Learn Portuguese with short stories
Read 5 free graded stories in Portuguese, written for beginners at A1 to A2, right in your browser. Tap any word for its meaning in context, listen while you read, and save the words worth keeping. No sign-up, no install, works on any phone.
Stories in Portuguese
How it works
Portuguese puts a gender on almost every noun, and the article is the fastest way to learn it. Tap any noun in these stories and you get its meaning together with its o or a, so a feira, o guarda-chuva and a biblioteca arrive as whole units instead of as vocabulary you later have to re-learn with the right article attached.
Common questions
What level of Portuguese are these stories?
They are graded for beginners at CEFR A1 to A2: short sentences, everyday vocabulary, and ordinary scenes like a market morning, a forgotten umbrella and a dinner for a friend. Three are A1 and two are A2.
Is the Portuguese reader really free?
Yes. The browser reader is completely free, with no account, no sign-up and no trial timer. It is a free taste of the full oqou app for iPhone and iPad.
Can I listen to the stories in Portuguese?
Yes, every story can be read aloud with follow-along highlighting. The voices come from your browser and device, so how natural they sound, and which Portuguese accent you get, varies from device to device.
Is this European or Brazilian Portuguese?
European Portuguese. The stories use words like chávena and autocarro, which Brazil renders as xícara and ônibus. If you are learning Brazilian Portuguese you can still read them: at A1 and A2 the overwhelming majority of the vocabulary is shared, and the differences that matter most are in pronunciation.
Do I need to know any Portuguese to start?
Almost none. The A1 stories use present-tense sentences and concrete nouns, and every word is one tap from its meaning, so you can read your way in rather than studying first.
Is this the full oqou app?
This is the free web reader with oqou's Portuguese starter stories. The iOS app adds your own books, articles and PDFs, in-context word explanations, and spaced review for the words you save.
Read the guide
- How to Learn Portuguese: A Complete Beginner's GuideBrazilian or European? Where to start, the trickiest sounds, and a realistic plan to learn Portuguese.
- Portuguese for Beginners: A Step-by-Step Guide to Starting From ZeroThe concrete starter plan for learning Portuguese from zero, from pronunciation to your first 30 days.
- Portuguese Grammar Exercises for Beginners: What to Practise FirstFour verbs cause most beginner mistakes in Portuguese. What they do, why a gap-fill is the right tool for them, and the reading loop that makes the choice automatic.
Read your own books this way, in the oqou app for iPhone and iPad.