Portuguese-English False Friends: The Complete List for Portuguese Speakers

1Why Portuguese produces false friends in bulk

Portuguese and English share thousands of words, and almost none of that overlap is an accident. English took perhaps sixty per cent of its vocabulary from Latin and French; Portuguese is Latin. So the two languages hold enormous quantities of the same material.

Shared origin is exactly the condition that produces false friends. A word entered both languages, each language used it for centuries, and the meanings drifted apart at their own pace. Nothing looks wrong: the word exists in English, it is spelled almost identically, and it means something adjacent to what you intended.

There is a second pattern. English usually kept the Latin word in a narrow, formal or literary corner while Portuguese kept it as the ordinary everyday word, or the reverse. Assistir is the completely normal Portuguese verb for watching television; English assist is a formal word meaning help. Neither is wrong; they sit at different heights.

And a third group is not vocabulary at all. Portuguese puts articles where English does not, forms questions without inversion, allows double negatives, and uses ter where English uses there is. These produce sentences made entirely of real English words in shapes a native speaker would not use.

Tip: Sort your errors into the three: words that drifted, words at the wrong height, and grammar habits. Only the first is solved by a dictionary, which is why a false friend list alone never fixes anybody's English.

2The six that reverse your meaning

These six are the highest priority in the guide, because each one does not merely sound odd, it says something different from what you meant, and it does so in exactly the sentences where precision matters.

Tip: Write these six on a card and keep it visible while you write English for a month. They are frequent enough that a month of deliberate checking usually breaks the habit for good.

3Words about people that go wrong

A separate section because the cost is different. Getting a shop wrong is confusing; getting a description of a person wrong changes what you said about them, and nobody will correct you.

• sensível means sensitive, and sensato means sensible; English sensible means practical, so sensible data should always be sensitive data
• excitado in Brazilian Portuguese carries a sexual sense, so many Brazilians avoid English excited unnecessarily; English excited is completely neutral and safe, and it is the right word for looking forward to something
• íntimo means close in a friendship sense, whereas English intimate leans strongly romantic; say close friend
• particular means private in Portuguese, whereas English particular means specific
• vaidoso means vain, and English vain also means futile, which vaidoso does not cover
• cínico is much stronger in Portuguese than English cynical, which is close to ordinary scepticism

Tip: For each of these write two English sentences that clearly mean different things and label which Portuguese situation each belongs to. One word with two glosses never sticks; two sentences with two situations do.

4The complete one-to-one list

Quick reference. Portuguese word, what it means, and the English word that carries it.

• atual and atualmente mean current and currently, not actual and actually.
• eventual and eventualmente mean occasional and possibly, not eventual and eventually.
• pretender means to intend, not to pretend.
• assistir means to watch or attend, not to assist.
• compromisso means a commitment or appointment, not a compromise.
• esquisito means strange, not exquisite.
• educado means polite, not educated.
• simpático means friendly, not sympathetic.
• ingênuo means naive, not ingenious.
• esperto means clever, not expert.
• ordinário means vulgar, not ordinary.
• notório means well-known, whereas notorious is negative.
• livraria is a bookshop; a library is a biblioteca.
• parentes are relatives; parents are pais.
• colégio is a secondary school, not a college.
• faculdade is a university course or undergraduate school, not faculty in the American sense of teaching staff.
• fábrica is a factory; fabric is tecido.
• costume means a habit or custom; a costume is a fantasia.
• legenda is a subtitle; a legend is a lenda.
• notícia is news; a notice is an aviso.
• jornal is a newspaper; a journal is a revista or a diário.
• novela is a soap opera in Brazil; a novel is a romance.
• romance means a novel, as well as romance.
• pasta is a folder or a paste; pasta the food is massa.
• sopa is soup; soap is sabão.
• taxa is a fee or a rate; tax is imposto.
• prejuízo is a financial loss; prejudice is preconceito.
• decepção is disappointment; deception is engano.
• êxito is success; an exit is a saída.
• oficina is a workshop or garage; an office is an escritório.
• balcão is a counter; a balcony is a varanda or sacada.
• recipiente is a container; a recipient is a destinatário.
• resumir is to summarise; to resume is retomar.
• suportar is to tolerate or endure; to support is apoiar.
• atender is to answer the phone or serve a customer; to attend is comparecer.
• avisar is to warn or inform; to advise is aconselhar.
• assumir is to take on or to admit; to assume is supor.
• procurar is to look for; to procure is adquirir.
• data is a calendar date; data in the statistical sense is dados.
• largo means wide; large is grande.
• lanche is a snack; lunch is almoço.
• gripe is the flu; an English gripe is a complaint.
• idioma is a language; an idiom is an expressão idiomática.
• preservativo is a condom; a food preservative is a conservante.
• propaganda means advertising and is neutral; English propaganda is always negative.

Tip: Do not read this end to end. Read it once, then come back after writing something real in English and check only the words you actually used.

5Push, pull, and the everyday traps

The highest-frequency group, and the one that produces the most confusion per week because it comes up in ordinary conversation rather than at work.

• sorvete is ice cream, and the English word sorbet is a specific fruit ice with no dairy
• bife is a steak, and English beef is the meat in general
• torta is a pie or tart, and English torte is a rich layered cake
• cafeteria is a coffee shop in Portuguese, whereas an English cafeteria is a self-service canteen
• estante is a bookshelf, not anything to do with instant
• tapa is a slap, not a tap
• terno is a suit in Brazil, not tender
• pipa is a kite in Brazil, not a pipe
• carpete is fitted carpet, whereas English carpet covers rugs too
• vagabundo is much stronger than the English vagabond and is a real insult

Tip: These are worth fixing before the impressive Latinate ones, not because they are more embarrassing but because they occur far more often. Frequency times error rate is what actually costs you.

6Business, money and the workplace

The group most likely to be read by someone deciding about you, and the group where tone errors are invisible because nobody mentions them.

• discutir in Portuguese leans towards arguing and having a row, whereas English discuss is entirely neutral. We discussed the budget for an hour is calm in English; if you meant a row, say we argued. And English discuss never takes about.
• taxa is a fee or an interest rate; imposto is a tax. A document about taxes and a document about fees are different documents.
• prejuízo is a financial loss. English prejudice is bias against a group. Saying the project caused prejudice describes discrimination, not money.
• propaganda in Portuguese means ordinary commercial advertising and is neutral. In English it always means manipulative political messaging. Say advertising, or a campaign.
• suportar means to tolerate or put up with. I cannot support this proposal in English means you oppose it, which may be the opposite of your meaning.
• aplicar means to apply something to something, but applying for a job is candidatar-se; in English you apply for a job or apply to a company, never apply the job.
• atender means to answer a phone or serve a customer. English attend means to be present at. Say answer, serve, or deal with.
• assumir means to take on a role or to admit something. English assume means to suppose without evidence. He assumed the role is fine; he assumed the mistake should be he admitted the mistake.
• realizar means to carry out or accomplish. English realise mostly means to become aware. We realised the payment should be we processed the payment.
• êxito means success. English exit is a way out, and in venture finance the sale of a company. The project was a great exit says you sold it.
• compromisso covered above, and comprometido can mean either committed or compromised, so in English always choose one explicitly.
• diretor in Portuguese often covers what English calls a manager; in English-speaking corporate structures Director is a distinctly senior rank, so translate by responsibility rather than by word.

Notice what the worst ones share: they are all words you would reach for precisely because they sound professional. The plainer Anglo-Saxon alternative is almost always safe, because plain English words rarely have Portuguese cousins and therefore rarely have false friends.

Tip: When you are unsure in a live meeting, use the plain word. Check beats control, ask beats demand, current beats actual, and talk about beats discuss about, which is not English at all.

7Numbers, dates, and the bilhão problem

Portuguese-speaking countries use the continental punctuation convention, and on one point Brazil and Portugal do not even agree with each other. This is the section where an error costs money rather than clarity.

Tip: Set your computer, phone and spreadsheet to English formatting when you work in English. Fixing this at the tool level removes the error permanently, which care alone never does.

8Grammar transfer that surfaces as word choice

These produce real English words in shapes a native speaker would not use, which is why they survive to a very advanced level and why no proofreading tool catches them.

Tip: Record yourself speaking English for two minutes and transcribe it by hand. The extra articles and the copied prepositions will jump off the page in a way they never do while you are speaking.

9Where Brazil and Portugal disagree

Worth its own section because it affects which English word is right for you, and because a Brazilian and a Portuguese reader of this guide need slightly different advice.

• constipado means having a head cold in European Portuguese and constipated in Brazilian Portuguese. In English, constipated only ever means the second, so a European Portuguese speaker translating directly says something they very much did not mean. English for a cold: I have a cold.
• bilião in Portugal is a million million, which English calls a trillion; bilhão in Brazil is a thousand million, which English calls a billion. This is the most expensive difference on the list.
• comboio in Portugal and trem in Brazil both become train in English.
• casa de banho in Portugal and banheiro in Brazil both become bathroom or toilet in English; in North America, restroom is the polite public form.
• telemóvel in Portugal and celular in Brazil both become mobile phone in British English and cell phone in North American English.
• ecrã in Portugal and tela in Brazil both become screen.
• autocarro in Portugal and ônibus in Brazil both become bus.
• pequeno-almoço in Portugal and café da manhã in Brazil both become breakfast.
• rapariga is an ordinary word for girl in Portugal and is offensive in parts of Brazil; English girl is neutral, and for an adult, woman.
• propina is a tuition fee in Portugal and a bribe in Brazil; in English, say tuition fee or bribe explicitly and never guess.

The practical lesson is not that one variety is correct. It is that when two varieties of your own language disagree this sharply, you cannot rely on intuition about the English either. Any word where you know Brazil and Portugal differ deserves a deliberate check before you use its English lookalike.

Tip: Decide which English variety you are aiming at and stay in it. Brazilian speakers usually have far more exposure to American English, and Portuguese speakers to British English, and matching your English variety to your actual exposure is easier than fighting it.

10Sounds that change the word

Included here because several of these do not produce an accent, they produce a different English word, and the sentence quietly stops making sense.

• Portuguese does not allow most final consonants, so a vowel is added: hot dog becomes something like hotchi dogui, and big becomes bigi. English words end on the consonant, and the missing final sound is often the grammar, as with the past tense -ed and the plural -s.
• Brazilian Portuguese pronounces initial r as an h sound, so Rio is Hio. Carried into English this turns red into head, and the reverse over-correction turns hat into rat.
• Portuguese has no th sounds, so think becomes sink or fink and this becomes dis or zis. Watch three and free, thin and fin, and both and boat.
• Portuguese palatalises t and d before an i sound, so time can come out as chime and day as jay. This one changes words often.
• The English contrast between ship and sheep, full and fool, and man and men does not exist in Portuguese, and it distinguishes many pairs in English.
• Final -ed has three pronunciations in English: t after voiceless sounds, d after voiced ones, and id only after t or d. Portuguese speakers tend to add a full extra syllable to all of them, which makes walked into two syllables where it should be one.
• English word stress moves and changes meaning: a REcord and to reCORD, PRESent and preSENT. Portuguese stress is more predictable, so this needs deliberate attention.
• English spelling does not predict pronunciation: though, through, thought, tough and thorough share letters and almost nothing else. Learn the sound with the word.

The two worth attacking first are the added final vowel and the -ed endings, because both hide grammar rather than just colouring your accent. If a listener cannot hear your past tense, they are missing information, not just noticing an accent.

Tip: Record yourself reading a short paragraph, then listen while reading the same paragraph. Added final vowels are impossible to hear in the moment and completely obvious on playback.

11Twelve sentences to correct

Each contains one error from this guide. Try each before reading the correction.

• We pretend to open a new office in Toronto next year. Correction: We plan to open a new office in Toronto next year. Pretender means to intend.
• Please send me the actual sales numbers. Correction: Please send me the current sales numbers. Actual means real, not up to date.
• I will assist the conference on Thursday. Correction: I will attend the conference on Thursday.
• He is a very educated man, always polite to everyone. Correction: He is a very polite man, always courteous to everyone.
• I bought this book at the library near my office. Correction: I bought this book at the bookshop near my office.
• We have a compromise with the supplier until March. Correction: We have a commitment with the supplier until March.
• The life is difficult when you are learning a new language. Correction: Life is difficult when you are learning a new language.
• Can you explain me the second part again? Correction: Can you explain the second part to me again?
• I want to discuss about the new schedule with you. Correction: I want to discuss the new schedule with you. Discuss takes no about.
• Has many people waiting outside the building. Correction: There are many people waiting outside the building.
• The invoice total is 12,5 thousand. Correction: The invoice total is 12.5 thousand, in English punctuation.
• It depends of the client's answer. Correction: It depends on the client's answer.

Tip: Score yourself, then drill only the three you actually got wrong. Twelve corrections read once change nothing; three drilled for a week change how you write.

12How to find your own false friends

A published list is a starting point. The list that helps you is built from your own English, because your errors depend on your field, your vocabulary and your habits.

Use real English you produced: a sent email, a message to a colleague, an exam answer, a transcript of yourself speaking. Not exercises, because exercises make you careful and false friends only appear when you are not.

• Take a piece of English you wrote without checking, at least two hundred words
• Underline every word that also exists in Portuguese, which in professional writing will be most of the long ones
• Mark separately every word you chose because it sounded impressive, since that is where the density is highest
• For each, search the English word and read three real examples from native sources
• Mark it wrong if your sentence does not fit the pattern of those three
• Write the correction as a full sentence from your own work, never as a single word
• Check separately for the three invisible ones: an extra the, a copied preposition, and explain me
• Keep the list in one file and reread it before you write anything that matters

Expect fifteen to thirty in your first two hundred words, which is higher than for most languages precisely because the shared vocabulary is so large. The number falls quickly, because this is a finite list rather than a general weakness.

Tip: The fastest version is to hear English while reading the same words, which is what subtitled podcasts give you. Collocation errors surface immediately when you hear the correct pairing, well before you could explain why yours was wrong.