Livro do Desassossego
Fernando Pessoa · published 1982
A diary by a fictional bookkeeper in Lisbon, written across decades and pieced together after Pessoa's death. Quiet, strange, hard to forget.
Portuguese · Português
Read Portuguese books with in-context translation.
Open Machado de Assis, Saramago or your own EPUB. Tap any word and get the meaning it has in that sentence - Brazilian and European Portuguese included - with a short note on why.
Dom Casmurro · I
Uma noite destas, vindo da cidade para o Engenho Novo, encontrei no trem da Central um rapaz aqui do bairro, que eu conheço de vista e de chapéu. Cumprimentou-me, sentou-se ao pé de mim, falou da lua e dos ministros, e acabou recitando-me versos.
de vista e de chapéuSave
only to nod to
We just tip hats in passing · “by sight and by hat”
SentenceWhy?Grammar
Why the original
Why read Portuguese books in the original
Portuguese is two literatures with one language: European Portuguese, with Pessoa and Saramago, and Brazilian Portuguese, with Machado de Assis, Clarice Lispector, Jorge Amado. They share a grammar but they sound different and feel different.
Pessoa's Livro do Desassossego reads differently from a Saramago novel - and either of them sounds different from anything Machado de Assis wrote. All of it is worth your time, and reading the originals is the only way to feel the differences.
For Spanish speakers, Portuguese reads almost easily; for everyone else, the spelling is regular and the grammar is recognisable from any Romance language background.
Start here
Six Portuguese books worth your time
Import any DRM-free EPUB of these, or start with a free classic from the app’s library.
Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas
Machado de Assis · 1881
Brazilian, narrated by a dead man with too much time on his hands. Funnier and more modern than its date suggests. The starting point for any reader of Brazilian literature.
Ensaio sobre a cegueira
José Saramago · 1995
Sentences that go on for half a page, almost no quotation marks, characters with no names. Not easy. But once you're in, the rhythm is one of the most distinctive in any language.
A paixão segundo G.H.
Clarice Lispector · 1964
Lispector is one of the most original Brazilian writers. The Portuguese is dense, philosophical, and not like anyone else's.
Capitães da Areia
Jorge Amado · 1937
A gang of street kids in Salvador, Bahia. Amado writes a Brazilian Portuguese that feels alive on the page; this is one of his most readable novels.
Os Lusíadas
Luís de Camões · 1572
The Portuguese national epic. Verse, archaic, but if you've made it this far in the language, this is what comes next.
What a dictionary misses
Portuguese you’ll meet in books - explained in place.
de vista e de chapéuonly to nod to
Machado’s narrator knows the young man by sight and by a tip of the hat - no more.
saudadelonging for what’s gone
A dictionary says “nostalgia”; in Pessoa or a fado it’s a missing that’s almost sweet.
pagar o patoto take the blame
Literally “to pay for the duck” - to suffer for something someone else did.
By level
How to read Portuguese at your level.
A2
Short and familiar
Start with short stories and crónicas - short, everyday prose. Tap freely, save only the words you meet twice.
B1
Read for the story
Jorge Amado’s Capitães da Areia moves fast and uses plenty of dialogue. Use “Why?” on slang, skip what you can guess.
B2+
Go for the classics
Machado de Assis, Saramago, Pessoa, then Camões. Ask for grammar on old forms and export your deck to Anki.
In the app
How LinguaRead works with Portuguese
Drop in any EPUB - European or Brazilian Portuguese, both work. Tap a word and the meaning is right there with the conjugation, the gender, the regional variant.
Portuguese verbs share the Romance pattern (subjunctive, conditional, imperfect) and reading is the way you start to feel them rather than memorise them.
Portuguese FAQ
Before you start.
Brazilian or European Portuguese?
Both. Explanations follow the sentence, so a word that differs between Lisbon and Rio gets the meaning that fits the book you’re reading - Saramago or Amado alike.
Saramago barely uses punctuation - can I follow him?
Long sentences with dialogue run together are hard at first. Tapping a phrase gives you its meaning in context, and the grammar note helps tell who is speaking. It gets easier after a few pages.
Can I import Portuguese EPUBs from other stores?
Any DRM-free EPUB works - from Project Gutenberg, your own files or stores that sell without DRM. Books locked to another app’s DRM can’t be opened.
Does it explain the personal infinitive and mesoclisis?
Yes. Tap a form like “falarmos” or Camões’ “dir-vos-ei” and the grammar note explains what it is and why it’s used here.
Your first Portuguese book, tonight.
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