Greetings and Farewells

Greetings are the first thing you say and usually the first thing a native speaker will hear from you — which means they are the first place your Portuguese either sounds natural or gives you away. European Portuguese has a richer greeting inventory than English, with distinct words for different times of day, different levels of formality, and different kinds of farewell (some of which are much more emotionally loaded than their apparent English equivalents).

This page walks through the greeting repertoire by time of day, by register, and by purpose, and covers the farewells from casual até logo up to the weighty adeus.

Greetings by time of day

Unlike English, which mostly uses a generic "hi" or "hello" all day, PT-PT insists on marking the time of day in its standard greeting. Getting this right is easy and makes you sound immediately more native.

Three notes on this table that English speakers regularly get wrong.

First, the cutover to boa tarde happens at noon, not in the late afternoon like English "good afternoon". If you walk into a shop at 12:05, you say boa tarde.

Second, bom dia is masculine (bom) and boa tarde/noite are feminine (boa) because dia is masculine and tarde and noite are feminine. The mismatch trips up learners who expect a single adjective form.

Third, boa noite works for both hello and goodbye in the evening. Walking into a late dinner you say boa noite; leaving at midnight you also say boa noite. English speakers who reserve "good night" only for bedtime are surprised by this.

Greetings by register

Beyond the time-of-day trio, PT-PT has a set of more neutral or more informal greetings.

Olá — neutral, all-purpose

Olá is the workhorse. It is neither formal nor informal, usable with nearly anyone at nearly any time. Think of it as English "hello" without the slight coldness that "hello" sometimes carries on the phone. Olá combines naturally with time-of-day greetings: olá, bom dia.

Viva — warm and friendly

Viva is a warm, slightly old-fashioned but still widely used greeting, especially among men and in more provincial settings. It feels friendly and welcoming, never cold. In cafés and shops you'll hear it a lot.

Oi — informal, BR-leaning

Oi is the standard informal hello in Brazilian Portuguese. In PT-PT it exists but is flagged: younger speakers use it casually, but older speakers perceive it as either childish or as a Brazilianism. It is fine among friends but out of place in a shop or office.

Regional variations

In the north (Porto and surroundings), bom dia is sometimes contracted to bom diaaa with a lengthened final vowel, and you'll hear tudo bem? answered with a warm tá-se bem. These are not separate words, just regional flavors of the same greetings.

Asking how someone is

Once you've greeted, PT-PT convention usually expects a follow-up how are you? question. The register map here is richer than English.

The PT-PT-specific está tudo? is worth noting. It is the shortened form of está tudo bem? ("is everything well?") and carries a specific informal, friendly feel. Brazilians don't usually say it this way, so hearing it marks the speaker as European.

The standard responses are bem, obrigado/obrigada ("well, thank you"), tudo bem, vai-se andando ("plodding along", literally "one goes walking"), or the resigned classic vai-se indo ("it's going").

Physical greetings: kisses and handshakes

Greeting customs in Portugal are warmer than in England or Germany but more restrained than in Spain.

• Men greeting men: handshake in formal contexts; a one-armed hug (abraço) among friends; kisses only with close family.
• Women greeting women: two kisses, one on each cheek, starting with the right cheek (so your heads tilt left first). This applies to new introductions too, not only friends.
• Men greeting women: two kisses in informal/social contexts; a handshake in professional contexts. Follow the woman's lead.

The kisses are air kisses with cheek contact, not wet — the sound should be a light mwah near the ear, not on the cheek. Getting this wrong (too many kisses, wrong side first, actual lip contact) will make everyone uncomfortable.

Farewells

Portuguese farewells carry more information than English "bye" — they tell the listener when you expect to see them again.

Short-term: até

The até ("until") family is the workhorse. The word you pair with it tells your interlocutor when you'll be back.

Tchau — informal, borrowed

Tchau (sometimes written chau) is borrowed from Italian ciao via Brazilian Portuguese. In PT-PT it is informal but widespread, common in texting and casual talk. It does not carry any finality — you can say tchau to someone you'll see in an hour.

Adeus — the heavy farewell

This is the word that surprises learners most. Adeus literally means "to God" and historically was said when you expected you might never see the person again. It retains that weight today: saying adeus to a friend you'll see tomorrow sounds theatrical, resigned, or hurt, as if you're breaking up or moving away.

Use adeus for:

• Genuine farewells at airports, train stations, emigrations.
• Dramatic contexts (a breakup, a final goodbye).
• End of a relationship with a shop, doctor, teacher you won't return to.

Do NOT use adeus as a casual "bye". Use tchau or até logo instead.

Boa noite as farewell

When you leave at night, boa noite serves both as the polite goodbye and, in the right context, as "goodnight, sleep well". At the end of an evening out, you can chain them: Boa noite, até amanhã!

Closings in written messages

Text messages and emails have their own closing conventions.

Common exchanges: full scripts

Here are three canonical exchanges you will use dozens of times a week.

Walking into a café

Meeting an old acquaintance

Ending a phone call

Common Mistakes

Key Takeaways

For the broader framework these greetings fit into, see pragmatics overview; for how the address system affects every greeting you make, see formal vs informal register; for politeness markers like se faz favor that often accompany greetings, see politeness strategies.