Introduction

Portuguese has both a formal and informal way of addressing people. This makes asking the simple question "How are you?" slightly more complicated than in English. You need to know which "you" to use:

• voce the Brazilian informal or the European formal,

• o senhor or a senhora the Brazilian formal, equivalent to "sir" or "madam", or

• tu the European informal.

In Brazil, voce is used among close friends, family, and people younger than you. In Portugal it is used like o senhor or a senhora are in Brazil, which is with strangers - or even acquaintances - and people older than you. Tu is generally only used in Portugal - but also certain parts of Brazil - is used in the informal context.

It is very important to use which level of formality to use. It can be very insulting to someone to address them incorrectly.

To learn more about voce, o senhor, o senhora, and similar words, check out the subject pronouns lesson.