Portuguese for work: 25 office words for meetings, emails and contracts

🇵🇹 PortugueseA2–B125 words

Whether you join a Portuguese team or freelance for local clients, the same words keep coming up: meetings, deadlines, contracts and payslips. This list gives you the vocabulary of an ordinary working week in Portugal, with polite phrases you can use in emails.

Where you will use it: Meetings, emails, contracts and the working week.

Portuguese for work and the office — The word list

Meanings and translations are in English.

Portuguese	Meaning and example
o escritório	Office.“O escritório fica perto da estação.”The office is near the station.
a reunião	Meeting.“A reunião começa daqui a dez minutos.”The meeting starts in ten minutes.
a data-limite	Deadline (exact date).“A data-limite para o relatório é sexta-feira.”The deadline for the report is Friday.
o contrato de trabalho	Employment contract.“Li o contrato de trabalho antes de assinar.”I read the employment contract before signing.
o recibo de vencimento	Payslip.“Recebi o recibo de vencimento por email.”I received my payslip by email.
o ordenado	Salary; pay.“O ordenado entra no fim do mês.”My salary comes in at the end of the month.
o horário de trabalho	Working hours.“O meu horário de trabalho é flexível.”My working hours are flexible.
as férias	Holiday; annual leave.“Vou marcar as férias para agosto.”I'm going to book my annual leave for August.
o colega / a colega	Colleague (male / female).“A minha colega está a atender um cliente.”My colleague is helping a client.
a chefia	Management; supervisors.“A chefia aprovou o novo horário.”Management approved the new working hours.
o cliente / a cliente	Client; customer (male / female).“O cliente pediu um orçamento por email.”The client requested a quote by email.
o projeto	Project.“Estamos a preparar um projeto novo.”We're preparing a new project.
a tarefa	Task.“Esta tarefa demora cerca de uma hora.”This task takes about an hour.
o relatório	Report.“Envio o relatório ainda hoje.”I'll send the report later today.
o orçamento	Quote; budget.“Pode enviar-me o orçamento até amanhã?”Could you send me the quote by tomorrow?
a candidatura	Job application; application.“Enviei a candidatura ontem à tarde.”I sent my application yesterday afternoon.
a entrevista de emprego	Job interview.“Tenho uma entrevista de emprego na segunda-feira.”I have a job interview on Monday.
o currículo	CV; curriculum vitae.“Atualizei o currículo esta semana.”I updated my CV this week.
a formação	Training.“A empresa oferece formação em informática.”The company offers IT training.
a impressora	Printer.“A impressora ficou sem papel.”The printer has run out of paper.
o ficheiro	File (computer).“Não consigo abrir este ficheiro.”I can't open this file.
o anexo	Attachment.“O documento segue em anexo.”The document is attached.
a videochamada	Video call.“Podemos falar por videochamada amanhã?”Can we speak on a video call tomorrow?
o teletrabalho	Remote working; working from home.“Estou em teletrabalho duas vezes por semana.”I work from home twice a week.
Com os melhores cumprimentos	Best regards (formal email sign-off).“Fico a aguardar a sua resposta. Com os melhores cumprimentos, Ana.”I look forward to your reply. Best regards, Ana.

Tips for learning Portuguese words

Learn the article with the nounWrite o comboio or a paragem, not just the noun: the article tells you the gender, and adjectives agree with it.
Listen before you speakEuropean Portuguese swallows many unstressed vowels, so words sound shorter than they look. Play the audio and repeat each example aloud.
Type the accentsIn WordNest a missing accent counts as a mistake. Typing água, não and amanhã correctly from the start saves relearning them later.

European, not Brazilian Portuguese

Portugal and Brazil share one language but differ in everyday words, pronunciation and grammar: a train is a comboio in Portugal and a trem in Brazil, and "I am eating" is estou a comer rather than estou comendo. WordNest teaches the Portugal variety — example sentences, pronunciation and AI corrections all follow Portugal's norms.

Add five or six of these words a day rather than the whole list at once, keep the example sentence on the card, and review them when they come due. WordNest schedules each word across seven growing intervals — same day, then 1, 3, 7, 14, 30 and 60 days — so the list is still with you months later. Read how spaced repetition works if you want the reasoning behind those numbers.

European vs Brazilian Portuguese: 50 everyday words that differ →How to learn European Portuguese with WordNest →

Questions about this list

Is this European or Brazilian Portuguese?

European Portuguese, as spoken in Portugal. Where Brazil uses a different word, the list gives the Portugal one — for example comboio instead of trem.

How do I practise Portuguese for work and the office?

Start with five words, listen and say each example aloud. Then recall the Portuguese word from its English meaning and review it over several days.

How many words are in this list?

This list contains 25 words and phrases with English meanings and example sentences. It is a starting set, not a complete course.

Study these words with spaced repetition

Create a free account, choose Portuguese as a study language and add these words to your own deck.