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Brazilian and European Portuguese
Most Portuguese speakers live in Brazil, and Brazilian Portuguese is relaxed and friendly in writing. In Portugal the language is a little more formal. The two sides understand each other easily; the differences are mostly in word choice and forms of address.
Some everyday words change: a bus is ônibus in Brazil and autocarro in Portugal; a mobile phone is celular in Brazil and telemóvel in Portugal. Translated text is understood in both countries, and these small differences do not cause misunderstandings.
Você or o senhor?
In Brazil, você is the everyday “you” in writing; in very formal situations or with someone older, people say o senhor / a senhora. In Portugal você can sound cold, so formal messages often use the person's name or title instead.
English has only one “you”, so the translation picks the tone from the rest of your wording. Polite phrases such as “could you please” and “kind regards” lead to a formal result; a short, casual message leads to a friendly one. If the other person writes casually, a relaxed tone is fine.
Opening and closing
Portuguese messages open with a short greeting and end on a warm line. If you write these patterns in English, the translation comes out natural:
- Everyday opening: “Hi” (Olá) or “Good morning” (Bom dia).
- Formal opening: “Dear Mr Silva” (Prezado Sr. Silva in Brazil; Caro Sr. Silva in Portugal).
- Closing: “Kind regards” (Atenciosamente) or “Thanks, have a good day” (Obrigado, tenha um bom dia).
- Friendly closing: “See you soon” (Até logo) or “Hugs” (Abraços).
Obrigado or obrigada?
In Portuguese, “thank you” depends on who is speaking: a man says obrigado, a woman says obrigada. The translation cannot always tell from the text, so in an important message it is worth a quick look at that one word before you send.
Accented letters (á, â, ã, ç, é, ê, õ) can change a word's meaning. When you need a name or an address from an incoming message, copying and pasting it is safer than retyping it.
Dates, times, money and numbers
Brazil and Portugal both write dates as day/month/year, so 03/04 is the 3rd of April, not March 4th. The decimal separator is a comma and thousands use a dot: R$ 1.250,50 in Brazil, 1.250,50 € in Portugal.
Always name the currency when you write a price: reais, euros or dollars? Times are usually written on the 24-hour clock (14h or 14:00), and adding the time zone to a meeting time avoids confusion, since Brazil spans several time zones of its own.