How to build a phrase in Portuguese language? Well, first of all, I'll list some concepts in order to better explain you how do the Portuguese language works. 1. SVO Subject - The subject, in a phrase, is the main element of it (an probably a noun). For example: "The man eats a hotdog" - in this case, 'man' is our subject. Verb - Verbs are words describing actions the subject does. "The man eats a hotdog" - in this case, the action that 'man' performs is eating. So, 'to eat' is our verb here - and it's conjugated according to the English rules. Object - Usually, the complement of the above mentioned elements. An object could be a direct object or an indirect object. "The man eats a hotdog" - in this case, 'hotdog' is the passive agent concerning to the act of eating. It's our Object here. Portuguese language usually follows the SVO rule, which means, "Subject Verb Object". The most of our phrases are built following this rule - as in English. 'The man eats the hotdog' - 'O homem come o hotdog' Subject = The man - O homem Verb = to eat - comer Object = the hotdog - o hotdog (or 'cachorro-quente'). 2. Substantives (nouns) Substantives are words describing anything but actions performed by the subject. Basicly, they are names of things such as animals, plants, buildings, or names of feelings. Due to its wide abrangency, I recommend you to read a bit more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noun. Examples of nouns are: man, hotdog, (the) eating, dinner, umbrella. 3. Verbs Verbs are words that describe actions such as running, jumping, being, seeing. If you wanna read more about it, read the wikipedia article about verb: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verb Examples of verbs are: to eat, to jump, to be, to stay. 4. Articles Articles are parts of speech anouncing a noun, either defining or not its quantity. Examples of articles in english are: the, a, an. In Portuguese, the articles agree with nouns in gender and number. For example: Singular: O homem - The man (defined article, singular, masculine = o) A mulher - The woman (defined article, singular, feminine = a) Plural: Os homens - The men (defined article, plural, masculine = os) As homens - The men (defined article, plural, masculine = os) Well, let's stop here for now. I'll talk about other concepts later.