How to Use Fique à Vontade in Brazilian Portuguese — Practice

Invite someone to feel comfortable

Ficar à vontade means to feel comfortable or at ease. As an invitation, fique à vontade can mean ‘make yourself at home,’ ‘please feel free,’ or ‘go ahead.’ A host might say it when a guest arrives, and a staff member might use it to invite a customer to look around.

Brazilian Portuguese commonly uses você with third-person verb forms: fique is a polite or neutral singular invitation, while fica is more informal. The best choice depends on the relationship and setting.

Keep the accent in à vontade

In standard spelling, the expression is à vontade, with a grave accent on à. The written accent marks the contraction of the preposition a with the feminine article a in this fixed expression. In speech, you hear the same phrase whether the speaker chooses fica or fique.

When you describe your own feeling, use me sinto à vontade (I feel comfortable). When you invite another person, use fica/fique à vontade. This difference makes the subject clear.

Remember: Use me sinto à vontade for your own comfort and fica/fique à vontade to invite someone to relax or proceed. Standard spelling keeps the accent in à vontade.

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. Come in and make yourself comfortable.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Pode entrar e fique à vontade.

2. Feel free to choose a seat.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Fica à vontade para escolher um lugar.

3. If you have a question, please feel free to ask.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Se tiver alguma dúvida, fique à vontade para perguntar.

4. I still don’t feel comfortable speaking in public.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Ainda não me sinto à vontade falando em público.

5. You can leave your bag here; make yourself comfortable.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Você pode deixar a bolsa aqui, fique à vontade.

6. He felt at ease after a few minutes.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Ele se sentiu à vontade depois de alguns minutos.

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.

Use me sinto à vontade for your own comfort and fica/fique à vontade to invite someone to relax or proceed. Standard spelling keeps the accent in à vontade.

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 How to Use Fique à Vontade in Brazilian Portuguese 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.