Even School-Level French or Latin Can Help You with Portuguese

If you studied French or Latin (or even Spanish) at school, even just for a year or two, you might have more of a head start with Portuguese than you realise.

All three languages share Latin roots, and that creates patterns you can take advantage of.

Vocabulary Overlap

Portuguese and French (and Latin) share thousands of similar words. Here are a few examples:

• animal (Portuguese) – same in French and Latin

• cidade (city) – from Latin civitas, similar to French cité

• importante – nearly identical in all three languages

Grammar Familiarity

If you remember verb endings like:

• je suis / tu es (French)

• sum / es / est (Latin)

...you already know that verbs change depending on who is speaking and Portuguese works the same way.

Confidence Boost

That vague memory of Latin or French gives you the ability to recognise patterns and make educated guesses. Even if you're rusty, it's incredibly helpful.

Final Thought

You don’t need to be fluent in French or Latin to benefit from it.

Just having touched those languages makes Portuguese feel more familiar and that’s a big advantage.

Use what you know, however little it feels, and build on it.