Mastering Agreement and Disagreement in Portuguese

All the ways to agree and disagree in Portuguese

Do you wonder how to get your point across in Portuguese? Discover the fascinating ways Portuguese speakers confirm or reject ideas. In fact, Brazilians barely even utter the word “sim” in everyday speech, preferring to mirror the verb instead.

For example, someone offers you a tea:
“Você quer um chá?” (Do you want a tea?)
“Quero”. (I want)

To confirm Portuguese speakers mirror the verb in the affirmative. Much like this example of shunning the humble “sim”, Brazilians have devised a colourful array of responses to show both agreement and disagreement in Portuguese.

Explore our comprehensive guide below to learn how to express agreement or disagreement like a native, complete with examples and useful phrases. Not sure where you stand? Our guide also includes a section for staying impartial. Don’t let language barriers hold you back from expressing yourself in Portuguese!”

Contents

Agreeing To Do Something in Portuguese

Portuguese	Literal Translation	Meaning in English	Example
fechado	closed	it’s a deal	“Quer tomar uma hoje?” “Fechado”
combinado	combined	agreed	“Quer tomar uma hoje?” “Combinado”
certo	correct	ok or sure	“Posso mandar o projecto amanhã?” “Certo!”
beleza	beautiful	cool	“Churrasco esse sábado na minha casa?” “Beleza!”
tá bom	it is good	ok	“Estou atrasado então vamos encontrar às 7 horas?” “tá bom”

Declining To Do Something in Portuguese

Portuguese	Literal Translation	Meaning in English	Example
não vai dar	it will not give	it’s not going to work or it’s not possible	“Vamos para a festa do Miguel hoje á noite?” “Hoje não vai dá porque tenho que trabalhar cedo amanhã.”
na próxima	in the next	next time	“Quer assistir o jogo de futebol com a gente?” “Na próxima, vou para casa agora.”
essa vez não	this time no	Not this time	“Quer jogar tênis de novo no clube” “Esse vez não, porque não trouxe os sapatos certos”
não quero	I don’t want	I don’t want to (get straight to the point!)	“Quer pegar um Uber?” “Não quero, vou de ônibus.”

Agreeing or Disagreeing with an Opinion in Portuguese

Agree in Portuguese	English	Disagree in Portuguese	English
concordo	I agree	discordo	I disagree
estou de acordo	I agree	não concordo	I disagree
está certo	that’s right or correct	não está certo	that’s incorrect
tem razão	you’re right	não tem razão	you’re not right
faz sentido	it makes sense	não faz sentido	it doesn’t make sense
claro	of course