Portuguese for BJJ: The Phrases Every Jiu-Jitsu and Capoeira Student Should Know

No — and this is the first thing most BJJ glossaries get wrong. "Oss" (also written "osu") comes from Japanese martial arts, not Brazil. It's rooted in the phrase osu no seishin — combining oshi ("to push") and shinobu ("to endure") into "the spirit of perseverance" — and entered BJJ the same way judo terminology did: through the sport's Japanese roots. Some traditional and Gracie-affiliated academies use it constantly; plenty of modern, sport-focused Brazilian gyms barely use it at all, and some Brazilian instructors will tell you flatly that it isn't part of their academy's culture. There's no single rule — it depends entirely on your gym's lineage.

The genuinely Portuguese equivalents are simpler: "Valeu" for a casual thanks, or "Bom treino" as a send-off. If you want to sound like you trained in Brazil rather than at a gym that borrowed Japanese etiquette secondhand, those two will do more work than "oss" ever will.

How to address your professor (and everyone else)

This is the part most glossaries skip entirely, and it's where a lot of new students guess wrong.

• Professor (proh-feh-SOR) — the standard, respectful way to address an instructor in Brazilian academies, traditionally reserved for black belts who teach. Many gyms extend it informally to any instructor as a courtesy; when in doubt, use it until told otherwise.
• Mestre (MESH-tray) — "master." Reserved for the most senior, highest-ranked teachers, usually red-and-black or red belts with decades on the mat. Don't use it for a regular instructor — it reads as either overly formal or slightly off.
• Sensei — not Brazilian Portuguese. It's Japanese, and while a handful of gyms with Japanese lineage use it, it isn't the standard BJJ term the way "professor" is.
• First names — completely normal for training partners of any rank. Portuguese doesn't require a formal "you" the way French or German do; Brazilians address almost everyone, instructors included, as você.

A simple rule that covers most academies: call your black-belt instructor "Professor," call training partners by name, and save "Mestre" for someone everyone else is also calling Mestre.

Commands you'll hear during class

These are the words that get shouted across the mat during drilling and live rounds — distinct from the formal referee calls (combate, lute, parou) you'd hear only in competition.

Belt, gi, and rank vocabulary

Here's what faixa, kimono, and graduação actually mean — the core BJJ terminology every student ends up needing.

What to say before and after you roll

The words that carry the etiquette of the sport matter more than technique names — this is the part a glossary of "finalização" and "raspagem" won't teach you.

How to actually pronounce this (Brazilian Portuguese for English speakers)

Brazilian Portuguese has a few sound patterns that trip up English speakers specifically:

• Nasal "ão" — sounds like "ow" pushed through your nose, not a clean "own." Faixa marrom → "FYE-shah mah-HROM" gets you close.
• "R" at the start of a word or double "rr" sounds like an English "h." Rolar is "ho-LAHR," not "ro-LAR."
• "T" and "D" before an "i" sound (or word-final "e") turn into "tch" and "dj" — a well-documented Brazilian Portuguese palatalization pattern. This is why treino is pronounced "TRAY-noo" and de novo comes out "jee NOH-voo," not "deh NO-voh." This is standard in Rio and most of Brazil, though it varies a bit by region.
• Unstressed final vowels shrink. The "o" at the end of kimono, treino, isso, and de novo is closer to "oo" than a full "oh" — that's why every one of those words ends this guide's transcriptions in "-oo," not "-oh."

Get those four patterns down and you'll sound like you've actually trained with Brazilians, not just memorized a word list.

The etiquette behind the words

Brazilian academy culture carries assumptions that aren't written on any sign-in sheet. A few that consistently catch new students off guard:

• Rank is spoken to, not just worn. Lower belts greet arriving black belts and often help set up or roll away the mats before and after class — a small courtesy, not a chore assigned by rank.
• Tapping is not a loss of face. "Bati" is said matter-of-factly, often followed by "valeu" from both people. Refusing to tap is treated as more embarrassing than tapping early.
• Hygiene is taken seriously. Short nails, a washed gi, and a rash guard for no-gi rounds are baseline expectations, not suggestions — Brazil's heat and humidity make this a practical courtesy as much as a cultural one.
• "Professor" is used even mid-roll. Don't be surprised to hear "Professor, pode ver isso aqui?" ("Professor, can you check this?") shouted across a packed mat — the title doesn't disappear once class starts.

None of this is written down at most gyms. Knowing it before you show up is the difference between looking like a tourist and looking like you belong.

Capoeira Portuguese Phrases (If You Train Both)

Portuguese for martial arts doesn't stop at BJJ — if you also step into a roda (HOH-dah — the circle where capoeira is played), you'll need a different vocabulary. Capoeira and BJJ share a country, not a vocabulary — most BJJ terms above won't help you there. A few essentials if you're stepping into both worlds:

Capoeira's hierarchy runs through the mestre far more than BJJ's does through belts, which is worth knowing before you assume the two sports share etiquette just because they share a language.

Putting it into practice

Mat vocabulary gets you through class, but it won't help you order a coffee, joke with training partners after practice, or navigate an academy in Rio or São Paulo if you visit one. That's a different, broader kind of Portuguese — the kind VoiGu's Portuguese course is built for, with five-minute lessons you can fit between rounds or on the bus home from the gym.

Picked up a few Portuguese words rooting for Brazil during a World Cup and figured that was the end of it? Our guide to ser vs. estar in Portuguese is a natural next stop if you want to keep building beyond football chants and mat commands.

If your Portuguese-speaking travels eventually take you to Portugal instead of Brazil, know that it's a different flavor of the language — different accent, some different vocabulary. The European Portuguese you'd actually need for your first month as a digital nomad in Portugal is worth a separate look when the time comes.

And if a trip to train at an academy in Brazil is actually on your calendar, the flight down is a good time to review these phrases, and the academy is the place to say them. Either way: "Bom treino," and go say "valeu" like you mean it.

VoiGu offers 16 language courses, from Spanish and Japanese to Portuguese and beyond — see the full list.

Ready to say these out loud? Start Portuguese free on iPhone (App Store) and Android. The first two units are free.