Learn Hardcore Portuguese (Portugal): Nós vamos ao banco amanhã.

In European Portuguese, people often drop nós in everyday speech and just say Vamos ao banco amanhã.
Using nós can sound a bit more explicit or emphatic, but it is not required.

What tense is vamos, and why does it refer to the future?

Vamos is the present tense of ir (to go), first person plural (we).

Conjugation of ir in the present (European Portuguese):

eu vou – I go
tu vais – you go (informal singular)
ele / ela / você vai – he / she / you go
nós vamos – we go
vocês vão – you go (plural)
eles / elas vão – they go

Even though vamos is present tense, in Nós vamos ao banco amanhã. the time word amanhã (tomorrow) makes it clearly future. This is very natural in Portuguese:

Amanhã almoçamos cedo. – Tomorrow we have lunch early.
Para a semana começo o curso. – Next week I start the course.

So the present tense is commonly used for planned future events when there is a time expression.

What is the difference between Nós vamos ao banco amanhã. and Iremos ao banco amanhã.?

Both are grammatically correct and refer to the future, but they differ in tone and frequency.

Nós vamos ao banco amanhã.
- Much more common in speech.
- Neutral, everyday way to say We are going to the bank tomorrow.
Iremos ao banco amanhã. (simple future of ir)
- Feels more formal, planned, or slightly more distant.
- More likely in writing, formal announcements, or careful speech.

In most everyday situations, a European Portuguese speaker would choose Nós vamos ao banco amanhã., not Iremos ao banco amanhã.

What does ao mean, and how is it formed?

Ao is a contraction of the preposition a (to, at) and the masculine singular article o (the).

a
- o → ao

So:

ao banco = a
- o banco → to the bank / at the bank

Other similar contractions:

a
- os → aos (to the, masculine plural)
a
- a → à (to the, feminine singular)
a
- as → às (to the, feminine plural)

Example:

Vou ao supermercado. – I go to the supermarket.
Vou à farmácia. – I go to the pharmacy.

Why is it ao banco and not no banco?

Ao banco and no banco use different prepositions and convey slightly different ideas:

ao banco = a
- o banco
- Focus on movement towards the bank: to the bank.
- Used with verbs of movement: ir ao banco, chegar ao banco.
no banco = em
- o banco
- Focus on location inside/at the bank: in the bank / at the bank.
- Used to say where someone or something is: estou no banco, trabalho no banco.

So:

Nós vamos ao banco amanhã. – We are going to the bank tomorrow.
Nós trabalhamos no banco. – We work at the bank.
Amanhã estou no banco de manhã. – Tomorrow I am at the bank in the morning.

For going there, ao is the natural choice.

Could I say para o banco instead of ao banco?

You could say Nós vamos para o banco amanhã., and it would still be understood as We are going to the bank tomorrow.

Differences in nuance (especially in European Portuguese):

ir ao banco
- Very standard expression for going to the bank (typically to do something and then leave).
- Slightly more idiomatic and common.
ir para o banco
- Often suggests going to stay there for some time, or going there as a destination rather than just a quick visit.
- More often used when talking about going somewhere to remain there (e.g., ir para casa, ir para o trabalho).

In practice, with banco, ir ao banco is the default, most natural choice.

How do I know that banco is masculine and takes o?

In Portuguese, every noun has a grammatical gender (masculine or feminine). Banco is masculine, so it uses:

o banco – the bank
um banco – a bank

There is no fully reliable rule to guess gender just from spelling, but many nouns ending in -o are masculine, and this is true for banco.

Examples with similar pattern:

o carro – the car
o livro – the book
o emprego – the job

You generally learn the article together with the noun:

o banco (masc.)
a loja (fem.)
o hospital (masc.)
a escola (fem.)

Can the word amanhã move in the sentence, and does it change the meaning?

Yes, amanhã (tomorrow) is a time adverb and is quite flexible in position. These are all natural and keep the same basic meaning:

Nós vamos ao banco amanhã.
Amanhã nós vamos ao banco.
Amanhã vamos ao banco.
Vamos ao banco amanhã.

Differences:

Putting amanhã first (Amanhã vamos ao banco) can slightly emphasize the time.
Dropping nós (Amanhã vamos ao banco) is very common in speech.

There is usually no comma between amanhã and the rest in short sentences like this in everyday writing:

Amanhã vamos ao banco.

How is amanhã pronounced in European Portuguese?

Amanhã has a nasal sound at the end, which is different from English.

Approximate pronunciation (European Portuguese):

a – like a in father, but shorter.
ma – like mah.
nh – similar to ny in canyon.
ã – nasalized a sound, produced through the nose; there is no final n sound.

Put together: a-ma-NHÃ, with stress on the last syllable: -nhã.

So you do not pronounce a clear final n. The tilde on ã (ã) indicates nasalization: air flows through the nose while pronouncing the vowel.

How is Nós vamos ao banco amanhã. pronounced in European Portuguese?

Very roughly (using English-like approximations):

Nós – like nawsh, with a bit of nasal quality.
vamos – VAH-moosh in European Portuguese (final -os often sounds like oosh / ush).
ao – a quick ow (as in how).
banco – BUN-koo (the first vowel is like the u in fun).
amanhã – ah-ma-NHÃ (as in the previous answer, nasal final vowel).

In connected speech it flows like:

Nós VAH-moosh ow BUN-koo ah-ma-NHÃ.

In casual speech, Nós may be dropped:

VAH-moosh ow BUN-koo ah-ma-NHÃ.

Is there a difference between European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese for this sentence?

The sentence itself works in both varieties:

Nós vamos ao banco amanhã.

Main differences:

Pronunciation
- European Portuguese: more reduced vowels, vamos → something like VAH-moosh.
- Brazilian Portuguese: clearer vowels, vamos → VAH-mos (like in Spanish).
Alternative subject
In Brazil, people very often say:
- A gente vai ao banco amanhã. – literally the people goes to the bank tomorrow, but used as we are going to the bank tomorrow.
In European Portuguese, a gente exists but feels more informal and less common than in Brazil; nós vamos (or just vamos) is the standard choice.

Structurally, though, Nós vamos ao banco amanhã. is correct and natural in both varieties.

Why is the verb ir followed by a (ao banco)? Can I ever say just ir banco?

With verbs of movement like ir (to go), Portuguese normally requires a preposition before the place:

ir a (go to)
ir para (go to, in order to stay)
ir em (go by, as a means of transport, e.g. ir em pé = to go standing up)

So you say:

ir ao banco – go to the bank
ir à escola – go to school
ir ao cinema – go to the cinema

You cannot say ir banco directly; that sounds incorrect. You need a (or another appropriate preposition), often contracted with the article:

ir ao banco (a + o)
ir à farmácia (a + a)
ir aos correios (a + os)

How would I make this sentence negative or turn it into a question?

Negative

Put não before the verb:

Nós não vamos ao banco amanhã. – We are not going to the bank tomorrow.
More natural in speech (dropping nós): Não vamos ao banco amanhã.

Yes–no question

In spoken Portuguese, you mainly change intonation and keep word order:

Nós vamos ao banco amanhã? – Are we going to the bank tomorrow?
Or (more common in speech): Vamos ao banco amanhã?

In writing, the question mark and context indicate it is a question; no extra words like do or are are added, unlike in English.

Does banco only mean bank, or can it mean something else?

Banco has at least two common meanings:

bank (financial institution)
- Vou ao banco. – I am going to the bank.
bench (a long seat)
- Sentei-me no banco do jardim. – I sat on the bench in the garden.

In Nós vamos ao banco amanhã., the context (and the typical collocation ir ao banco) strongly suggests the financial meaning. If you needed to be very clear in another context, you could specify:

Vamos ao banco do jardim. – We are going to the bench in the garden.
Vamos ao banco amanhã para tratar de dinheiro. – We are going to the bank tomorrow to deal with money.