective level.

YOU CAN’T EXPECT PERFECTION! – When learning a new idiom you will not reach perfection until you’ve been speaking that same language for three, four or more years! You will do thousands of mistakes along the way but there is no other road to reach fluency!

PRACTICE LITTLE BUT OFTEN – (as often as possible)! You will probably start your learning process by spending several hours per week studying the language. But, that strategy is usually ineffective. You will not be able to retain that information over the long term. Try to spend 30 to 45 minutes per day studying Portuguese. This routine will reinforce the language more strongly in your memory.

CUSTOMIZE YOUR PACING – The secret to learning a new idiom is to go at the pace that best suits your needs! Taking a class with other students can have an adverse effect on learners. They might feel that the remaining students are too slow or too fast. As a result, we believe that private lessons are the perfect solution (especially from level A2 on)!

FIND A PARTNER – We already said that you should learn a new language at your own pace. But we also believe that it can be effective to have a learning partner! If you have decided to learn Portuguese with software, you might learn the principles of the language. But that methodology won’t prepare you for a fluent conversation. That requires solid knowledge and understanding of the language. Try to practice your Portuguese with your partner. If you do it often you will be surprised by your progress.·        

LISTENING – If you are an intermediate student of Portuguese (B1 or B2), you must listen to other people speaking Portuguese! It is critical! This can be as simple as turning your TV (or radio) to a Portuguese channel (try with subtitles in Portuguese as well). The words (language) that are used in TV / Radio programs are what Portuguese people use on a daily basis.

WRITE IN PORTUGUESE – Writing in Portuguese is a great activity for your learning. This will give you the chance to consolidate many words and structures. Try to use different tenses while writing in Portuguese (simple present, simple past, future, imperative and other verb tenses). Ask your teacher to correct your texts. Analyze them and revise the information. Once again, don’t expect perfection. Be patient and tolerant with yourself!

READ IN PORTUGUESE – If you are an A1, A2 or B1 student don’t try to read a Portuguese novel! Spend your time reading texts for your current level of competences. If your level is already B2 (or C1) you are ready to read almost everything in Portuguese (newspapers, magazines, books). Keep yourself in contact with the language! That’s the key tip that we can offer you!

If you follow this advice, we are sure that you will build a strong foundation for the Portuguese language. Don’t forget that if you decide to start your learning process with a Portuguese software that will help you with many of the basic communication. But, if you want to move forward with your competences, you should do a Portuguese course in Lisbon

CHECK OUR ADVICE!

Learning Portuguese is challenging. Learning the subjunctive in Portuguese is even more challenging! The vast majority of Portuguese people do not know what the Indicative or the subjunctive mode are. Portuguese speakers speak Portuguese naturally, instinctively. They use the words and grammatical structures that “sound” best in each sentence. But it is also true that Portuguese speakers often use the subjunctive mode incorrectly. It is not easy to use the subjunctive mode correctly even for a Portuguese citizen born and raised in Portugal. If it is not easy for natives, imagine for those learning Portuguese…

INDICATIVE vs SUBJUNCTIVE

The indicative mode is the one we use in the vast majority of our everyday sentences. The indicative mode is used, essentially, to describe facts, real and concrete things. Here are some examples:

• Tomorrow I will work at the beach! (sentence in the future describing a fact)
• I drink three cups of coffee every day (present tense sentence describing a real routine)

• Yesterday I went to the movies (sentence in the simple past perfect that describes a concrete and complete action in the past)

We use the subjunctive mode to talk about hypothetical events, to talk about wishes, doubts, hopes, fears and feelings. Here are some sentences in the conjunctive mood!

Learning the subjunctive in Portuguese is challenging, but teaching the subjunctive is not easy either! The first students to whom I tried to explain the subjunctive did not have an easy task! As a Portuguese teacher, I did not have enough experience and even knowledge to choose the best path for those students. And the truth is that there is no single path in the teaching-learning processes. And there is certainly no single path in teaching the subjunctive in Portuguese either. It is important to know each student well in order to be able to choose his or her learning path. The subjunctive should be taught throughout the B1 and B2 levels.

WHERE TO START TO LEARN AND CONSOLIDATE THE SUBJUNCTIVE IN PORTUGUESE?

The subjunctive has simple structures and compound structures (subjunctive compound tenses). At the B1 and B2 level, the simple structures are taught. At the C1 and C2 level, the compound subjunctive tenses are learned and consolidated.

SUBJUNCTIVE, PRESENT

It is important to start with the PRESENT of SUBJUNCTIVE. This tense has many connectors, but in my opinion, not all of them are essential. I believe that students of Portuguese should focus on the fundamentals of the Portuguese language. By asking students to memorize lists and lists of connectors, we are contributing to their failure.

My experience as a Portuguese teacher tells me that, in the first phase of teaching the subjunctive, we should introduce Portuguese students to the connectors that we use daily on a continuous and routine basis. We are talking about the following connectors:

• MAYBE (=TALVEZ) (expression of doubt). Example: Maybe he will COME tomorrow.
• IT IS GOOD THAT (=É BOM QUE), IT IS DIFFICULT THAT, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT, IT IS CONVENIENT THAT,… (impersonal expressions + que). Example: IT IS GOOD THAT YOU GET HERE SOON TOMORROW.
• I DON’T THINK THAT, I DON’T THINK THAT, I DON’T BELIEVE THAT (opinions in the negative). Example: I DON’T BELIEVE he IS fat!
• WANT THAT, WISH THAT, DOUBT THAT, FEAR THAT, HOPE THAT,… (Subjunctive verbs). Example: I want you to BE rich.

Before moving on and introducing students to other connectors, it is critical that students of Portuguese are comfortable with conjugating the subjunctive, present and using the four connectors described earlier.

When someone decides to learn Portuguese, a complex process begins in which many important decisions are made! Usually, one of the first decisions made by students of Portuguese is to buy a Portuguese language learning-teaching manual.

When opening the Portuguese textbook for the first time, the student immediately asks himself an important question. Where to start? Is it necessary to memorize all this information? Do I have to memorize all the verb tables? Do I have to focus on the prepositions? What about numbers, are they essential? Cardinal or ordinal? What about sounds, should I memorize the rules that explain each sound? And articles, when to use them? The doubts are many and without an (experienced) teacher it is very difficult to define a route that will lead you to success.

There are several CRUCIAL elements to learn in the Portuguese language. In this article, we will talk about just one: which Portuguese verbs, in our opinion, are essential! Come along with us!

Let’s start with the verb tenses in Portuguese. There are many in the Portuguese language, but an A1 level student (beginner) should ALWAYS start with the present tense.

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS IN PORTUGUESE

It is fundamental to know what distinguishes a regular verb from an irregular verb in the Portuguese language. Regular verbs are those that are always conjugated in the same way. The endings we use are always the same. Thus, all students who know how to conjugate a regular verb, necessarily know how to conjugate all regular verbs.

REGULAR VERBS IN THE PRESENT TENSE IN PORTUGUESE

In the “PRESENTE do INDICATIVO” there are three types of regular verbs:

VERBS ENDING in -AR. Examples: trabalhar, morar, estudar, comprar.

VERBS ENDING in -ER. Examples: comer, beber.

VERBS ENDING in-IR. Example: partir

IRREGULAR VERBS IN THE PRESENT TENSE

In the Portuguese language, we have a long list of irregular verbs in the present tense. Should an A1 level student memorize all of them? In our opinion, the answer is no, students of Portuguese should not try to memorize all irregular verbs. There are however 4 verbs that every student should know as soon as possible. We are talking about the verbs SER, ESTAR, TER, and IR: All other irregular verbs should be learned with exposure to the language. Students need to start communicating regularly. Slowly they will consolidate the conjugations more or less naturally. Now let’s look at the conjugation of the 4 essential verbs!

The importance of regular verbs and these four irregular verbs is TREMENDOUS in the progression of Portuguese students. From the very first day of class, we SHARE this opinion with our students. We regularly test them to make sure that everyone is comfortable with these conjugations. If you study Portuguese, follow our advice and memorize these conjugations! It is one of the basics of the Portuguese language!

Across the world, there are 260 million people who speak Portuguese. It is spoken in Europe (Portugal), Asia (Macau), South America (Brazil), and Africa (Angola, Mozambique, …). There are also Portuguese speakers in countries such as Timor, Goa (India), and Malaysia.

The Portuguese language (also known as “Camões” language) is spoken in different countries around the world in very similar ways. However, for those that are native speakers of this language, the awareness of national differences is something very apparent and important. Consequently, we cannot be surprised by the fact that there are significant differences in grammar rules, accents, and vocabulary across the globe. In the following, we will now try to explain the main differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese. To try to get a better idea think of how American English and British English differ; they can understand one another but they notice that grammar structures are not exactly the same.

Check the examples that we prepared for you:

    “TU” vs. “VOCÊ”

These two personal pronouns mean “you” in Portuguese. However, “tu” is informal and “você” is the formal version. But in Brazil, no one uses “tu”. They only use “você”. In Portugal, we use “tu” almost all the time with friends and family. On the other hand, “você” is used in formal and professional contexts.

EXAMPLE

“Olá Pedro, tu és muito simpático”. – European Portuguese
“Bom dia Pedro, você é muito simpático”. – Brazilian Portuguese
Check the conjugation of the verb, it changes from the 2nd to the 3rd person singular.

Reflexive verbs (reflexive pronouns placement)

Portuguese people use reflexive pronouns after the verb. Yet, in Brazil, they
place it before the verb.

Example:
1.      “Eu lavo-me de manhã” – European Portuguese
2.      “Eu me lavo de manhã” – Brazilian Portuguese

However, in negative forms, the rule is exactly the same in both languages, it always comes before the verb.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS IN PORTUGUESE

To talk about something that is happening now,  the structures are different. In Portugal, we use “estar a + infinitive”. In Brazil, they use a gerund after the verb estar.
Examples:
1.      Eu estou a ler – European portuguese
2.      Eu estou lendo – Brazilian portuguese

VOCABULARY

There are a few words that are spelled differently between the two languages. For instance, the word “receção” in European Portuguese means “reception”. But in Brazilian Portuguese, they add the consonant “P” to the word (recepção). Brazilian people are well known for their creativity; one example of this is the way they like to transform nouns into verbs. To congratulate someone in Lisbon you should say “dar os parabéns”. On the contrary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilians change the expression into one word, that being the verb “Parabenizar”.

ASSIMILATION OF FOREIGN WORDS

Brazilian Portuguese very often assimilates foreign words transforming them using a phonetic twist. The word “Media” in Brazilian Portuguese is “mídia”. Brazilian Portuguese ignores the roots of the words and takes on an American-English influence. European Portuguese is more resistant to this kind of assimilation. There are many examples of different vocabulary for the same ideas and objects and this creates a few problems when communicating. But, never forget that amongst themselves they can understand each other perfectly (just like in American English and British English).

Nowadays, with all the technology available around us, it makes total sense to use these resources to benefit your learning. Computers, mobile phones, and tablets are great tools that give you the opportunity to access many different activities. You can study Portuguese anywhere or at any time of the day or night. Consequently, the answer is definitely YES. These tools will offer you many different advantages such as:

• You can study Portuguese everywhere and anytime. You just have to have a smartphone.
• You will learn new Portuguese words and you will expand your vocabulary very quickly.
• It will consolidate your Portuguese grammar because you will have many opportunities and many activities to review over and over again the concepts that you have been learning in your Portuguese lessons.
• Nowadays, there are loads of platforms that will teach you many words and many rules in Portuguese.

Our E-learning platforms have the following materials (100% free of charge):

• A1 PODCASTS: A good tool for A1.2 level Portuguese learners. Students who are starting their teaching process should focus their attention and energy on consolidating A1.1 basic grammar
• A2 PODCASTS: A good solution to improve and consolidate A2 level listening skills. These podcasts are also an opportunity to review the grammar of this level of learning (through careful reading of podcasts).
• VIDEOS B1 / B2: Videos are perfect for intermediate students. If this is your level you should search for videos that have subtitles and texts available. All videos have associated activities and complex grammatical structures (subjunctive: present, future, imperfect among other verb tenses more simple).

• Games, flashcards, listening activities, written expression, and much more.

Our platforms are organized into lists that are divided into three levels: A1, A2, and B1. Levels A1 and A2 are for the beginner level and level B1 is for intermediate students!

Summing up, if you’re learning Portuguese in Lisbon you should use as many resources as possible. However, you should never forget that these E-learning platforms will never play the role of a simple conversation with a native speaker. Speaking is always the best (and the only) activity that will make you consolidate your Portuguese!

Are you planning to move to a region or a country where they only speak Portuguese? If this is your case, you probably need to improve your Portuguese! To consolidate a language, you need to… start talking! Do not forget that it takes several months to improve your skills. Only then you will move to the next level of fluency.

TIPS!

DO NOT EXPECT PERFECTION!

Only after several years (three, four, five or more), your fluency will become real. You will do thousands of mistakes in the learning process. But this is the only solution to attain fluency. Practice little but often! (as much as possible).

You will probably start your studies spending many hours per week studying the Portuguese language. But this strategy is usually ineffective. We do not have the capacity to withhold excessive information in the long run. Try to spend 15 to 20 minutes per day studying Portuguese. This routine will reinforce the information in your memory.

FIND THE RIGHT RHYTHM FOR YOU!

The key to learning a new language is to find a rhythm that fits you. Taking classes with other students can sometimes have a negative effect. Your colleagues can be too slow (or too fast) to your pace. Consequently, we believe that individual classes are the perfect solution for each case.

FIND A PARTNER

We have already said that you must learn the language at your own pace. But do not forget that finding a partner is very effective. If you have decided to learn Portuguese with an online platform, you may have expanded your vocabulary. But this methodology will not prepare you for a fluent conversation. This requires a consolidated knowledge and an understanding of the language. Try to practice your Portuguese with a partner. Doing so often will surprise you with your progress.

UNDERSTANDING

If you are an intermediate student of Portuguese (B1 or B2), you must listen to native speakers. It is fundamental! This can be as simple as turning on the TV or the radio (try using subtitles). The words and expressions that are used on television are those that the Portuguese use in their daily lives.

WRITE IN PORTUGUESE

Writing in Portuguese is a great activity for your learning. You will consolidate a lot of vocabulary and grammatical structures if you write often. Try using different verbal tenses (present, past, future, imperative and other more complex). Ask your teacher to correct your texts. Revise the text and the corrections. Again, do not expect perfection. Be tolerant and patient with yourself!

READ IN PORTUGUESE

If your level of Portuguese is still A1 or A2, do not try to read a novel in Portuguese! Use your time to read texts for your current level of competencies. If your level is already B2 or C1, then read everything you can (newspapers, magazines, books). Keep yourself in touch with the language! This is the most important tip we can give you! If you follow these pieces of advice, we are sure that you will build a strong foundation in the Portuguese language.

The first tip is: don’t spend all your energy on this topic. If you’re learning Portuguese, you will shortly understand that there is other grammar content that is much more important for your learning process in Portuguese.

On the first day of your Portuguese course in Lisbon, you will notice that many students will try to learn and understand all the sounds that a native Portuguese speaker can produce. It is not a wise strategy to learn Portuguese.  Go with the flow because we are pretty sure that your Portuguese teacher will teach many different sounds and rules over time.

LEARNING PORTUGUESE STEP BY STEP

Don’t try to learn all the sounds on the first day of your Portuguese course! Even if you try, believe us, you will not succeed.  So, make sure that you keep yourself focused on the key points of the language.  Those key points will give you the opportunity to start communicating shortly.

The only effective strategy to become an expert on Portuguese sounds is… daily communication in Portuguese! You will have to use your Portuguese every day for a long period of time (2, 3, 4 years or more). Then, your accent will get better and better and you will finally produce the Portuguese sounds correctly.

A1 PORTUGUESE STUDENTS

Are you about to start learning Portuguese in Lisbon? Are you already having Portuguese lessons? If the answer is yes, you will be glad to know that this article is for you because it will explain to you how important your partner will be. If you want to achieve your goals with the language of Camões (the most famous poet of Portugal), you will need help.

If you’re still starting A1 content, there are many things that are new for you. At this point, you have to focus on expanding the number of Portuguese words that you know. You also have to understand and know by heart the key points of the Portuguese language.

While you’re completing A1 content, your partner won’t be very useful. This is because your ability to communicate is so low that any attempt to converse is a frustrating experience.

Don’t forget that your partner can speak Portuguese but he (or she) is not a Portuguese teacher. This means that he (or she) doesn’t know how to help you. He doesn’t know which Portuguese grammar structures you are learning.

A2 PORTUGUESE STUDENTS

From level A2 on, things get better and you can already start speaking a little bit with him or with her. It won’t be an easy task because your skills are still low and you will struggle almost all the time to find the words and the structures. You have to remember that an A2 student of Portuguese (or any other language) is still starting the journey. This means that you won’t have learned many Portuguese structures and rules at that point. Don’t expect a fluent conversation! Try to be effective when you’re communicating in Portuguese. If you can understand and if you can be understood that will be brilliant at this stage.

B1 PORTUGUESE STUDENTS

This is when things start getting better and more interesting. At the end of level B1, you will be able to understand Portuguese people in a one-on-one situation. And it is also at this stage that your partner will play a super relevant role in your learning process.

As a Portuguese teacher, I can guarantee you that you have to create a weekly or daily routine with your partner to practice your Portuguese. You can speak Portuguese only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Or every day at night or another routine that suits you well. It is up to you as long as you speak Portuguese often.