How are you in Portuguese

How do you say "How are you?" in Portuguese – and how do you reply? This free lesson gives you some useful words and phrases to pack in your Portuguese language survival kit. You’ll learn the formal and informal Portuguese for asking people how they are – important stuff if you want to make the right first impression. And just in case you need to apologize, you’ll learn how to say sorry in Portuguese as well!

After you greet someone, you’ll want to ask how they are. Here are some common questions that follow a greeting.

Resources for further reading:

How to say "How are you?" in Portuguese

For friends or family:

Practice Your Pronunciation With Rocket Record

Rocket Record lets you perfect your Portuguese pronunciation. Just listen to the native speaker audio and then use the microphone icon to record yourself. Once you’re done, you’ll get a score out of 100 on your pronunciation and can listen to your own audio playback. (Use a headset mic for best results.) Problems? Click here!

Tudo bem?

How are you? / Everything well? (formal)

For strangers or more senior people:

Como vai? / Como está?

How are you?

What do you say if someone asks you how you are?

Bem, obrigado / Bem, obrigada

Well, thanks (male/female)

Muito bem

Very well

Na mesma

As always

Tudo na mesma

Everything is as always

Um pouco cansado / Um pouco cansada

A little tired (male/female)

Estou doente

I'm sick

Mais ou menos

So-so

Nada mal

Not bad

Mal

Bad

Tudo bem

All good

Vai tudo bem

Everything is going well

Beleza

Great

A common follow-up question is, "And you?", "E você?":

E você?

And you?

If someone tells you that he or she is not feeling well you could reply with the following…

Sinto muito

I'm sorry

Que pena!

What a shame!

If someone is feeling great, you can respond with the following…

Que bom!

That's good!

É bom saber!

Nice to know!

The above words are extremely important. From experience, I think that the most important thing to know in any language is how to say you’re sorry! Others disagree. They say that there are THREE important phrases that you absolutely must know. They are:

Sinto muito

I'm sorry

Eu te amo

I love you

Preciso de ajuda

I need help

Hmm, I can’t think of a situation in which I’d need to use all three, but I’ll leave that to your imagination! That’s it for today’s lesson.

Find out about asking Portuguese questions in this series of lessons. Make sure you listen to the audio and practice your Portuguese pronunciation. And do the Portuguese tests at the end of each lesson to reinforce your knowledge of Portuguese questions!

Até mais!

Tereza Pereira: Rocket Portuguese

Make It Stick With Rocket Reinforcement

Reinforce your learning from this lesson with the Rocket Reinforcement activities!