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Portuguese (Portugal)

When writing formal emails, such as contacting customer service or handling a business dispute, you need professional ways to connect your ideas. To link a situation to its logical conclusion, Portuguese uses the connector **pelo que**.

### Formal Conclusions with *pelo que*

Translating roughly to "therefore," "which is why," or "for which reason," **pelo que** joins a cause directly to its result. It is highly common in formal written Portuguese and is typically preceded by a comma.

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### Handling Returns and Exchanges

When dealing with online shopping returns, you will often need to state the problem before requesting an action. Useful formal verbs for these situations include **solicitar** (to request) and **anexar** (to attach), especially when dealing with receipts or invoices.

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### Apologizing and Resolving

If you are on the other side of the counter—or resolving a dispute—you will often need to acknowledge a problem. Formal Portuguese frequently uses the noun **o transtorno** (the inconvenience) when apologizing.

Combine this with the phrase **proceder a** (to proceed to) to professionally state how you are going to fix the issue.

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Therefore (pelo que)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

contraction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

phrase

prefix

prep

preposition

pron

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstratives and the verb to be (isto é, o, a)

Subject pronouns and negation (eu, não)

Yes/no questions and question words (quem, o que)

Plural pronouns, articles, and verbs (somos, são, os, as)

Origin and possession (de, do, da)

Introductions (chamar-se)

Indefinite articles (um, uma, uns, umas)

The verb to be for locations (estar)

Contrasting the two verbs to be (ser vs. estar)

Preposition for locations (em, no, na)

Numbers 0 to 10 (zero, um, dois)

The verb to have (tenho, tem)

Regular -ar verbs (falar, trabalhar)

Regular -er verbs (comer, beber)

Regular -ir verbs (abrir, partir)

My, your, and our (o meu, a nossa)

His, hers, and theirs (dele, dela)

Adjective agreement and placement

Days of the week (segunda-feira)

Months of the year (janeiro)

Counting by tens to 100 (trinta, quarenta...)

Telling time (é uma, são...)

Asking about time (quando, a que horas)

The verb to go (ir)

Prepositions of direction (a, para)

Preposition a contractions (ao, à, aos, às)

Prepositions of place (ao lado de, em frente de...)

Demonstratives (este, esse, aquele)

Contractions with demonstratives (neste, desse, daquele)

Asking which and how many (qual, quanto)

Plurals ending in -ão (-ões, -ãos, -ães)

Plurals ending in consonants (-ns, -is, -es)

The verb to like (gostar de)

The verb to need (precisar de)

The verb to want (querer)

The verb can or may (poder)

Expressing obligation (ter de)

Adverbs of degree (muito, pouco)

Quantifiers (muito, pouco)

Comparatives (mais... do que, menos... do que)

Equality comparisons (tão... como)

The preposition com (comigo, contigo)

Coordinating conjunctions (e, mas, ou, porque)

The preposition por (pelo, pela)

Double negation (nunca, nada, ninguém)

Present continuous (estar a)

Near future (ir)

Past tense of regular -ar verbs

Past tense of regular -er and -ir verbs

Past tense of ser and ir (fui, foi)

Direct object pronouns (me, te, o, a, nos, os, as)

Pronoun placement with negatives and questions

Greetings and courtesy (bom dia, obrigado)

Physical states with ter (ter fome, ter frio)

Asking the way (à direita, sempre em frente)

Colours (vermelho, amarelo, cor-de-rosa)

Money and shopping (custar, a moeda)

Getting around (o motorista, a paragem de autocarro)

Weather and seasons (faz calor, o inverno)

Omitting the subject pronoun

Where things are: ficar (Onde fica...?)

Richer questions: que + noun and é que

Numbers above 100 (cento e vinte, mil)

First-person sound changes (durmo, prefiro)

Advice and ability: dever and saber

Asking why: porquê and porque

When one thing happens: quando-clauses

Here and there: aqui, aí, ali (cá e lá)

Formal and plural possessives: o seu, o vosso

Irregular presents: ver, vir, dar

Present irregulars

Reflexive verbs (me, te, se, nos)

Stem-changing reflexives

Attached object pronouns (-lo, -la, -los, -las)

Nasal attached pronouns (-no, -na, -nos, -nas)

Pronoun placement with adverbs

Past tense of fazer, dizer, and trazer

Past tense of ter, estar, poder, and saber

Past tense of querer and vir

Past tense of ver, dar, and ler

Past tense reflexive verbs (-se)

Time elapsed in the past (há)

Question	Answer
the defect	o defeito
therefore / which is why (for which reason)	pelo que
to request	solicitar
The article had a defect, therefore I request the return.	O artigo teve um defeito, pelo que solicito a devolução.
the understanding	a compreensão
I could not use the product, therefore I request your understanding.	Não pude usar o produto, pelo que solicito a sua compreensão.
the exchange	a troca
the replacement	a substituição
The customer asked for the exchange, therefore we are going to handle the replacement.	O cliente pediu a troca, pelo que vamos tratar da substituição.
to attach	anexar
The product arrived damaged, therefore I attach the receipt for the exchange.	O produto chegou estragado, pelo que anexo o recibo para a troca.
We found a defect in the system, therefore we request help.	Encontrámos um defeito no sistema, pelo que solicitamos a ajuda.
the inconvenience	o transtorno
to cause	causar
We regret the inconvenience that we caused, therefore we thank you for your understanding.	Lamentamos o transtorno que causámos, pelo que agradecemos a sua compreensão.
The mobile phone is damaged, therefore I request the refund.	O telemóvel está estragado, pelo que peço o reembolso.
What would you do about this defect?	O que faria o senhor em relação a este defeito?
Wouldn't you say that this causes an inconvenience?	A senhora não diria que isto causa um transtorno?
The order had a delay, therefore I request a discount.	A encomenda teve um atraso, pelo que peço um desconto.
They cancelled the flight, therefore we demand the refund.	Eles cancelaram o voo, pelo que exigimos o reembolso.
I attach the invoice, therefore I appreciate your understanding.	Anexo a fatura, pelo que agradeço a sua compreensão.
Most of the customers had this problem, therefore we demand a solution.	A maior parte dos clientes teve este problema, pelo que exigimos uma solução.
The defect caused a huge inconvenience, therefore we cancelled the contract.	O defeito causou um transtorno enorme, pelo que cancelámos o contrato.
We will handle the replacement, therefore we ask for your understanding.	Vamos tratar da substituição, pelo que pedimos a sua compreensão.
to proceed to	proceder a
The item has a defect, therefore we proceed to the exchange.	O artigo tem um defeito, pelo que procedemos à troca.
We regret the inconvenience, therefore we proceed to the refund.	Lamentamos o transtorno, pelo que procedemos ao reembolso.