Essential Portuguese phrases

Standard greeting. Brasília's register is more formal than Rio's — a legacy of a city where most people work for the state.

Brazil's taxpayer number and, since 2023, its single national identification number. Obtainable from abroad and required for everything.

The foreign resident card issued by the Federal Police after registration. Your proof of legal residence.

Free instant transfer between Brazilian accounts. Used for rent, the feira and the man who fixes your air conditioning.

A complete Brasília address: Superquadra Norte 308, building C, flat 204. There is no street name because there are no streets in the ordinary sense.

The two residential wings of the aeroplane-shaped Plano Piloto. Almost every address begins by telling you which wing it is in.

The commercial strip serving each superquadra, and the shared space between two of them. Your bakery, pharmacy and school live there.

Originally the migrant labourers who built the city in the 1950s; now what people born here call themselves, with pride.

The administrative regions outside the Plano Piloto — Taguatinga, Ceilândia, Águas Claras — where most of the population actually lives. There are more than thirty and the count keeps rising.

Relative humidity. In the dry season it is quoted on the news like a temperature, and readings in the teens trigger official health alerts.

Brazil's emergency numbers, free from any phone. 193 also handles the dry-season grass fires here.