Portuguese work vocabulary
These are the Portuguese words about work that come up most often in real speech, ranked by how often they appear in film and TV subtitles. Start with the first ones, such as capitão (captain), negócio (business), chamada (calling), because you will run into them on almost any page about the subject, and the rarer words make more sense once those are familiar.
Words in this list: 30
| # | Word | Pronunciation | Translation | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | capitão | /ka.piˈtɐ̃w̃/ | captain | A1 |
| 2 | negócio | /neˈɡɔ.si.o/ | business | A2 |
| 3 | chamada | /ʃaˈma.dɐ/ | calling | A2 |
| 4 | doutor | /dowˈtoɻ/ | doctor | A2 |
| 5 | escritório | /iʃ.kɾiˈtɔ.ɾju/ | office | A2 |
| 6 | advogado | /a.d͡ʒi.voˈɡa.do/ | lawyer | A2 |
| 7 | professor | /pɾo.fe.sˈoɾ/ | teacher | A2 |
| 8 | general | /ʒe.neˈɾaw/ | general | A2 |
| 9 | tenente | /teˈnẽ.te/ | lieutenant | A2 |
| 10 | comandante | /ko.mɐ̃ˈdɐ̃.te/ | commander | A2 |
| 11 | coronel | /ko.ɾoˈnɛw/ | colonel | A2 |
| 12 | sargento | /saɻˈʒẽ.tu/ | sergeant | A2 |
| 13 | oficial | /o.fi.siˈaw/ | officer | A2 |
| 14 | laboratório | /la.bo.ɾaˈtɔ.ɾi.o/ | laboratory | A2 |
| 15 | juiz | /ʒu.ˈiʃ/ | judge | A2 |
| 16 | soldado | /solˈda.du/ | soldier | A2 |
| 17 | carreira | /kaˈʁej.ɾa/ | career | B1 |
| 18 | central | /sẽˈtɾa.li/ | central | B1 |
| 19 | profissional | /pɾo.fi.si.oˈnaw/ | professional | B1 |
| 20 | enfermeira | /ĩ.feɻˈmej.ɾɐ/ | nurse | B1 |
| 21 | vinha | /ˈbi.ɲɐ/ | vineyard | B1 |
| 22 | familiar | /fa.mi.liˈaɻ/ | familiar | B1 |
| 23 | piloto | /piˈlo.to/ | pilot | B1 |
| 24 | lição | /liˈsɐ̃w̃/ | lesson | B1 |
| 25 | reserva | /ʁeˈzɛɻ.vɐ/ | booking | B1 |
| 26 | estúdio | /iʃˈtu.dju/ | studio | B1 |
| 27 | empregado | /ĩ.pɾeˈɡa.do/ | employee | B1 |
| 28 | psiquiatra | /ˌpsi.ki.ˈa.tɾɐ/ | psychiatrist | B2 |
| 29 | caçador | /ka.saˈdoɻ/ | hunter | B2 |
| 30 | embaixador | /ĩ.baj.ʃaˈdoɻ/ | ambassador | B2 |
How to make these words stick
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Sources: translations and pronunciation from Wiktionary (wikdict, CC BY-SA 3.0) and ipa-dict (MIT), frequency from OpenSubtitles (FrequencyWords).