English Mistakes Brazilian Portuguese Speakers Can Fix

Missing subjects

Portuguese often drops the subject because the verb already shows who is speaking: "Está chovendo", "É importante", "Fui ao mercado". English almost always needs a subject, even an empty one.

• Not "Is raining" but "It is raining."
• Not "Is important to practise" but "It is important to practise."
• Not "Went to the market" but "I went to the market."

If your English sentence starts with "is" or a verb in a statement, check whether it needs "it", "there" or a person.

"Have" instead of "there is"

In Brazilian Portuguese, "tem" is used for existence: "Tem um restaurante aqui perto." Translated directly, this becomes "Have a restaurant near here", which is not correct English.

• "There is a restaurant near here."
• "There are many people at the party."
• "Is there a pharmacy nearby?"

Extra vowels at the end of words

Brazilian Portuguese rarely ends words with certain consonant sounds, so speakers often add a short vowel: "bookie" for "book", "Facebooki", "hotdogi". It can also appear at the start of words beginning with s plus a consonant: "istudy" for "study", "ispeak" for "speak".

Practise ending words cleanly. Say "book" and stop your voice right after the k. Then put it in a phrase: "a good book". For s-clusters, start with a long s: "ssss-tudy", then shorten it. Many learners find these small changes make their English sound noticeably clearer.

The -ed ending

Because Portuguese pronounces most written vowels, learners often say "work-ed" or "watch-ed" as two syllables. In English, -ed adds an extra syllable only after t or d sounds: "wanted", "needed". Otherwise it is just a t or d sound: "worked" sounds like "workt", "played" like "playd".

TH and the final M

Portuguese has no TH sound, so "think" may become "fink" or "tink", and "this" may become "dis". Place your tongue lightly between your teeth and blow air gently. Final M is another habit: in Portuguese a final m often nasalizes the vowel, so "time" or "room" may lose the closed lips at the end. Make sure your lips actually close.

Adjective order and plurals

In Portuguese, adjectives usually follow the noun and agree with it: "carros vermelhos". In English, adjectives come before the noun and never take a plural ending.

• Not "cars reds" but "red cars".
• Not "a house big" but "a big house".

Tense choices: present for duration

Portuguese uses the present for actions that started in the past and continue: "Moro aqui há cinco anos." English uses the present perfect.

• Not "I live here for five years" but "I have lived here for five years."
• Not "I study English since 2020" but "I have been studying English since 2020."

Questions and "do"

Portuguese forms many questions with intonation alone: "Você gosta de café?" English usually needs an auxiliary verb such as do, does or did.

• Not "You like coffee?" (acceptable only as a surprised echo) but "Do you like coffee?"
• Not "Where you work?" but "Where do you work?"

How to work on these errors

Do not try to fix everything at once. Pick two errors from this list that you recognize in yourself and focus on them for two weeks. Write five correct sentences for each, read them aloud, and listen for them when you speak. Keeping a simple mistake log, alongside self-study practice, helps you track progress. If you are also learning French, our guide to Portuguese and French false friends shows how the same transfer logic works across languages.

Hearing natural English regularly also helps, because your ear starts to expect subjects, auxiliaries and clean word endings. Structured online English lessons combine listening, speaking and correction so these patterns are reinforced.

Next step

Choose one error from this article and correct it in three sentences today. If you want to know which English skills to prioritize, the free placement assessment gives you a CEFR starting point.