Basic words: numbers, time, verbs

What holds these lists together

These lists belong to no single area, which means they belong to all of them: pronouns, numbers, question words, the commonest verbs. Portuguese gives them two jobs that English handles otherwise. The subject pronoun is often left out, so the verb ending alone says who is speaking — falo is «I speak» with no «I» in sight. And the commonest prepositions fuse with the article that follows: no, da, pelo. One tense needs a warning of its own. Tenho comido muito does not mean «I have eaten a lot» but «I have been eating a lot lately», because the compound past describes something that keeps happening; the plain «I have eaten» is comi.

For example: em primeiro lugar (first of all), a tese (the thesis), flagrante (flagrant), por causa de (because of), espesso (thick), pousar (to put down)

Spread across the levels

The category runs across the levels — it is an area, not a difficulty. If you practise it, you can also choose a level at the top of the practice page and then get only the part that sits there.