One thing I really enjoy about running In Love With Lisbon is checking my blog stats. I love to see how people are using the site, what interests them, what people link to and how people find me. I also get a lot of inspiration by looking at the keywords people use that bring them to here. One very commom search term is “Portuguese Love Phrases”.
I decided to get in the Valentine’s spirit and make a video of a selection of phrases to whisper in your loved one’s ear. Below you will find the phrases with sound files that I use in the video. To see the video click here.
I would love to hear of any other phrases you can think of (nothing too naughty please) so feel free to put them in the comments. Comments from European native speakers are also very welcome!
Lisbon is the most beautiful place to visit for a romantic weekend away. I noticed that Go Lisbon have a lovely blog post on romantic places to visit so I encourage you to take a look there as well. I wholeheartedly agree with them that if you and your beloved are taking a Lisbon break this week you must make a visit to Sintra.
Now for all you princesses and knights in shining armour, here are the sweet nothings…
Love is in the air
O amor está no ar
I’m in love
Estou apaixonada (said by a woman)
Estou apaixonado (said by a man)
I like you
Eu gosto de ti
You are beautiful (said to a woman)
Você é linda
You have a beautiful smile (said to a man)
Tens um sorriso lindo
I adore you
Eu adoro-te
You are my love
Tu és o meu amor
I want to make love with you
Eu quero fazer amor contigo
I want to be with you forever
Quero estar contigo para sempre
I miss you
Sinto saudades
Every moment with you is magical
Todo momento com você é mágico
I always think of you
Penso sempre em você
I still remember our first kiss
Ainda me lembro do nosso primeiro beijo
I will always remember you
Eu vou sempre me lembrar de você
I love You
Amo-te
I love you with all my heart
Amo-te com todo meu coração
You are the love of my life
Tu és o amor da minha vida
Gostosa.
Obrigada SeePortugal 🙂
By the way – you are the 100th comment on my blog!
what does it mean if a Brazilian guy says to you, “te me juntos?” is it friendly, or more than friendly? Trying to understand the context besides the face value interpretation of you and me together. Please help! thanks!
amo te
Hi, I want to get a tattoo saying “My Heart Is Yours Forever” in Portugese. Can you help with the translation?? Thanks
O meu coração é teu para sempre!
Sandro, in correct grammar it would be:
Meu coração é sempre seu
Love these! Thanks for the handy reference. I’ll try them out on my man….
Hi Cynthia
Wishing you both lots of love 🙂
Hi Lily, awesome idea to give tips on how to love in portuguese- anyone that brings love in his bagage when visiting Lisbon is surely loved in return!
Please allow me one correction though: you have used Você which in Portugal is best applied in formal conversations with people you have no intimacy or just met, which might be complicated if you plan to entertain an amourous conversation. If you have intimacy or feel close to the person you address her/him with the second person- Tu. In brasil you would use Você instead.
You are beautiful (said to a woman)
Tu és linda
You have a beautiful smile (said to a man)- but also to a woman, smile is masculine, therefore does not matter to whom you say it
Tens um sorriso lindo
I miss you
Sinto saudades- tuas ( saudades is a very general feeling, one must precise what is longed for)
Every moment with you is magical
Todo momento contigo é mágico
I always think of you
Penso sempre em ti
I will always remember you
Lembrarei-me sempre de ti
And 2 new ones:
I’m dying to kiss you
Morro por te beijar
Would you be my sweetheart?- I know it’s old fashioned, but still makes a furore. ;))
Queres ser a minha namorada?
Great site Lily, truly a pleasure to browse the so many interesting, funny and dreamy pages. It is a pleasure to read your reviews and revisit Lisboa with you.
Hugs
xxxx
Marpessa
Marpessa,
I always sign off to my kids with “Love You Forever”. My daughter wants me to tell her how to write/say it in Portuguese. My grandparents came from Lisbon and my Mom passed on last year. Could you tell me the how it is said in Portuguese (Portugal)
Thanks
Lynne
Hi Lynne – ‘Love you forever’ is Amo-te para sempre 🙂
Kids though is plural so would it change the sentence to accommodate the plural (such as, “I love you both” or “I love you mom & dad”?)
Hi Marpessa
Thankyou so much for your corrections and advice. I am always learning and there is so much more to learn. I did mix in a little Brazilian Portuguese here I realise. And yes I know now that using Você might be funny 🙂
Thankyou also for the extra phrases – nothing wrong with a little old fashioned romance now and then!
Hi Lily,
You will never know I much you have brought into my life…
I’m just trying to learn a litlle bit of portuguese (I love the sound of some words) and I found your website. As I cliked on this litlle window showing this little video of Madredeus…I litterally fell in love with this beautiful voice.
Now I own all the discs of this marvelous musical group and I discovered Theresa Salgueiro’s voice, wich I can say is one of the most beautiful voice I’ve ever heard…
Thanks so much for posting this little square on your website, it helped me made a wonderful discovery.
Hi kingkyor
Thankyou for your lovely comment 🙂 I am so glad you have discovered Madredeus. I felt much the same when I first heard them! Have you seen the film ‘A Lisbon Story?’. It features the band and their music all the way through and Teresa is a main character in the story.
Hi Lily,
I will surely follow your suggestion and try to get this film. I saw your post on this film and it seem interesting. I know that the video on your website is a scene of this film.
Thanks again for your kindness.
How do you say “My Life, My Love” in Portuguese?
~Thanks
Hi Tony
“A minha vida, o meu amor” x
obrigadi lily
I would like to know how to say
you been on my mind all day and night
Hi Erni
This would be something along the lines of
“Estás na minha cabeça todo dia, toda noite”
Hi thank you so much for these new ones! I fell in love with a Brazilian man and now finding myself trying to learn something else besides the curse words I have picked up!
Hi Lucy
Thanks for your comment. Glad to hear you enjoyed the video. Lol – yes curse words are all too easy to pick up! Have fun learning Portuguese 🙂
Wow Lily, Obrigada muito for this site! I have more time so I am exploring. This section is just what I needed! Now I can really show her how serious I am.
Even if nothing works out with my girlfriend I have a totally new outlook on Lisboa. I love Fado. I was first introduced to Amália. I have also become a great fan of Mariza, especially after a friend sent me a clip of her singing ‘O gente da minha Terra’! I now have the DVD of ‘Concerto em Lisboa’ and several cds. I wonder who is the next fadista to add to the list.
I can see that I am going to get seriuosly addicted to this site!
Hi Mike 🙂
Really glad you are enjoying the site. I seriously need to go back to Lisbon to get more material. I cannot wait until I get back there! Fado is wonderful. Mariza has an amazing voice. If you enjoy her, check out Madredeus and Deolinda, you might like them too.
By the way, just so you know for the future, a guy would say ‘obrigadO’ and a woman says ‘obrigadA’. Took me a while to remember that one haha.
Sim! I did wonder if it was the speaker rather than the person one was speaking to. I am going there sometime in December if things work out!
Obrigadoooooooooooo.
Now I have a request. I have recorded a Portuguese voice message on my mobile. That should help! BUT, having used an online translator the message is probably a bit mutilated. Could I be really cheeky and ask if you would run up one for me! It’s probably easier just to send the English text but I promise to extract a copy of the Portuguese original so that you can compare the two here and readers can fall about laughing later!
“Hi, you have reached Mike’s voicemail for mobile number…………I am sorry that I can’t speak with you at the moment but if you leave your name and number I will call you as soon as I can. Thanks!”
Hi Mike
I’ll need to check with my Portuguese friend on that one as I’m not too sure of this tense – still learning myself! I’ll get back to you on this one x
Obrigado.
ps. I have ordered a Deolinda CD just to see what she’s like. Funny thing, Fado, even though I understand little Portuguese as yet, it is still very moving stuff!
Well, I didn’t thnk much of Deolinda. Mind you I have since found Ana Moura. Another stunning voice!.
Hi Mike,
Ana Moura does have a great voice. Maybe check out Sheila’s recommendation of Joana Amendoeira as well.
Hi Lily,
I love your blog, and I share with you a love of Lisbon and Portugal. On the subject of fado, I recently bought my husband a CD called “A flor da pele” by Joana Amendoeira, on the strength of a newspaper review. We’d never heard of her before, but now we’ve found her we plan to buy all her albums. See: http://joanaamendoeira.blogspot.com/2006/10/flor-da-pele-apresentao_28.html
Hi Sheila
Many thanks for the recommendation. I shall definately check her out. Your photos are stunning! I have posted a link from In Love With Lisbon’s Facebook page to your Portuguese garden set. Really beautiful.
Hi
Lily …I am Sonu…I want to learn portugese..please help me…how to start….?
I am on facebook as Sonu…
Thanks for your message, Lily, and for posting the link. My new website will be up and running in the next couple of weeks, featuring many more photos of Portuguese gardens 🙂
Obrigado Lily. I am off to Lisboa on Friday. I shall look out for this!
The phrases are very useful.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks Sami 🙂
hi 🙂
im learning portuguese now (p^.^) can u help me translate this:
” wherever i will go u will always be in my heart”
” when i first saw you u were just a stranger and now you’re a part
of my life that i will treasure until the end of time”
thank you mucho <3
Just had another thought for using Portuguese Phrases. I might try them as ringtones and SMS alarms. It would certainly grab attention!
Mike, that’s a brilliant idea! Atenção!
This is great! Im Puerto Rican and my girl is from Portugal n just adores her heritage. I’m happy to be able to drop little love sayings in her tongue. Thank you!!
helpfull.
obrigado
Thank you so much she cried when I was saying all those words.my gf she is Portuguese n she pregnant .i love her n I quero estar contigo para sempre
Thank you
Awww – that’s so cute John! Congratulations of the impending new addition to the family too 🙂
I’m learning everyday.she enjoy n lol at me everyday she keep on asking wr do I learn n I tell her dat I have a secret admire .can you pls help with this. Thank you for caring our babe,I will forever love,adore n respect u with all my heart.i love you
Comment *how to say..
i see lots of lady in my life. but you are one of the beautiful lady i have ever seen in my life.
Comment *muito obrigado lisbo. i apreciate ur help with portuguese and frm now on u can count on me in this website of yours thanks again.
hi i’m megumi from japan
I want to learn portuguese brazil.
Can you please help me.. Translate this..
” Grow old with you ”
” Always and Forever ”
Thank you in advance!
Obrigada amigos/amigas 💋
My boyfriend has an ex who is Brazilian. I have often heard him speak to her (they have kids together) and call her a word that sounds like “care-a-coshe”. Should I be concerned?
Hi Jane – I’m sorry, I’m not sure what that word would be. Brazilian pronunciation is a little different to European.
Hello, how do u say ‘are u ready for midnyt snacks with ice cream of your choice?’ In portugal
Nice and romantic….. I pray for god to give me a nice Portuguese woman, I want to be able to express myself in all this romantic way… am still searching, my email address is hopedlink@gmail.com
Hey!
I would like to make sure how the phrase “river of love” is written in Portuguese. I’m pretty sure it is “rio de amor” but I just want to make sure that its the Portuguese way, and not Brazilian.
Thank you!
Hello –
Would any of your love phrase in Portuguese (sound files) be available for use for use commercially? I’m an independent music artist and I’ve been searching everywhere for sounds just like these to incorporate into my work. Thank you.
I want to learn this fast, not only to write it, I wanna speak fluently in Portuguese… I need help
tnx a lot for the phrases at once i couldn’t speak to my love using her home language but now i find it easy to just drop a few hits using her home language.THANX A LOT LILY.
Is “amo-te” the proper way of saying “I love you” in Portugal Portuguese? Can I also say it like this? “Te amo com todo o meu coração”