The most frequent palavras em português are…

The 10 most used words in Portuguese, according to the frequency dictionary I have reviewed, are easy to learn. None of them is more than four letters long!

1. o (the)
2. de (of, from)
3. em (in, on)
4. e (and)
5. que (that, than, what)
6. ser (to be)
7. um (a, one)
8. por (by, through, for)
9. para (to, in order to, for)
10. a (to, at)

To give you some idea of what sort of words you will learn as you progress through the dictionary…

• The 1000th ranked word is acrescentar (to add to)
• The 2000th ranked word is sujeitar (to subject to)
• The 3000th ranked word is polémico (controversial)
• The 4000th ranked word is equilibrar (to balance)
• The 5000th ranked word is sul-Americano (South American)

The most frequently used verbs are

1. ser (to be) – overall ranking in the list: 6th
2. ter (to have) – overall ranking in the list: 13th
3. estar (to be) – overall ranking in the list: 18th
4. fazer (to do, make) – overall ranking in the list: 21st
5. poder (can, be able to) – overall ranking in the list: 22nd
6. haver (“there is”, to have) – overall ranking in the list: 29th
7. ir (to go) – overall ranking in the list: 30th
8. dizer (to tell, say) – overall ranking in the list: 34th
9. dar (to give) – overall ranking in the list: 36th
10. ver (to see) – overall ranking in the list: 40th

Unfortunately for the learner, most of these verbs are irregular.

More fun with frequencies to come later…