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Kitchen words in Portuguese: 40 words to know

Last updated July 7, 2026 · 7 min read

Phrases you can actually say

1. A xícara está em cima da mesa. — The cup is on the table.
2. Onde está a colher? — Where's the spoon?
3. Preciso de um prato limpo. — I need a clean plate.
4. O café está pronto. — The coffee is ready.
5. Coloque o prato na pia. — Put the plate in the sink.
6. O leite está na geladeira. — The milk is in the fridge.
7. Vou lavar a frigideira. — I'm going to wash the frying pan.
8. Me passa o sal, por favor? — Can you pass me the salt, please?

Catch them instead of memorizing them

A list like this is a starting point, not the finish line. The fastest way to make these words stick is to photograph the actual objects in your own kitchen. Point your camera at your cup, your knife, your stove, and CatchFrase names it in Brazilian Portuguese, reads it aloud, and builds an example sentence around it — so the word arrives already attached to the object you use every day, not to a row in a table.

Each catch becomes a collectible card with the word, its article, a phrase, audio, and a spot in your review queue. Spaced-repetition review (CatchFrase calls it smart review) brings each word back just before you'd forget it, so you're not re-reading this list next week hoping o fogão stuck.

Being honest about the free tier: it's 10 catches a day, so a full kitchen — xícara, prato, garfo, faca, colher, panela, fogão, geladeira, pia, and the rest — takes about 4 days at that pace. That's still faster than most people learn a kitchen's worth of vocabulary any other way, and there's no account required to start.

Common questions

Is this European or Brazilian Portuguese?

Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR) only. CatchFrase doesn't currently teach European Portuguese vocabulary or pronunciation, so if you're headed to Lisbon rather than São Paulo, some words here — and how they're said — will differ from what you'll hear there.

Do I need to memorize all 40 words before I start cooking?

No. Learn a handful, use them while you're actually in the kitchen, and let the rest come from the objects around you as you need them. Vocabulary tied to something you're doing right now sticks better than a list studied cold.

Is CatchFrase free to use for this?

Yes. The free tier includes 10 catches a day, a 75-card collection, and daily review — plenty to work through a kitchen's worth of objects over a few days. CatchFrase Plus adds unlimited catches and deeper practice.