Index / Language / Records / Portuguese / Regional dialects
Which word names the ordinary thing. Ten fields where the two standards almost never share one.
The control text · practical
Bom dia. No dia 12 deste mês, foi debitada da minha conta uma cobrança de R$ 89,90 que eu não reconheço. Cancelei esse serviço em maio e guardei o comprovante. Estou pedindo o estorno do valor e a confirmação, por escrito, de que a assinatura foi encerrada. Se não houver retorno até sexta-feira, vou registrar uma reclamação no Procon. Fico no aguardo.
Where the two part
Brazilian · the base
Anchor A is already Brazilian in four places: comprovante, estorno, registrar, Procon, plus the currency.
European · the contrast
The same sentence in Portugal: comprovativo, reembolso, registar, Livro de Reclamações, and the euro behind the figure.
10 options
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| train | trem | comboio |
| bus | ônibus | autocarro |
| tram | bonde | elétrico |
| queue for it | fila | bicha / fila |
The tellNo overlap at all. Transport is the field where the two vocabularies diverge most completely.
High frequency and easy to drill, so the return is immediate.
Bicha for a queue is in the danger set below — see LEX-01j before using it.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| mobile phone | celular | telemóvel |
| screen | tela | ecrã |
| mouse | mouse | rato |
| file | arquivo | ficheiro |
The tellBrazil borrows from English, Portugal substitutes a native word.
Anchor B contains celular, so this field is already live in your control text.
It moves fast. Technology vocabulary dates faster than any other field here.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| breakfast | café da manhã | pequeno-almoço |
| fridge | geladeira | frigorífico |
| cup | xícara | chávena |
| juice | suco | sumo |
The tellEvery meal and most of the crockery has two names.
The field you will need first if you spend time in either country, and the one with the most immediate social payoff.
It is pure memorisation with no derivational logic to lean on.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| bathroom | banheiro | casa de banho |
| grass, lawn | grama | relva |
| rubbish | lixo | lixo |
| flat | apartamento | apartamento |
The tellSome of it diverges completely and some of it does not, which is the trap.
Shows that the split is patchy rather than total, which is more accurate than treating them as two languages.
Because it is patchy, you cannot predict which words are shared — each has to be checked.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| suit | terno | fato |
| t-shirt | camiseta | t-shirt |
| trainers | tênis | ténis |
| jumper | blusa / suéter | camisola |
The tellFato in Brazil means a fact; camisola in Brazil is a nightdress.
Two of these cross into genuine misunderstanding rather than mere difference.
The overlaps are false friends inside the same language, which is harder than a clean split.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| receipt | comprovante | comprovativo |
| refund | estorno | reembolso |
| payroll | folha de pagamento | folha salarial |
| CV | currículo | currículo |
The tellAnchor A lives in this field, which is why it was chosen as the control text.
Directly useful: this is the vocabulary of the letter you would actually write.
Some of it is institution-specific rather than national, so the two-column model oversimplifies.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| team | time | equipa |
| goalkeeper | goleiro | guarda-redes |
| pitch | campo | campo |
| match | jogo | jogo |
The tellTime and equipa is the fastest way to place a football commentator.
High-frequency in casual conversation in both countries, and it comes up constantly.
Narrow outside sport, though equipa and time both extend to workplace teams.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| to register | registrar | registar |
| to fill in | preencher | preencher |
| to plan | planejar | planear |
| to sign up | cadastrar | registar |
The tellregistrar versus registar, planejar versus planear — a systematic morphological difference, not a lexical one.
This one is a pattern, so it generalises across a whole class of verbs.
The pattern has exceptions and the exceptions are the frequent verbs, as usual.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| consumer body | Procon | DECO |
| complaints channel | reclamação no Procon | Livro de Reclamações |
| tax number | CPF | NIF |
| health service | SUS | SNS |
The tellInstitution names do not translate, they substitute. Anchor A names one.
Getting the institution right does more for credibility than any amount of vocabulary.
Naming the wrong body makes a complaint look copied from a template, which is exactly what it would be.
| Meaning | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| girl / offensive in parts of BR | (avoid) | rapariga |
| queue / slur in BR | fila | bicha |
| tuition fee / bribe in BR | propina = bribe | propina = fee |
| kid / vulgar in BR | (avoid) | puto |
The tellFour words that are neutral in Portugal and range from awkward to offensive in Brazil.
The highest-value option on the sheet. Everything else here costs you a moment of confusion; these cost you the room.
The Brazilian force of rapariga and puto varies by region and context, so the safe rule is avoidance rather than calibration.