How To Say Thank You In Portuguese?

When travelling to Portugal, Brazil and other Portuguese-speaking countries, you will come across friendly people in different scenarios. Be it on the beach, at a restaurant or a hotel, you will have many interactions with locals, so you may wonder how to say thank you in Portuguese.

The truth is that there are different ways to say thank you in Portuguese, depending on the situation, how well you know the other person and how formal the situation is. The way a Portuguese man would say thank you to his wife or his child, can differ a lot from what you as a stranger would say.

You may also want to learn the different ways to answer to someone who says thank you to you in Portuguese. See them all here.

How To Say Thank You In Portuguese?

Let’s start with the most common expressions. But first, I need to explain the basics of the Portuguese language. In Portuguese, most female nouns end in A, whereas most male nouns (an object, a profession, an animal) end in O. The same applies to some adjectives and adverbs, because their endings are gender-specific. That is just the general rule. Why am I saying that? The reason is below.

Obrigado/Obrigada

Obrigado is the most common word to say thank you in Portugal and Brazil. Remember that I mentioned that male nouns and related words end in O? So obrigado is how a man would say thank you. A woman would say obrigada. To help you memorise it, just remember the English expression “much obliged”.

I had some non-native Portuguese speakers tell me that you would say obrigado ou obrigada depending on the gender of the other person. That is not correct, though. Just like in English “thank you” means that you are thanking the other person or “much obliged” means that you are obliged, the same happens in Portuguese. In other words, if you are a man, you will always say obrigado, and if you are a woman you will say obrigada.

The pronunciation of the initial O is very subtle, and nowadays it is very common to hear simply brigado(a). Even though that is not particularly correct, it is an acceptable way to say thank you.

Having said that, there are many other ways to say ‘thank you’ in Portuguese.

How Do You Say Thank You Very Much in Portuguese?

If you had a good experience at a restaurant, or someone was especially helpful, you may want to emphasise your gratitude. In that case, you can simply say muito obrigado or muito obrigada. Muito means a lot, much. As you can see, this is the literal translation to much obliged, remembering that both expressions come from the Latin word obligare.

In spoken language, you will not pronounce the two Os. You will pronounce it as one single word, muitobrigado.

Thank You Very Very Much in Portuguese

Let’s imagine you were invited by a Portuguese friend to a restaurant in Porto (by the way, click here to see my tips on what to do in Porto) and they get you the city’s most famous dish, called Princesinha – I will be honest with you, it is as tasty as it is fattening! If you really enjoyed your meal, the company and the Port wine at the end, you may want to show your host that you were extremely thankful for the experience. In this case, you will say muitíssimo obrigado(a). This is common both in Brazil and in Portugal.

When you say muitíssimo obrigado(a) shows the highest level of appreciation in a polite way. It can also be used in both formal and informal situations.

Gratidão

This is a tricky one, in fact. This is the Portuguese word for gratitude, and normally would never be used to say thank you. However, nowadays it is becoming a popular way to say thank you, especially in online conversations.

It is normally used when someone does something special for you, something that really surprised or impressed you. Towards the end of the conversation, you would write gratidão. You can also write that in a thank you card. It does sound quite schmoozy, so it is only used among people who are very close.

A similar expression that can be used verbally is estou muito grato(a) after someone does you a favour. It means I’m very grateful.

How To Say Thank You In Brazil

Are you wondering how to say thank you in Brazil? All the above suggestions are popular in Portugal, Brazil and any other Portuguese-speaking country. But there are a few different ways to say thank you in Brazil, more casual ones. These expressions are not used in Portugal. Whilst the Portuguese will understand you if you use them, I highly recommend you don’t, since they are too regional. Imagine how strange it would be for a foreigner to use a Texan expression in northern Scotland.

Valeu!

This is a very colloquial way to say thanks in Portuguese. This is used among friends and in casual situations. For example, you go to a party and some locals start talking to you and offer you a drink. In this situation, you can just answer valeu!

Brigadão!

This is another way to say thanks in Brazil and my favourite one. I use this a lot among friends or in casual situations.

In Portuguese, a common way to say that something is big, is adding –ão at the end of the word. For example mundo (world) becomes mundão (big world) or sofá becomes sofazão (a big sofa). Therefore, brigadão would be big thanks!

Brigadão is used in Brazil, but a similar version is used in Portugal. Whilst the Brazilians choose to say a big thank you, the Portuguese say brigadinho, a small, cute thank you.

Attention To Cultural Differences

In English it is common to thank someone in advance, for instance, you ask someone for a favour and thank them before they do what you asked. That is not common in Portuguese. Therefore, while in English you can say I’ll be grateful if you… there is no such an expression in Portuguese. You could say eu ficaria grato(a) se…, however it is not part of the culture and would be understood more as sarcasm than gratitude.

Also, if you go out with a Brazilian or a Portuguese person and they offer you a treat, never say obrigado before you have it. That will be understood as a no, thank you. As a rule of thumb, you should say thank you in Portuguese after you get something.