Two ways of speaking
European Portuguese and Brazilian Portuguese
They are the same language. They are not the same accent, and a handful of ordinary words will give you away. Learn the one you will use.
Start with the Portuguese you will hear
Learn European Portuguese if you will live, work, or spend real time in Portugal. Learn Brazilian Portuguese if Brazil is the reason. People looking up how to learn Portugal Portuguese usually need the European variety: the sound of Lisbon and Porto, not the sound of São Paulo.
Paseo starts with Brazilian Portuguese because that is the first conversation we are building. You can love Lisbon and still be honest about which sound you are practicing.
What you will notice first
Brazilian Portuguese often sounds more open, with vowels you can hear. European Portuguese often reduces unstressed vowels, so words can sound shorter than they look. Neither is the correct Portuguese. Both are.
A few everyday words differ. The first in each pair is the usual Brazilian one: ônibus and autocarro for a bus, trem and comboio for a train, celular and telemóvel for a mobile phone, suco and sumo for juice.
O ônibus passa aqui?
Does the bus stop here? (Brazilian)
O autocarro passa aqui?
Does the bus stop here? (European)
One pattern is enough at the start
In Brazil, você is the everyday you. In Portugal, tu is common in speech, with its own verb forms. Brazil often uses the gerund, estou falando. Portugal often uses a preposition plus infinitive, estou a falar. Learn one pattern first. The other will be recognizable later.
Do not mix them in the first month. Switching varieties mid-sentence makes you hesitate, and it makes listening harder. Pick one. If that one is Brazilian Portuguese, stay with Brazilian audio, Brazilian phrases, and a coach who speaks it.
Estou falando.
I’m speaking. (common in Brazil)
Estou a falar.
I’m speaking. (common in Portugal)