Speak Portuguese from day one — five-minute voice practice for real situations
Build useful Portuguese out loud: Oi, Bom dia, name lines with Meu nome é, and soft formality with senhor / senhora — short voice sessions with Gu where you say the full line out loud, and try again instead of drilling silent vocab tiles.
- 5-min sessions
- Speak with Gu
- First two units free
ابدأ تعلّم البرتغالية على App Store أو Google Play. الوحدتان الأوليان مجانيتان.
Nasal vowels, reduced vowels, and você.
What trips beginners up in Portuguese — and how you practice it out loud. Early lessons use everyday forms common in Brazil, like oi and você.
- Nasal vowels rewrite the word
Endings like ão (não, pão) and ãe (mãe) need a soft nasal finish English speakers often flatten into plain ow / eye. Worksheets show spelling. Spoken greetings force the shape in one breath.
- Unstressed vowels shrink in real speech
Portuguese reduces many unstressed vowels, so obrigado and desculpe sound shorter than English orthography suggests. Silent flashcards leave learners over-pronouncing every letter.
- Você is the everyday you
Formality rides on senhor and senhora. Early polite Portuguese is not a day-one tu track. Short lines like Bom dia, senhor and Bom dia, senhora train social safety beside an informal Oi. Silent vocab tiles skip that register choice.
Say it out loud, then try it again.
Say a Portuguese line out loud, and try it again.
- 01
Say, retry
Practise a useful Portuguese line in a short speaking loop tied to the nasal finish, the reduced-vowel polite line, or the você plus senhor/senhora register above.
- 02
Real beginner situations
Greetings, introductions, and polite apology or excuse-me are practised out loud, not only as silent tiles. Café orders, the station, and the banheiro come later in the course.
- 03
Protect tomorrow’s five minutes
Use the daily-habit guidance linked on this page so the next five-minute session still happens.
Five speaking scenes — not a fluency promise.
Free week one is units 1–2 only: greetings and introducing yourself, with Oi and Meu nome é. Café, the station, the banheiro, and numbers 1–20 come later in the course.
- 01
Greet across the day
Oi. Bom dia. Boa tarde. Boa noite. Oi is the everyday hello. These greetings are in the free early lessons.
- 02
Polite cluster
Por favor. Obrigado. Com licença. Desculpe. Speak each as a full soft breath, not an isolated tile. In the free early lessons.
- 03
Soft formality
Bom dia, senhor. Bom dia, senhora. Contrast that with an informal Oi to a friend. Lessons use você as the everyday “you”. These are in the free early lessons.
- 04
Introduce yourself
Meu nome é ___. Eu sou ___. Prazer. In the free early lessons.
- 05
Ask a name, then close
Qual é o seu nome? Eu sou do Brasil. Close with Tchau.
Coming later in the course: café orders, the station (Onde é a estação? · Com licença, onde é a estação?), the banheiro (Onde é o banheiro?), and numbers 1–20.
Mouth cues for nasals, reduced vowels, and register.
Quick mouth cues for saying each line out loud.
| Focus | Portuguese cue | Mouth / structure note |
|---|---|---|
| Nasal ão | não · pão | Soft nasal finish through the nose on ão. Don’t English-ise it to plain “now” or “pow”. Say it once, exaggerating the nasal. |
| Nasal ãe | mãe | A similar soft nasal on ãe. Keep it short and closed. Avoid a long English “my.” |
| Unstressed vowel reduction | obrigado · desculpe | Unstressed vowels often shrink. Speak the full polite line once slowly, then once at natural speed, without over-enunciating every letter. |
| Formality register | Oi vs Bom dia, senhor / senhora | Informal Oi for friends. Senhor and senhora soften a greeting to a stranger. Practise both full lines. Early lessons use você. |
Say these lines out loud.
Practice script — say these lines out loud. Café, station and bathroom lines come later in the course.
You: Oi!
Hi!
You: Bom dia.
Good morning.
You: Meu nome é Alex.
My name is Alex.
You: Eu sou estudante. Prazer.
I’m a student. Nice to meet you.
You: Qual é o seu nome?
What’s your name?
You: Bom dia, senhor. / Bom dia, senhora.
Good morning, sir. / Good morning, ma’am.
You: Por favor. Obrigado. Com licença. Desculpe.
Please. Thank you. Excuse me. Sorry.
You: Tchau.
Bye.
Three people who open Portuguese to speak, not to finish silent tiles.
- English-speaking beginners
You want greetings, name lines, and polite senhor / senhora phrases you can say aloud in week one.
- Returning learners
You recognise menu words but hesitate over nasals, reduced vowels, and você formality when speaking.
- Travellers and culture-curious learners
You want a small daily voice habit for hellos, introductions, and a soft apology or excuse-me — not a silent conjugation marathon. Café and station lines arrive later in the structured path.
Portuguese next steps, sibling courses, and the habit pieces.
All languages
Browse every VoiGu course, including the other speaking pages.
Spanish
Spanish speaking practice — café lines, directions, and ser versus estar.
Italian
Italian speaking practice — greetings, articles, and polite Lei.
A daily language habit
How to protect a five-minute session so tomorrow’s Portuguese still happens.
كيف تعمل ممارسة التحدث
قل كل جملة بصوت عالٍ ثم أعد المحاولة.
Get the app
Start speaking Portuguese free. The download links are on the get-app page.
See what Plus unlocks
Plus unlocks content beyond the first two free units.
Straight answers. Portuguese only.
Do I need to master every Portuguese sound before speaking?
No. Start with useful complete phrases (Oi, Bom dia, Meu nome é…, Por favor, Obrigado). Nasals and reduced vowels become clearer through spoken practice; we do not promise pronunciation mastery in a fixed number of weeks.
Does VoiGu teach Brazilian Portuguese, European Portuguese, or both?
The Portuguese path is standard beginner Portuguese, and early lessons use everyday forms common in Brazil (e.g. oi, você). There’s no separate Brazilian or European Portuguese version.
Can I practise Portuguese pronunciation as a beginner?
Yes — use the voice-first practice loop and the page’s sound examples (nasal ão / ãe, reduced vowels, você + senhor/senhora greetings). Say the line out loud, then try it again.
Are the first Portuguese units free?
The first two units are free. They cover greetings and introducing yourself. Plus unlocks content beyond the first two free units; see /pricing. Start via /get-app.
Put a useful Portuguese greeting into your voice practice.
Say Oi. Meu nome é ___ out loud today — five minutes is enough to start.
The first two units are free.
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ابدأ تعلّم البرتغالية على App Store أو Google Play. الوحدتان الأوليان مجانيتان.