Polite phrases and asking for repetition in Brazilian Portuguese

Level A1

Polite phrases and asking for repetition in Brazilian Portuguese

You are arriving at a class and need to get through the doorway. A short greeting opens the contact; then choose a courtesy phrase for what you need. You will also learn a complete request for repetition, so you can keep a conversation going when you miss something.

A greeting, then the right courtesy phrase

Bom dia! means “Good morning!”: use it to greet someone in the morning. Listen and repeat the cards; learn the expressions as whole units. Por favor means “please”; obrigado and obrigada mean “thank you”; de nada answers thanks with “you’re welcome”. Com licença means “excuse me”, for getting attention or asking to get past; desculpa means “sorry”, for a small mistake.

The ending of obrigado/obrigada follows the person giving thanks, not the person being thanked: Leo says obrigado and Ana says obrigada, whoever helped them. English thank you does not make this distinction; in Portuguese the speaker uses masculine obrigado or feminine obrigada for themself.

At the classroom doorway

Speaker A is Ana; speaker B is Leo, who is standing in the doorway. They greet each other first; Ana then says com licença to ask to get past. Leo realizes he is in the way and says desculpa; he moves aside, and Ana thanks him with obrigada. Leo replies de nada. Listen once for the situation, then say Ana’s lines and Leo’s lines in turn.

When you miss what someone said

Pode repetir? means “Could you repeat that?” Use the whole question when you did not hear or understand what was said. Pode repetir, por favor? adds “please” and makes the request more courteous. The template shows that extra phrase; the shorter question is useful too. Unlike the English request, these Portuguese examples do not say you or that. For now, learn the request as a formula; you do not need to conjugate its verbs.

Pode repetir, por favor?

Desculpa, and a form to recognize

Desculpa. is a common casual apology: “Sorry.” You may hear Desculpe. in a more formal interaction; recognize it here without memorizing verb endings. Both apologize, whereas com licença can ask to get past before you move. You can therefore say com licença before passing someone and desculpa if you accidentally bump them. Tone and situation also matter; this contrast is a starting point, not a complete rule for every conversation.

Choose a phrase, then check

Keep the doorway scene: first greet Leo with Bom dia!, then try these six tasks before checking the examples in order: ask to get past; apologize casually after a small bump; politely ask for repetition; thank someone as Leo; thank someone as Ana; answer their thanks. All the expressions you need appeared above.

Check and say each answer aloud: com licença for passage, desculpa for a small mistake, pode repetir, por favor? to hear something again, obrigado/obrigada according to the speaker, and de nada after thanks.

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