Business English Emails for Portuguese Speakers

Last reviewed on May 7, 2026.

Writing a professional email in English from a Portuguese baseline is mostly a register problem. The grammar and vocabulary you've already studied get you 80% of the way; the last 20% is the part that makes a message read as polished or stiff to native speakers. This page focuses on the choices that matter: openings, closings, hedging, requests, and the few translation patterns that consistently leak Portuguese habits into English.

Use it alongside the translator when drafting, but read your final email yourself before sending. A machine can produce grammatical English that still sounds wrong — too formal, too direct, or too vague.

Pick a register and stay there

Portuguese has a clear formal/informal axis through tu/você/o senhor. English doesn't, but it expresses the same scale through word choice and structure. Three rough levels work for most business emails:

"Dear Sir/Madam" is correct but reads as old-fashioned in most modern business writing. If you don't know the recipient's name, "Hello," works for neutral tone. "To whom it may concern" is reserved for letters that genuinely need to be impersonal — references, formal complaints — not regular email.

Openings that don't sound translated

Portuguese business emails often open with set phrases that don't have a clean English equivalent. Translating them word-for-word is the quickest way to sound off:

• "Espero que esteja bem" → "I hope you are well" works once. After two or three messages in a thread, drop it.
• "Venho por este meio informar..." → "I am writing to let you know..." or, more directly, just state the news.
• "Em primeiro lugar, gostaria de agradecer..." → "Thank you for ..." Native English business writing is more direct than Portuguese; you can lead with thanks but skip the throat-clearing.
• "Conforme o solicitado..." → "As requested," or "As we discussed," at the start of a sentence.

Useful default openers when you're stuck:

• "Following up on our call yesterday —" (you've already spoken)
• "I wanted to share an update on..." (sending news)
• "Quick question:" (one-line ask)
• "Apologies for the delay —" (you're behind)

Make requests sound polite, not vague

Portuguese politeness leans on the conditional: "podia," "gostaria," "seria possível." Direct English requests can feel rude to a Portuguese ear, and overly hedged English requests can feel evasive to a native English ear. The middle ground:

Reliable polite-but-clear request frames:

• "Could you ...?" (most common)
• "Would you be able to ...?" (slightly more polite)
• "Could you confirm whether ...?" (yes/no question)
• "It would help me if you could ..." (when you want to explain why you're asking)

Common Portuguese-to-English email pitfalls

1. False friends in business words

Several false friends show up in business email more than anywhere else. The full reference is on the false friends page; the email-relevant ones:

• "atualmente" → "currently", not "actually". "Actually" in English means "in fact, contrary to what you'd think".
• "pretendo" → "I plan to" or "I intend to", not "I pretend to".
• "realizar uma reunião" → "to hold a meeting" or "to run a meeting", not "to realize a meeting".
• "compromisso" → "commitment" or "engagement", depending on context.
• "propaganda" → "advertising" or "campaign", not "propaganda" (which has a political/ideological connotation in English).

2. The present continuous everywhere

"I am attaching the report" is fine; "I am thinking that we should..." is overused. English business writing prefers the simple present for opinions: "I think we should..." Reserve the continuous for actions in progress right now.

3. "Information" and "advice" are uncountable

"An information" and "an advice" are wrong; use "a piece of information" / "some information" / "advice" without an article. "Equipment", "feedback", "research", "software" follow the same rule.

4. Articles before company and role names

"I work in the Acme" → "I work at Acme". "I am the head of marketing" only if there's exactly one head of marketing in your company; otherwise "I am head of marketing".

5. "Doubt" doesn't mean "question"

"Tenho uma dúvida" is "I have a question", not "I have a doubt". In English, "I have a doubt" suggests you suspect something is wrong — very different.

6. "Until" vs "by"

Deadlines use "by", not "until". "Send the report until Friday" → "Send the report by Friday". "Until" describes a continuous state ("I'll be at the conference until Friday").

Templates you can adapt

1. Following up on an unanswered email

Hi Maria,

Following up on my email below — let me know if you need anything from me to move this forward.

Happy to jump on a quick call if easier.

Best,
[Your name]

2. Sending a deliverable

Hi João,

Please find attached the [report / proposal / contract] we discussed. Key points:

- [point 1]
- [point 2]
- [point 3]

Let me know if you'd like any changes before I share it more widely.

Best regards,
[Your name]

3. Declining a request politely

Hi Ana,

Thanks for thinking of me on this. Unfortunately I can't take it on right now — my plate is full through [period].

Have you considered [alternative person / approach]? Happy to make an introduction if useful.

Best,
[Your name]

4. Apologizing for a delay

Hi Pedro,

Apologies for the delay in getting back to you. [One-line reason, optional.]

To answer your question: [your answer].

Let me know if anything else is unclear.

Best,
[Your name]

5. Asking for a status update

Hi team,

Quick check-in on [project / task]. Could you share where things stand and whether you're on track for [date]?

If anything is blocking, flag it here and we can sort it out.

Thanks,
[Your name]

Self-check before you hit send

• Is the ask clear in the first three lines? If your reader stops reading early, will they still know what you need?
• Did you start a request with "Could you..." or equivalent? Bare imperatives can read as curt.
• Did you check for false friends? "Actually", "pretend", "library", "realize", "advice" are the usual suspects.
• Did you avoid the continuous tense for opinions? "I think" beats "I am thinking that".
• Is your closing consistent with your opening? "Dear Mr. Silva" → "Kind regards"; "Hi Carlos" → "Best".
• Did you read it aloud? Awkward phrasing usually surfaces immediately when you hear it.

For ground-floor grammar reminders, see Learn English for Portuguese speakers; for a deeper false-cognate reference, see Portuguese-English false friends; and to translate a single phrase quickly, use the translator.