Importante: A Word You Already Know

Some Portuguese words are instantly recognisable and importante is one of them.

It shares its spelling and meaning with the English word important, because both come from the Latin root importare, meaning "to bring in" or "to signify".

🧠 How It’s Used

Portuguese uses importante in all the same ways English does:

• É muito importante praticar todos os dias.
  → It’s very important to practise every day.

• Tens uma reunião importante amanhã?
  → Do you have an important meeting tomorrow?

🗣️ Pronunciation Tip

In English, the word is stressed on the second syllable: im-POR-tant.

In European Portuguese, it's eem-por-TAN-tuh.

The final -e is pronounced like a soft “uh” sound — don’t drop it!

You can hear it here:
🔊 Importante – Infopedia pronunciation

🧭 Final Thought

These Latin-based words are great confidence boosters, they remind you that you’re not starting from scratch. You already know more than you think.