An invitation in Portuguese: write, accept and decline

Short answer: a proposal needs details and a reply

A useful invitation says what you propose, when and where. If one detail is missing, the recipient may understand the intention without knowing how to reply. Start with a concrete activity and finish with a question. “Queres vir?” works when both people already know the plan; an initial message needs the missing context too.

This exercise distinguishes a proposal, acceptance and a change. “Talvez consiga ir” does not confirm attendance. “Podemos começar mais tarde?” also leaves an open question. Use the phrase table for support and read the complete reply before treating an arrangement as agreed. All times in the examples are fictional.

First invitation: activity, day, time and place

The model proposes dinner, gives Saturday at nineteen hundred and explains where to meet. The recipient can answer without requesting every basic detail. A closing can be brief between friends. Neither a formal introduction nor a complete programme is necessary to make a simple invitation clear enough to understand and respond to.

Change one element at a time: dinner to coffee, Saturday to Sunday or home to an invented public place. Read it as the recipient. Do you know where to go and when? Can you tell whether attendance needs confirming? This checks the practical effect of the message rather than only the accuracy of individual words.

• Organise a short Portuguese message

Accept: confirm without copying everything

“Sim, obrigada pelo convite. Posso ir no sábado às dezanove” confirms availability and time. Add a useful question if appropriate, such as “Queres que leve alguma coisa?” That question should not replace acceptance. If your only reply is a question, the sender may still be unsure whether you intend to attend the event.

Compare “Sim, posso ir” with “Acho que posso ir”. The latter expresses less certainty. Ask a partner to invent an uncertain reply and write a polite clarification. A friendly message is not necessarily an agreement. The main information should remain clear even when the courtesy expressions are removed from the exchange.

Decline or suggest an alternative clearly

Say “Obrigada pelo convite, mas no sábado não posso”. A short explanation is enough for language practice; do not invent personal excuses in a real conversation. To keep the meeting possible, offer something concrete: “Podemos tomar café no domingo à tarde?” The other person now needs to respond to your new proposal.

In the second model, the writer gives thanks, declines the initial time and offers another. They do not combine “confirmo” with different availability. Once a reply arrives, repeat the final arrangement. If the alternative is declined, the exchange can end politely without a meeting. You do not have to keep inventing dates to complete the task.

• Use ir + infinitive to express plans

Exercise with answers: was the invitation accepted?

Read “Obrigada pelo convite. No sábado não posso, mas no domingo estou livre depois das quatro.” Was Saturday dinner confirmed? No. What information was given? Unavailability and a possible alternative. A coherent follow-up is “Podemos então tomar café no domingo às cinco?” This still needs a reply before being recorded as an agreed meeting.

Now accept this fictional proposal: coffee on Tuesday at ten, at the library entrance. One solution is “Sim, posso ir. Encontramo-nos na terça-feira às dez, à entrada da biblioteca.” Other clear replies work too. Check the day, time and place rather than assessing the answer solely by whether it contains the word sim.

Writing task and spoken practice

Write an invitation for an invented activity. Ask a colleague for three replies: acceptance, refusal and a request for another time. Respond without copying the full original invitation. Then speak the exchange aloud. If thinking takes time, use shorter phrases that preserve the intention rather than abandoning the main request.

Use the A2 writing guide to review organisation and the future-plans guide to express intended actions. The appointment-change audio practises old and proposed times in a different setting. CEFR and Camões provide learning references; the models and solutions here are editorial materials and do not certify a skill or predict an examination result.

Sources and scope of this guide

Official sources support the stated legal, language and certification facts. Plans, examples and checklists are independent editorial suggestions, not instructions from an authority.

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