A1 — Iniciante I ← My Materials

Como vai você?

Episódio 2 Língua da Gente Cumprimentar e despedir-se
Orlando R. Kelm · COERLL / University of Texas at Austin · CC BY 4.0

Step 1 — Listen

🎧 Listen to the podcast episode
First listen: Just listen and relax. What is the conversation about? Who is speaking?
Língua da Gente · Episode 02
Can't play? Open in Apple Podcasts →

Step 2 — Read the Dialogue

💬 The Conversation
Listen again while reading. Pay attention to how each person responds.
A
Tudo bem, Paulo?
How are you doing, Paulo?
B
Tudo, e você?
Fine, and you?
A
Também, melhor agora, né?
Me too, better now, right?
B
Que ótimo.
How nice.

Step 3 — Language Focus

📖 Greetings in Brazilian Portuguese

There are many ways to ask "how are you?" in Brazil — and they all work in informal conversation.

Greeting (how to ask) Response Register
Tudo bem? Tudo bem! / Tudo bom! / Tudo! informal, very common
Tudo bom? Tudo bom! / Tudo! informal, very common
Como vai você? Vou bem, obrigado/a! slightly more formal
Como está? Estou bem, e você? neutral / semi-formal
Também (me too) Também! used to mirror the other person's answer
💡 "Né?" — the Brazilian tag question

You already heard né? in episode 01. Here it appears again: "Melhor agora, né?" It's used to invite the other person to agree with you. English equivalent: "...right?" or "...isn't it?"

Que + adjective = an exclamation of feeling:
Que ótimo! — How great! / That's great!
Que bom! — How nice! / Great!
Que legal! — How cool! / Awesome!

🔊 Phonology Note — Nasal vowels Brazilian Portuguese has nasal vowels that don't exist in English. Listen carefully to bem and também — the final m doesn't close your lips fully. Instead, it nasalizes the vowel. Think of "beng" but with a very soft, open ending. The more you listen, the more natural it sounds!

Step 4 — Practice

1 Fill in the blanks
Complete each line from the dialogue or a greeting exchange. Use the word bank below.
Word bank: também   tudo   né   que ótimo   você   vou bem
— Tudo bem, Maria? — , e você?
— Tudo, e ?
— , melhor agora, né?
— !
— Como vai você? — , obrigada!
— Melhor agora, ?
2 Match the greeting to the response
Select the most natural response for each greeting.
Tudo bem?
Como vai você?
Melhor agora, né?
Eu também estou bem!
3 Your turn — Write a greeting
Answer in Portuguese.
Write your own answers. There are no right or wrong responses — this activity is about expressing your own ideas and experiences.

Your teacher will review this during class. 🗣️

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