Polite requests and messages in Brazilian Portuguese

Level B1

Polite requests and messages in Brazilian Portuguese

Adapt your opening, request and closing to your relationship with the reader. Unlike English “you,” Portuguese distinguishes você from the more respectful o senhor or a senhora. All three use the same verb form as ele or ela, and você is also common in many workplaces. Poder means “can” or “be able to”; its conditional form poderia makes a request more polite. Compare the friendly “Me manda” with the respectful “O senhor poderia me enviar”. For a follow-up, entrar em contato de novo means to contact someone again. The formal examples use gostaria, solicitei and retomar o assunto for a more measured tone.

Asking politely and following up

Greetings, sign-offs and forms of address

FriendSomeone you do not knowWork or institutional contact
Oi!Olá!Bom dia!
Obrigado.Obrigado.Obrigado.
Tchau!Até logo!Até logo!
Mais uma vez, agradeço pela ajuda.Mais uma vez, agradeço pela ajuda.Mais uma vez, agradeço pela ajuda.
Um abraço,Atenciosamente,Atenciosamente,
nomenomenome
vocêo senhoro senhor
seudo senhordo senhor

From a friendly request to a respectful question

O senhor poderia ação solicitada, por favor?

Asking someone when the office closes

forma de pedir informação quando acontecimento sobre o qual se pergunta?

Asking for confirmation with se

O senhor pode me confirmar se situação a confirmar?

Explaining a deadline without losing politeness

“Preciso dele hoje porque vou viajar amanhã” says that you need it today and gives the reason: Portuguese can leave out eu, and dele combines de with ele to refer to the form. Porque introduces a reason, while então introduces a result. “Preciso que o senhor me entregue” uses the subjunctive form entregue after preciso que and makes a firmer request than poderia.

In embedded questions, keep the usual word order in “Você sabe que horas o escritório fecha?” Use se to mean “whether” in “confirmar se meu formulário já chegou”; there is no English-style “do” in this question. The friendly examples use tempinho to soften the request and conversational forms such as pra and tá. Prefer para and está in more formal writing.

Um abraço is a warm sign-off, and Atenciosamente suits formal correspondence. The person saying thank you uses obrigado if male or obrigada if female. With o senhor, do senhor clearly shows respectful ownership; seu can mean “your,” “his” or “her,” depending on context.

Referring back to an earlier request or email

Gostaria de entrar em contato de novo sobre pedido anterior.

A friendly request and explanation

A respectful workplace request and deadline

Practise this lesson

Next lessons