European Portuguese - How to Be Polite

European Portuguese - How to Be Polite // Learn how to be polite when you are in Portugal! If you are wondering how to make polite conversation and polite requests, this video gives you the three ways you can be polite in European Portuguese. Perfect if you want to visit Portugal or if you want to learn European Portuguese online!

FREE GUIDE: 7 Tips to Instantly Improve Your European Portuguese Pronunciation

FREE LESSON: Sign up for my "Speak Portuguese Like a Pro" Online Workshop

Diz olá on social:

#learnportuguese #europeanportuguese #talkthestreets

[TalktheStreets]

Does this video make you feel more confident engaging in polite conversation? What should I cover next?

[pd]

Voce e’ a menina e tambem uma fofa...smiles

[andydyer]

Once again I’m loving these coincidental commonalities between Japanese and European Portuguese (in this case pro-dropping or using a person’s name as nominal subject to be polite). It would be weird coming at it just from English, but having learnt Japanese before it’s more intuitive!

[fabiolimadasilva]

Venho aqui tão somente para melhorar o meu inglês. Esta moça simpática deixa tudo mais fácil de entender. 😄 "Você" é INFORMAL no Brasil e usamos com muita frequência. "A menina" e "o menino" é um tanto engraçado. Coisa de gente idosa, que veio de Portugal... 😅

[emdagon]

I moved to Portugal months ago, I definitively needed this video! Obrigado!

[megsrxlife]

Interesting about the voce, Portuguese is such a pretty language!

[arturrosa]

O seu domínio da nossa língua e dos nossos maneirismos, e de vários dos nossos aspetos culturais, é muitíssimo alto. É ao nível de um nativo, o que sinceramente eu nunca tinha visto num não-nativo. Muitos parabéns!

[PutCallGenie]

"você" is the preferred use of 2nd person in Brasil. They do use "o senhor e a senhora" as a respectful way. I loved the use of 3rd person singular as in "a menina" to be respecful but less formal. That is not used in Brasil at all. Nice to know the differences. Next time I go to Portugal, I will put these to good use, thank!

[magdalenahoranin]

I must say your videos are very practical and show information that are hard to find. I've been living in Portugal for a while now and there are parts of the language used in a cultural context that are easy to misunderstand or not use correctly. And they are basically impossible to find or check in the dictionary. So tips that you give us are very valuable :).

[skyalle]

IM FROM PORTUGAL, U SPEAK SO WELL! I’m gonna cryyyy😭😭❤️

[lukeandsarahsoffgridlife]

You are clearing up so many grey areas for me thanks Liz. Have an awesome day

[imanprasetyo]

This is a very helpful information. Sou Indonesio, we also use other’s name too to be polite, but for older people we use words equivalent to o senhor / a senhora. Probably it started when portuguese was in our country

[stevej.padilla]

OBRIGADO! Finalmente encontrei exatamente o que estava buscando! Eu aprendi português brasileiro e não conseguia entender o uso de você em Portugal!!! Parabéns pelos conteúdos do canal Liz!

[neonfear]

This is so useful and well explained. When speaking directly to someone in English, it would seem strange to use their name or refer to them in the third person, so it's great to be reassured and shown some options!

[adggtom]

Gosto muito com os seus vídeos. O português foi uma das minhas disciplinas na universidade de Liverpool entre os anos 1982 e 1986 (há quase un século) e agora estou a tentar lembrar-me un bocadinho. A maior dificultade que tenho é que moro em Madrid e falo espanhol todos os dias. A interferência é um problema constante. Parabéns para si. Somos a excepçao (sorry can't find the accent on my Spanish keyboard!) à regra que diz que os ingleses nao sabemos falar outras línguas!!

[nylesgregory]

I was just asking my Tutor how to say "May I have . . ." and her response was - "We really don't have a polite way of asking that way." To which I was like WTFO?? So this vid was great to set me right on proper/polite way to approach things. Now I'm heading over to your swear words (palavrões) video.

[rramanauthor]

never knew these! going to be awesome!

[ana-yfwo]

Best video so far to adress this issue.

You can say "você" if you have a brazilian accent, people won't find it strange. But if you are going for the european accent, best not try to adress the person at all. In everyday chat you could just ask "Perdão, (VOCÊ) sabe me dizer a que horas chega o autocarro?" or you can add "Perdão, o senhor.../a senhora....". It's the ultimate "Pls do not adress to me" language. It sounds kind of country-like saying "você" or "vossemecê" (but the last one would be forgivable if you're an eldery person). It can be complicated to teach people native in english that they can just not say the pronouns yet sound super formal...but it's the best way to do it! You can also call an older lady "A Senhora Dona Maria da Conceição" ou "Sra D. Maria" shortened. It's the ultimate formal way. Or calling someone "doutor/a" even if they don't have a phd themselves but they are above you ahahaha its super common in some jobs and stuff. Some examples for non natives in very long and complicated sentences to really test your portuguese skills

- Olá, boa tarde! Consegue me tirar um café, se faz favor? Muito grata!

there are a LOT of ways to ask for a coffee/bica in portugal, just as "Boa tarde, era um café, por favor!" "Queria pedir um café" (the verbs in "condicional" sound like past tense I know)

- Com licença, peço perdão por me intrometer, mas não pude deixar de ouvir que a senhora disse que o autocarro estava atrasado...sabe me dizer por quanto tempo? Obrigada!

- Boa tarde! O senhor sabe me dizer as horas?

- Olá! Perdão, sabe me dizer onde fica a Rua Nova da Trindade? Ah, certo! Já percebi. Obrigada! Continuação de boa tarde para o senhor

Also, in some families people speak to older people in the formal way. And in some families (usually "betos") even to their children...that is the prime example of using someone's name in a formal way. This is not super common in Portugal, by the way. It would sound something like:


- Eu já disse para a Maria párar quieta um bocado! Maria! Maria, volta aqui já! Imediatamente! Maria, vá ter com o seu irmão e pergunte se ele já tem fome para jantar. A Maria já fez os trabalhos de casa?

The last thing is because in Brasil the 3rd person singular pronouns are used in a lot of places as the 2nd ones, they also call their mothers "senhora" all the time and stuff like that. In Portugal it's way more common to speak to your parents in the informal way, but in a lot of places in Brasil the "informal pronouns" don't exist, like in english. But in some state in Brasil they do use the "tu" pronoun. It's a larger country and very much complicated. But:

In Portugal, you can call your parents in the informal way and in some families also the greatparents, but some families use the formal pronouns for every single member

The "menina" can be used from children to young adults. for men its not so flaterring to be refered as "menino" when they are 20 something years old lol but for a women you can call them "a menina" until they look very much like a grown woman, like even past 30 in some cases. it can even be used as a compliment. if the woman looks married, has children etc then "senhora" might be a safe bet. But it has nothing to do with a woman's status as if she is married or not. In any document, you will be called "senhora" or "senhor" unless you are and engeneer or a phd. "Menina" is just for conversation sake.

[Dronepilot]

Thank you, Liz ! Great channel ! Please keep up ))

[CarrieLaShell]

Well it's on my list of places to go so thanks for sharing!