In this Portuguese lesson you will learn how to thank people correctly in Portuguese. After all, you want to express gratitude to your Brazilian friends and coworkers and say thanks in Portuguese correctly, right? To do that, you need to know whether to say obrigado por or obrigado para.
I often see advanced Portuguese speakers making mistakes when saying simple things such as “Thank you for the information” or “Thank you for helping me.” Now you will be able to always say thanks in Portuguese with confidence.
In the video, I will also give you and important pronunciation tips in the video.
Before we move on: If you are not sure whether you need to say Obrigado or Obrigada, then you need to first watch this other lesson here. You will know what you need to say and you will understand why.
Obrigado por or Obrigado para: Say Thank You Correctly in Portuguese
Why are Prepositions Difficult?
Learning how to correctly use prepositions is a challenge for language learners in general. The main reason it is so difficult is because in most of the cases you cannot simply translate these prepositions to your language. Different languages match verbs and prepositions differently. Therefore the same preposition will have different translations when used with different verbs.
My advice is to focus on one situation or one verb at a time. Today we will focus on expressing gratitude.
Pronunciation Tips in the Video
You already know from a previous lesson that women say Obrigada and men say Obrigado. To learn why this is so and to get a tip on how we pronounce these words colloquially in Brazil, please visit this previous lesson. It was my very first Youtube video lesson. It is funny to see how things have changed 🙂
In this lesson I give you two additional pronunciation tips that will certainly make your Portuguese sound much better. Watch the video lesson below for the tips, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Obrigado por or Obrigado para?
To thank people for something they have done for you, use the preposition Por.
I constantly see people saying things like:
- Obrigado para me ajudar. = Thank you for helping me.
Using the preposition Para with Obrigado is always incorrect. You need to use the preposition Por and you need to know how to contract it with the definite articles. It is easy. Let me show you.
How to use Obrigado followed by a verb
When you have a verb after the word obrigado, simply use the preposition por. Notice that we use the verb in the infinitive in Portuguese:
1) Obrigada por me ajudar com o relatório. = Thank you for helping me with the report.
2) Obrigada por organizar a reunião. = Thank you for organizing the meeting.
3) Obrigada por me dar uma carona. = Thank you for giving me a ride.
How to use Obrigado followed by a noun
When you have a noun after the word obrigado, you will likely also have a definite article before the noun. In this case, you need to use one of the contractions of the preposition por:
- Por + o = pelo
- Por + a = pelas
- Por + os = pelos
- Por + as = pelas
This is because the preposition por needs to contract with the definite article, and the resulting preposition needs to agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun that it refers to. It is easy. Let me deconstruct one example for you. Imagine you’d like to say:
- Thank you for the gift.
If you translate this literally from English to Portuguese, you will have:
- Obrigado por o presente.
Por + o will always contract into pelo. So you have:
- Obrigado pelo presente.
A little summary:
- Before a masculine singular noun, use pelo
- Before a feminine singular noun, use pela
- Before a masculine plural noun, use pelos
- before a feminine singular noun, use pelas
Let’s see additional examples:
1) Obrigado pela informação. = Thank you for the information.
2) Obrigado pelo conselho. = Thank you for the advice.
3) Obrigada pela carona. = Thank you for the ride.
4) Obrigado pelos livros. = Thank you for the books.
5) Obrigado pelas flores. = Thank you for the flowers.
What’s next?
Learn 12 ways to say You Are Welcome in Portuguese so you can reply like a Brazilian when people thank you in Brazil.
Obrigada por ler o blog e assistir à minha aula em vídeo. I hope this will make you confident when thanking your Brazilian friends and coworkers.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel for more Portuguese lessons.
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Obrigado pela aula. Mas eu não encontrei nossa, naquela licao. Ajude-me
I will publish a new lesson, ok? I need a few days.
I posted the new lesson today. Check out the blog.
Obregado pela lição..Ela foi útil.
Obrigada pelo comentário!
muito obrigado pelo esse lição
Oi, Thaer, obrigada pelo comentário.
An interesting thing about your sentence. You can say: Obrigado pela lição. Ou: Obrigado por essa lição.
Obrigada PELAS informaçoes!
Eu estou estudando o português. Eu começei há seis meses. Então tem algums problemas com essa lingua;)
Eu queria saber se em portugês podemos dizer “obrigada de fazer isso para amanhã ” (in advance) ou em este caso vamos também usar “por”? Obrigada pela resposta!
Obrigada por visitar o blog e deixar seu comentário! Sempre use “por” com Obrigado, quando significa um agradecimento. Não pode usar “de” como no seu exemplo.