The 100 Most Common Portuguese Words

These are the 100 most common Portuguese words, ranked by how often they appear in real Portuguese text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	o	oo	the (definite article)
2	de	jee	of
3	que	kee	that (conjunction)
4	e	ee	and
5	ser	sehr	be
6	um	oong	one
7	em	eng	in
8	não	nowng	no
9	a	ah	to
10	para	PAH-rah	to
11	com	kohng	with
12	estar	es-TAR	be
13	ter	tehr	have
14	eu	EH-oo	I
15	ele	EH-lee	he
16	se	see	self
17	por	poor	by
18	isso	EE-soo	that
19	ela	EH-lah	she
20	mas	mahs	but
21	fazer	fah-ZEHR	do
22	como	KOH-moo	how
23	você	voh-SEH	you
24	mais	mahys	more
25	saber	sah-BEHR	know
26	seu	SEH-oo	your
27	dizer	jee-ZEHR	say
28	ir	eer	go
29	poder	poh-DEHR	can
30	tudo	TOO-doo	all
31	muito	MOOY-too	very
32	aqui	ah-KEE	here
33	quando	KWAHN-doo	when
34	nós	naws	we
35	bem	beng	well
36	ver	vehr	see
37	ou	oh	or
38	tempo	TEHM-poo	time
39	querer	keh-REHR	want
40	dar	dar	give
41	homem	OH-meng	man
42	dia	JEE-ah	day
43	ano	AH-noo	year
44	coisa	KOY-zah	thing
45	meu	MEH-oo	my
46	agora	ah-GOH-rah	now
47	também	tahm-BENG	too
48	sem	seng	without
49	outro	OH-troo	another
50	novo	NOH-voo	new
51	já	zhah	already
52	vez	vehs	time (occasion)
53	grande	GRAHN-jee	big
54	bom	bohng	good
55	este	ES-chee	this
56	primeiro	pree-MAY-roo	first
57	até	ah-TEH	until
58	dois	doys	two
59	mesmo	MEZ-moo	same
60	sobre	SOH-bree	on (about)
61	dever	deh-VEHR	must
62	depois	jee-POYS	after
63	vida	VEE-dah	life
64	casa	KAH-zah	house
65	só	saw	only
66	ainda	ah-EEN-dah	still
67	assim	ah-SEENG	like this
68	então	en-TOWNG	then
69	entre	EN-tree	between
70	falar	fah-LAR	speak
71	ficar	fee-KAR	stay (become)
72	nada	NAH-dah	nothing
73	mundo	MOON-doo	world
74	parte	PAR-chee	part
75	forma	FOR-mah	way (form)
76	país	pah-EES	country
77	hora	OH-rah	hour
78	gente	ZHEN-chee	people
79	chegar	sheh-GAR	arrive
80	passar	pah-SAR	happen (pass)
81	cada	KAH-dah	each
82	sempre	SEM-pree	always
83	olhar	oh-LYAR	look
84	mulher	moo-LYEHR	woman
85	trabalho	trah-BAH-lyoo	work
86	achar	ah-SHAR	think (find)
87	lugar	loo-GAR	place
88	deixar	day-SHAR	let (leave)
89	pensar	pen-SAR	think
90	encontrar	en-kohn-TRAR	find
91	sair	sah-EER	go out
92	pouco	POH-koo	little (amount)
93	antes	AHN-chees	before
94	melhor	meh-LYOR	better
95	onde	OHN-jee	where
96	porque	poor-KEH	because
97	voltar	vohl-TAR	return
98	viver	vee-VEHR	live
99	amigo	ah-MEE-goo	friend
100	nome	NOH-mee	name

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Ranked by lemma frequency in published Portuguese corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

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Frequently asked questions about Portuguese words

How many Portuguese words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Portuguese?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Portuguese word list come from?

From published Portuguese word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.