What language is spoken in Brazil? Is Brazilian a language?
Short answer: Brazilians speak Portuguese. There is no separate “Brazilian language” — Portuguese is Brazil’s official language under its Constitution, and Brazilians call their language português. It does sound noticeably different from the Portuguese of Portugal, which is why people say “Brazilian.” Below: where that name comes from, six words that give Brazilian Portuguese away (with audio), the other languages of Brazil, and which Portuguese to learn.
Does Brazil have its own language?
No. Article 13 of Brazil’s 1988 Constitution says it plainly: “A língua portuguesa é o idioma oficial da República Federativa do Brasil” — “Portuguese is the official language of the Federative Republic of Brazil.” Schools teach in Portuguese, laws are written in it, and so are the news and the TV series. A Brazilian will say Eu falo português — “I speak Portuguese.” The word brasileiro means “Brazilian” — the people, the music, the food — but it is not the official name of the language.
The accurate term is “Brazilian Portuguese,” much like “American English.” Brazil and Portugal share the grammar and the core vocabulary, and written texts in the two countries are almost identical.
Why people say “Brazilian”
First, the difference from Portugal is easy to hear: different vowels, a different melody, different everyday words. If all you have heard is Brazilian speech, it is easy to take it for a language of its own.
Second, Brazil is huge. The 2022 IBGE census counted about 203 million people — roughly 20 times the population of Portugal (10.3 million in its 2021 census).
Third, Brazilians themselves argued about the name. In 1935 the city council of Rio de Janeiro, then the capital, voted almost unanimously that the city’s school textbooks and curricula would call the language “Brazilian” rather than “Portuguese.” The 1946 Constitution told the government to appoint a commission of teachers, writers and journalists to give its opinion on the name of the national language. In October 1946 the commission answered unanimously: língua portuguesa, the Portuguese language. The current 1988 Constitution keeps that name.
For the full comparison — pronunciation, você and tu, vocabulary, grammar — read Brazilian vs European Portuguese: what’s the difference? Here is just what stands out most.
Six words that give Brazilian Portuguese away
In each of these words the Brazilian variety is obvious right away. Tap the speaker to hear the Brazilian pronunciation (the audio is synthesized):
the name of Brazil's language. A Brazilian will tell you "Eu falo português" — "I speak Portuguese."
the everyday "you" in Brazil: the same word for a friend and for your boss. In Portugal, people close to each other more often say tu.
a final "-te" sounds like "chee": boa noite means "good evening" and "good night." That "chee" gives Brazilian speech away in the first sentence.
in Brazil, "cool, great." A final "-l" sounds almost like "oo" — another Brazilian giveaway.
the Brazilian word for a bus; in Portugal it's autocarro. There are dozens of everyday pairs like this.
pineapple, a word from the Tupi language. Pipoca (popcorn) and mandioca (cassava) also came into Brazilian Portuguese from Tupi.
Every reading rule, step by step: Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: the rules that matter.
Do Brazilians speak Spanish?
No. Brazil is the only country in South America whose official language is Portuguese; most of its neighbors speak Spanish. The two languages are related and similar in many ways, so a mix of Portuguese and Spanish words even has a colloquial name, portunhol. But they are two different languages, each with its own sounds and vocabulary. If you already speak Spanish, see what carries over and what you need to learn fresh: Learning Portuguese after Spanish.
What other languages are spoken in Brazil?
Portuguese is the country’s only official language, and under the Constitution basic schooling is taught in it. But Brazil is not monolingual. Before the Portuguese arrived, the Instituto Socioambiental estimates, close to a thousand Indigenous languages were spoken here, and some of them are still alive.
- Libras — Brazilian Sign Language. Law No. 10.436 of April 24, 2002 recognized it as a legal means of communication and expression and describes it as a language system with its own grammar. The same law says it does not replace written Portuguese.
- Indigenous languages. The 2022 IBGE census counted 391 Indigenous peoples and 295 Indigenous languages in Brazil. Of Indigenous people aged two or older, 474,856 speak or use one at home; the language with the most speakers is Tikúna, with 51,978. The Constitution guarantees Indigenous communities the right to use their own languages in basic schooling.
- São Gabriel da Cachoeira. In this municipality in Amazonas state the census recorded 36 Indigenous languages, more than anywhere else outside the state capitals. Since 2002 Nheengatu, Tukano and Baniwa have been official there alongside Portuguese, and Yanomami was added later. Nheengatu is the only living descendant of Old Tupi; in 2023 Brazil’s Supreme Federal Court released the first translation of the Brazilian Constitution into an Indigenous language — in Nheengatu.
- Immigrant languages. Some towns in the south and southeast have made the languages of European immigrants official: Pomeranian in Santa Maria de Jetibá (Espírito Santo, 2009); Talian, a Brazilian form of Venetian, in Serafina Corrêa (Rio Grande do Sul, 2009) and several other towns; Hunsrückisch, a German dialect brought by settlers, in Antônio Carlos (Santa Catarina, 2010).
These are languages of particular communities and regions. To live, study or work in Brazil, you need Portuguese.
Which Portuguese should you learn?
- If Brazil is your goal (moving there, a job, a degree, a Brazilian partner), learn Brazilian Portuguese.
- The Celpe-Bras exam is Brazil’s official exam for Portuguese as a foreign language, run by Inep together with Brazil’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More in What is the Celpe-Bras exam?
- In a translator, an app or your phone settings, pick “Português (Brasil)”, language code pt-BR. If there is only “Portuguese,” that works too: written texts in the two countries are almost identical.
Mnezo teaches Brazilian Portuguese only: the words, examples, audio and exams are all Brazilian. A good place to start: how to learn Brazilian Portuguese from scratch.
Learn the Portuguese that's spoken in Brazil
Mnemonic flashcards, synthesized Brazilian audio and spaced repetition — from your very first word.