Yes, you can learn the Portuguese your real life needs. In Pois Pois you type any topic, from your trade to the paperwork at Finanças, and get custom Portuguese lessons, quizzes, games, dialogues or stories about it in European Portuguese, pitched at your level. That matters because recorded courses teach what someone thought to record, and nobody recorded the conversation you'll have at the boatyard in Funchal. You've probably lived the scene. You rehearse café phrases for weeks, then the plumber arrives, points at a pipe, and says something about the orçamento that your app never mentioned. You nod. He nods. Nobody knows what was agreed. Our course has 163 structured units, 135 of them running from A1 to B2, but no structure can predict your parish, your job or your boat. So we built a way to fill those gaps on demand, in pt-PT only, with Sandra, our AI tutor, correcting you along the way.
Why don't recorded courses teach the words for your job?
A recorded course is a set of decisions made in advance. Someone chose the restaurant scene, the train station scene and the hotel check-in, then pressed record. Those scenes are useful. They are also the same for everyone.
Your week isn't. A retiree in Tavira needs the vocabulary of the centro de saúde (health center). A remote worker in Porto needs to explain to the landlord that the esquentador (water heater) has given up. A family in Ponta Delgada needs to talk to the school about the horário (timetable).
This is why Pois Pois exists. We wanted a structured course that also bends toward the life you actually have, instead of the life a scriptwriter imagined.
How do custom Portuguese lessons work in Pois Pois?
You type a topic in plain English or Portuguese. Something like "talking to my builder about a delayed kitchen" or "the parish council certificate." The course then generates material about it at your level, in European Portuguese.
There are twelve generators, so the same topic can become:
- a short lesson with the key words and a grammar point
- a quiz to check what stuck
- a two-minute game
- a dialogue you can listen to with European neural voices at real speed
- a story or a conversation you practice with Sandra
Everything passes through a Brazilianism linter and a style contract: tu with pt-PT endings, estar a + infinitive (so estou a trabalhar, never estou trabalhando), and pronouns after the verb, as in diga-me (DEE-gah-meh), tell me. Sandra explains in English, corrects in European Portuguese, and marks homework answer by answer rather than handing you a score.
What does European Portuguese vocabulary for work look like?
It depends entirely on your work, which is the point. Here are two examples of what a typed topic might surface.
If you're renovating or working in the trades
- a obra (ah OB-rah): the building work, and also the chaos in your living room
- o orçamento (or-sah-MEN-too): the quote or estimate
- o canalizador (kah-nah-lee-zah-DOR): the plumber (in Brazil you'd hear encanador; in Portugal, you won't)
- Quando é que fica pronto?: When will it be ready?
If you keep a boat in Madeira, the Azores or Lagos
- o estaleiro (shtah-LAY-roo): the boatyard
- o casco (KASH-koo): the hull
- a amarração (ah-mah-rah-SOWNG): the mooring
A short exchange you could have by the water:
You: Bom dia. Pode ver o casco esta semana? Yard: Esta semana não dá. Para a semana, pode ser.
Não dá means "it's not possible," and para a semana means "next week." Learn both. You'll hear them often.
Can you learn Portuguese for Finanças paperwork?
Yes, and it's one of the most useful topics you can type. The tax office has its own small language, and knowing it turns a long morning into a shorter one.
Start with these:
- a marcação (mar-kah-SOWNG): the appointment
- a senha (SEN-yah): the ticket you take from the machine for the queue
- o NIF: your tax number, número de identificação fiscal
- o comprovativo (kom-proo-vah-TEE-voo): the proof or receipt
A typical opening at the counter:
You: Bom dia. Tenho uma marcação às dez. Staff: Tem o NIF? You: Tenho, aqui está.
If the answer is volte amanhã (come back tomorrow), at least you'll understand it the first time. Type "Finanças paperwork" and Sandra can walk you through a practice dialogue until the phrases feel routine. For the actual rules on your tax situation, check with Finanças or a qualified advisor; we teach the words, not the tax code.
Your parish, your church and your neighbors
Some of the most important Portuguese in your life happens close to home.
At the junta de freguesia
The junta de freguesia (ZHOON-tah d' freh-geh-ZEE-ah) is your parish council. Many newcomers visit for an atestado de residência (certificate of residence). Type "my junta de freguesia" and you'll get the vocabulary for that visit, at your level.
At mass
If you attend church in your village, you'll hear responses that no café lesson covers. When the priest says O Senhor esteja convosco (the Lord be with you), the congregation answers Ele está no meio de nós (He is among us). At the end, Ide em paz e o Senhor vos acompanhe (go in peace and the Lord be with you). Typing "what is said at mass" gives you a lesson you can practice before Sunday, so you're not the one mumbling half a beat behind.
Where newcomers live, and why local words matter
You're far from alone in needing this. Portugal's foreign-resident population reached 1,585,854 at the end of 2025, according to AIMA's Migration and Asylum Report 2025 as reported by CNN Portugal, September 22, 2026.
| Figure (Portugal, end of 2025) | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign residents in Portugal | 1,585,854 | CNN Portugal / AIMA |
| Foreigners as share of all residents | 13.9% | CNN Portugal / AIMA |
| Foreigners' share in Faro district (Algarve) | 34.5% | CNN Portugal / AIMA |
| Foreign residents in Lisboa district | 605,895 | Barlavento / AIMA |
| Foreign residents in Porto district | 167,498 | Barlavento / AIMA |
The life of a newcomer in Lagos is not the life of one in Lisbon or on São Miguel. Different jobs, different offices, different accents at the market. A lesson you type yourself fits where you actually are.
Does typing your own topics replace the CIPLE A2 track?
No. They work together. If you're heading toward Portuguese nationality, the application asks for proof of A2-level Portuguese, most commonly through a CIPLE A2 certificate or a PLA course certificate, as explained by EDPro PT. According to Portugalist, the CIPLE exam is run by CAPLE at the University of Lisbon and costs €72.
Our 16-unit CIPLE A2 track covers the exam's four task types, timed. The 12-unit Civics track covers history, geography, the Constitution and national symbols. Both are included in the same subscription. It's genuine preparation, not a promise of a result.
Requirements for residency and citizenship change, so always check AIMA and other official sources before you plan around them.
A quick recap and a challenge for this week
- Recorded courses teach what someone chose to record; your life needs more.
- Type any topic and get a lesson, quiz, game, dialogue, story or conversation in European Portuguese at your level.
- Useful today: orçamento, marcação, senha, não dá, para a semana.
Your challenge: pick the one situation this week that makes you reach for English. The builder, the junta, the boatyard. Type it in, do the dialogue twice, and try one phrase for real.
If you'd like to test it, you can try Pois Pois free for 7 days; the card isn't charged during the trial, and you can cancel in two clicks. Or set up the family plan at €25/month for up to four people, each with their own login, level and course, so the whole household learns together. The Individual plan is €13/month.
Pois pois. The Pois Pois team