CELPE-Bras Writing: Match Audience, Purpose, and Tone — Practice

Identify the reader and the relationship

Portuguese changes with the communication situation. A request to a university office calls for more explicit context and a more careful greeting than a message to a friend. Neither style is universally better; each works for a different reader.

Look for clues in the task about who is sending the message, who will receive it, and how well they know each other.

Choose a clear purpose for every paragraph

A useful paragraph performs one job: it introduces the situation, gives supporting details, explains a reason, or makes a request. Put the most important information where the reader can find it quickly.

If the task asks for several actions, check each one off as you draft. A polished text that misses one requested action is still incomplete.

Make tone natural rather than overly formal

Formal language should make the relationship respectful and the request easy to understand. Avoid stuffing a message with elaborate expressions you would not normally use; clear wording is easier to control and more natural.

Use greetings, pronouns, and verb forms consistently. In Brazilian Portuguese, você commonly takes third-person singular verb forms, while o senhor and a senhora are more formal choices in some situations.

Remember: Let the reader and purpose determine the tone; direct, complete Portuguese is stronger than decorative language that obscures your message.

Check your understanding

Choose the English meaning of each Portuguese example. Answer before looking back at the tables. These questions check the written examples in this guide; they are not a listening or proficiency test.

Recall the Portuguese, then say it

Read the English prompt and say a Portuguese version before opening the answer. The answer shows the example from the lesson; other natural translations may also work. Compare the meaning and the situation rather than counting a different word as automatically wrong.

1. Hi, Ana! Can you send me the event address?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Oi, Ana! Você pode me mandar o endereço do evento?

2. Dear office staff, I would like to confirm the service hours.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Prezada secretaria, gostaria de confirmar o horário de atendimento.

3. I am writing to confirm my attendance at Thursday's meeting.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Escrevo para confirmar minha presença na reunião de quinta-feira.

4. I would also like to know whether there will be printed material.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Também gostaria de saber se haverá material impresso.

5. Could you let me know the deadline?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Você poderia me informar o prazo?

6. Could you please confirm the address?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   A senhora poderia confirmar o endereço, por favor?

Make the phrase useful to you

Choose one example you could actually use. Say it once from memory, then change one detail that fits your life, such as the person, place, time, or object. Check whether your change also needs a different verb form, article, or adjective ending. If it does, compare it with the pattern in the explanation.

Let the reader and purpose determine the tone; direct, complete Portuguese is stronger than decorative language that obscures your message.

Return to two prompts tomorrow without opening the answers first. If a phrase still feels difficult, shorten it to a useful chunk and build the complete sentence again.

Sources and your next lesson

This I Speak Portuguese practice guide builds on our CELPE-Bras Writing: Match Audience, Purpose, and Tone lesson on Real Life Portuguese, with written recall tasks and additional speaking practice. The explanations and examples are teaching material; the practice questions are exercises, not a transcript of a recording.

To add Brazilian audio to your routine, choose a lesson in the Real Life Portuguese app. The app offers its own lessons and practice; this page does not imply that every example here has an app recording.