Portuguese adverbs are words that modify, describe or add more information to verbs, adjectives, or even other adverbs.
Think of them as the words that add colour and detail to your sentences. They tell you how, when, where, and to what extent something is happening.
In English, we have many adverbs that end in -ly (like “quickly” or “slowly”), but also many that don’t (like “here”, “now”, or “very”).
Portuguese is very similar. Many adverbs end in -mente, but a lot of common ones are single words you just have to learn.
Don’t worry, it’s simpler than it sounds. In the next section, I’ll show you how they’re formed, and you’ll see that Portuguese adverbs work in much the same way as they do in English.
Most Portuguese adverbs are formed by following a simple rule.
The general rule is to take the feminine singular form of an adjective and add the ending -mente.
Let’s see this in action:
If the adjective doesn’t have a separate feminine form (i.e., it ends in -e or a consonant), you just add -mente to the end of it.
Of course, just like in English, not all adverbs follow this pattern. You can’t just add -ly to every English word, and the same is true for -mente in Portuguese. Many of the most common adverbs are unique words.
Below, you’ll find a list of the most essential Portuguese adverbs to get you started.
I’ve broken them down into different types to make them easier to learn and remember.
Portuguese adverbs:
These adverbs are crucial. They help you place events in time, tell stories, and make plans. You’ll use these every single day.
| Adverb | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| hoje | today | Vou à praia hoje. (I’m going to the beach today.) |
| amanhã | tomorrow | Amanhã eu tenho uma reunião. (Tomorrow I have a meeting.) |
| ontem | yesterday | Nós fomos ao cinema ontem. (We went to the cinema yesterday.) |
| anteontem | the day before yesterday | Eles chegaram de viagem anteontem. (They arrived from their trip the day before yesterday.) |
| agora | now | Preciso de ir agora (EP) / Preciso ir agora (BP). (I need to go now.) |
| já | already | Você já comeu? (Did you eat already?) |
| logo | soon | Chegarei logo a casa (EP) / Chegarei em casa logo (BP). (I will arrive home soon.) |
| tarde | late | Ela chegou tarde ao nosso encontro. (She arrived late to our meeting.) |
| cedo | early | Eu, por outro lado, cheguei cedo. (On the other hand, I arrived early.) |
| depois | after/later | Vamos conversar depois. (Let’s talk later.) |
How often do you do something? These adverbs will help you explain your habits and routines.
| Adverb | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| sempre | always | Eu sempre bebo café de manhã. (I always drink coffee in the morning.) |
| nunca | never | Eles nunca foram a Portugal. (They have never been to Portugal.) |
| frequentemente / muitas vezes | often/frequently | Ele vai ao ginásio frequentemente. (He goes to the gym often.) |
| às vezes | sometimes | Às vezes, eu gosto de caminhar no parque. (Sometimes, I like to walk in the park.) |
| raramente / raras vezes | rarely | Ela raramente come doces. (She rarely eats sweets.) |
| geralmente / normalmente | usually/normally | Geralmente, não trabalho aos domingos. (I usually don’t work on Sundays.) |
| diariamente | daily | Eu leio as notícias diariamente. (I read the news daily.) |
| semanalmente | weekly | Temos uma reunião de equipa semanalmente (EP) / Temos uma reunião de equipe semanalmente (BP). (We have a team meeting weekly.) |
| mensalmente | monthly | Pagamos a renda (EP) / o aluguel (BP) mensalmente. (We pay the rent monthly.) |
| anualmente | annually | A conferência acontece anualmente. (The conference happens annually.) |
These adverbs help you specify the location of something. They answer the question “Where?”.
You’ll notice some of these words also function as prepositions, which is perfectly normal in both Portuguese and English.
| Adverb | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| aqui / cá | here | Pode sentar-se aqui. (You can sit here.) |
| aí / ali / lá | there / over there | A minha casa é ali, no fim da rua. (My house is there, at the end of the street.) |
| em algum lugar / nalgum lugar | somewhere | Deixei as minhas chaves em algum lugar. (I left my keys somewhere.) |
| em nenhum lugar / em parte nenhuma | nowhere/anywhere | Não o encontrei em parte nenhuma. (I didn’t find it anywhere.) |
| perto | near | A farmácia fica aqui perto. (The pharmacy is near here.) |
| longe | far | Ele mora longe da cidade. (He lives far from the city.) |
| embaixo / abaixo | downstairs/below | Por favor, espere lá embaixo. (Please, wait downstairs.) |
| em cima / acima | upstairs/above | As crianças estão a brincar lá em cima. (The children are playing upstairs.) |
| atrás / detrás | behind | O cão está atrás da porta. (The dog is behind the door.) |
| em frente / defronte | in front | O café fica em frente ao cinema. (The cafe is in front of the cinema.) |
This is where you’ll find most of the -mente adverbs. This category describes how an action is performed.
| Adverb | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| bem | well | Ela canta muito bem. (She sings very well.) |
| mal | badly | Eu, por outro lado, canto mal. (On the other hand, I sing badly.) |
| devagar | slowly | Fale mais devagar, por favor. (Speak more slowly, please.) |
| depressa | quickly | Ele come sempre muito depressa. (He always eats very quickly.) |
| cuidadosamente | carefully | Leia o documento cuidadosamente. (Read the document carefully.) |
| facilmente | easily | Ele resolveu o problema facilmente. (He solved the problem easily.) |
| silenciosamente | silently/quietly | Ele entrou no quarto silenciosamente. (He entered the room quietly.) |
| lentamente | slowly | O carro movia-se lentamente no trânsito. (The car moved slowly in the traffic.) |
| juntos | together | Vamos ao cinema juntos. (Let’s go to the cinema together.) |
| sozinho / a sós | alone | Ele prefere viajar sozinho. (He prefers to travel alone.) |
These adverbs tell you to what extent something is done. They’re intensifiers that are extremely common in everyday conversation. You probably know a few already!
| Adverb | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| muito | very/a lot | Estou muito cansado. (I’m very tired.) |
| bastante | quite/enough | Está bastante calor hoje. (It’s quite hot today.) |
| pouco | little | Ele estuda pouco. (He studies little.) |
| extremamente | extremely | Estamos extremamente gratos. (We are extremely grateful.) |
| mais | more | Eu preciso de mais tempo. (I need more time.) |
| menos | less | Você devia trabalhar menos. (You should work less.) |
| demasiado / demais | too (much) | Você fala demais! (You talk too much!) |
| tanto | so much | Não sabia que ele tinha tanto dinheiro. (I didn’t know he had so much money.) |
| quase | almost | Eu quase perdi o autocarro (EP) / ônibus (BP). (I almost missed the bus.) |
| tão | so | Ele é tão inteligente! (He is so smart!) |
As the name suggests, these adverbs express uncertainty. Using them can sometimes require the subjunctive mood, especially when you want to express a hypothetical or doubtful situation.
| Adverb | Translation | Example |
|---|---|---|
| talvez | maybe | Talvez chova amanhã. (Maybe it will rain tomorrow.) |
| quiçá | perhaps | Quiçá ele venha à festa. (Perhaps he will come to the party.) |
| possivelmente | possibly | Possivelmente vamos viajar no verão. (Possibly we will travel in the summer.) |
| provavelmente | probably | Provavelmente chegarei um pouco atrasado. (I will probably arrive a little late.) |
| porventura | by any chance | Se porventura o vires, diz-lhe que liguei. (If by any chance you see him, tell him I called.) |
| acaso | perhaps / by chance | Acaso você tem o número dele? (Do you by any chance have his number?) |
The good news is that adverb placement in Portuguese is quite flexible and often similar to English.
Typically, an adverb comes right after the verb it is modifying.
Ela fala português bem.
However, you can also place it at the beginning of the sentence for emphasis.
Bem, ela fala português.
One specific rule to remember is when you use two adverbs ending in -mente together. In this case, only the second adverb takes the -mente ending. The first one reverts to its feminine adjective form.
Ele explicou tudo clara e concisamente.
Adverbs are everywhere in Portuguese. You’ll hear and use them in almost every conversation. Learning these common ones is a huge step toward making your Portuguese sound more natural and detailed.
Keep practicing, and you’ll be using them like a native in no time.
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