Estou fazendo, not estou a fazer: the grammar that separates Brazilian from European Portuguese
Beyond vocabulary, a few grammatical patterns cleanly separate Brazilian from European Portuguese. The gerund is the loudest. Here are the structures that give copy away.
6 min read
Part of our guide to Brazilian vs European Portuguese
Vocabulary gets the attention, but grammar separates Brazilian and European Portuguese just as cleanly, and one pattern in particular is a reliable fingerprint: the gerund. Even copy with the right words can read as European if the underlying structure is wrong.
Here are the grammatical tells that matter most.
The gerund
The single loudest difference
To express an action in progress, Brazilian Portuguese uses estar plus the gerund: estou fazendo, estamos trabalhando, ela está falando. European Portuguese uses estar a plus the infinitive: estou a fazer, estamos a trabalhar. This one construction is the clearest structural signal of which variety copy was written in.
A line like estamos a processar o seu pedido is grammatically fine and unmistakably European. The Brazilian form is estamos processando seu pedido.
| English | Brazilian | European |
|---|---|---|
| I am doing | estou fazendo | estou a fazer |
| We are processing | estamos processando | estamos a processar |
| It is loading | está carregando | está a carregar |
Pronoun placement
Where the little words sit
Brazilian Portuguese tends to place object pronouns before the verb (proclisis) in everyday usage: me diga, se inscreva, te ajudo. European Portuguese leans on placing them after the verb (enclisis): diga-me, inscreva-se. In Brazilian marketing and UI copy, the pre-verb placement reads as natural; the hyphenated post-verb form reads as formal or European.
The detail that matters
These patterns compound with vocabulary. A line can use every correct Brazilian word and still read as European if the gerund and pronoun placement follow European structure. Native fluency is structural, not just lexical.
Before and after
A status message, both ways
Same meaning, same correctness, different variety. The structure is the tell.
Before and after
We are processing your order.
Generic / machine
“Estamos a processar o seu pedido.”
estar a plus infinitive, plus o seu, is European in both grammar and register.
LingoBraz, native PT-BR
“Estamos processando seu pedido.”
estar plus gerund and the dropped article: native Brazilian structure.
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Questions
Common questions
What is the biggest grammatical difference between Brazilian and European Portuguese?+
The gerund. Brazilian uses estar plus the gerund (estou fazendo), while European uses estar a plus the infinitive (estou a fazer). It is the clearest structural signal of which variety copy was written in.
Can copy have the right words but still read as European?+
Yes. If the grammar, especially the gerund and pronoun placement, follows European patterns, the copy reads as European even with correct Brazilian vocabulary. Fluency is structural as well as lexical.
Does pronoun placement really matter in marketing copy?+
Yes. Brazilian copy tends to place pronouns before the verb (me diga, se inscreva), which reads as natural, while the European post-verb hyphenated form (diga-me) reads as formal or foreign.
Is European grammar wrong, or just different?+
It is correct European Portuguese, but it is the wrong variety for a Brazilian audience, and Brazilians read it as foreign.
Is the gerund used the same way in speech and writing?+
In Brazil, estar plus the gerund is standard in both speech and writing, while the European estar a form reads as foreign in either.
Do Brazilians ever use the European estar a construction?+
It is not standard Brazilian usage and reads as European to a Brazilian reader.
Can grammar tools catch these variety differences?+
Generic tools often miss them, so native review is more reliable for getting variety-level grammar right.
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