Index / Language / Records / Portuguese / Regional dialects
Portuense Portuguese
Northern Portuguese: b and v merge, ou stays a real diphthong, and the vocabulary has its own words for beer, coffee and the people who live there.
Porto and the north of Portugal
5sound rules12words and phrases9everyday lines
Neutral fine anywhere Casual friends, street Vulgar swearing Insult aimed at a person
How it sounds
Left: the sound, in pine. Middle: standard spelling. Right: meaning.
S1V sounds like b
The best-known northern feature, and the one southerners tease. Vinho becomes binho.
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| binho | vinho | wine |
| bamos | vamos | let's go |
| a bida | a vida | life |
NoteStart here. It places you north of the Douro at once.
S2Ou stays a real diphthong
Lisbon and Brazil flatten ou to a single o. The north keeps both sounds.
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| pôuco | pouco | a little |
| ôuro | ouro | gold |
| a rôupa | a roupa | clothes |
S3Ei stays ei
Unlike Lisbon, ei is not pushed to ai.
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| leite | leite | milk (not laite) |
| primeiro | primeiro | first |
S4Ch as tch
Older and rural speakers in the north keep an old tch sound for ch.
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| tchave | chave | key |
| tchuva | chuva | rain |
NoteHeard less in the city centre today, but still a marker.
S5Unstressed vowels still vanish
Shared with all of Portugal.
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| p'quenu | pequeno | small |
| d'pois | depois | afterwards |
Words and phrases
12 entries, each tagged by register.
W1Reactions
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| carago! | caramba! | damn! wow! (the Porto word)casual |
| à brava | muito | loads, a lotcasual |
| ganda | grande | big, great (ganda jogo)casual |
| morcão | morcão | fool (Porto)insult |
W2Café and table
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| o cimbalino | a bica (Lisbon) | espresso (Porto)neutral |
| o fino | a imperial (Lisbon) | a small draught beer (Porto)neutral |
| a francesinha | a francesinha | layered meat sandwich under cheese and sauceneutral |
| as tripas | as tripas | tripe stew, the city dishneutral |
| a sertã | a frigideira | frying panneutral |
W3People and places
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| os tripeiros | os portuenses | people from Porto (they ate the tripe)casual |
| a Ribeira | a Ribeira | the old riverside quarterneutral |
| Gaia | Vila Nova de Gaia | across the river, where the port lodges areneutral |
Everyday lines
Scenes and the lines that go with them.
L1At the café
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| Um cimbalino e um fino, se faz favor | Um café e uma imperial, por favor | an espresso and a small beer, please |
| Uma francesinha com batatas | Uma francesinha com batatas | a francesinha with chips |
| Quanto é? | Quanto é? | how much is it? |
L2São João
The night of 23 June, the city's biggest party.
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| os martelinhos | os martelinhos | plastic hammers everyone hits each other with |
| as sardinhas assadas | as sardinhas assadas | grilled sardines |
| Vamos às fogueiras | Vamos às fogueiras | let's go to the bonfires |
L3Around the river
| How it's said | How it's written | English |
|---|
| Atravessamos a ponte | Atravessamos a ponte | we'll cross the bridge |
| Vamos às caves | Vamos às caves | let's visit the port lodges |
| Que binho bom | Que vinho bom | what good wine |