Portuguese reading texts by level
57 texts from A1 to C2, 9 892 words in all, with 235 comprehension questions. Each text shows how much of it is explained in this site’s vocabulary — calculated, not claimed.
A1 (13)
A1 · 157 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A primeira manhã
A first day at work, from six o’clock to the first break.
A1 · 137 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
O mercado de sábado
Shopping between eight and ten, with a mistake at the till.
A1 · 131 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
Procurar casa
Three flats in one day, and why it is the third.
A1 · 129 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
Estar doente
Four days with a cold, from the chemist’s back to work.
A1 · 138 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
O comboio para o Porto
Three hours on the train, with rain at the start and sun in the middle.
A1 · 142 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A chamada de domingo
A phone call with the family, from the weather to the holidays.
A1 · 98 words · 1 min
StoryTravel
Um fim de semana em Coimbra
Marta takes the train to Coimbra for the weekend — and on Saturday it rains.
A1 · 107 words · 1 min
StoryMusic
A guitarra do avô
After lunch Tiago’s grandfather takes an old guitar out of the cupboard — and Tiago wants to learn too.
A1 · 105 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
O autocarro das oito
Rui misses his bus and walks to work — but not alone.
A1 · 90 words · 1 min
DialogueTravel
Um quarto para duas noites
Joana arrives at the hotel and asks about breakfast, the beach and her room.
A1 · 83 words · 1 min
DialogueMusic
Um concerto no parque
Inês invites Bruno to a concert in the city park.
A1 · 53 words · 1 min
MessageEveryday life
O que falta em casa?
Carla messages Nuno, who is at the supermarket.
A1 · 63 words · 1 min
EmailEveryday life
Trinta anos na quinta-feira
Sara invites her colleagues to lunch.
A2 (10)
A2 · 146 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A avaria do aquecimento
A cold flat, a phone call and a repairman who comes late.
A2 · 131 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
Um dia no escritório
From nine to six, with a printer that will not cooperate.
A2 · 130 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
O curso de português
Eight months of a language course, and the day it works for the first time.
A2 · 149 words · 1 min
StoryTravel
A mala que não chegou
Helena flies to Madeira on her own — and her suitcase does not come with her.
A2 · 157 words · 1 min
StoryMusic
O coro da aldeia
Graça worked in the factory all her life. Now, at seventy-two, she joins the village choir.
A2 · 149 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A chave em cima da mesa
One evening Leonor is standing outside her door — and the key is inside on the kitchen table.
A2 · 106 words · 1 min
DialogueTravel
O barco para a ilha
Paulo buys two boat tickets to the island and asks about the last boat back.
A2 · 112 words · 1 min
DialogueMusic
A primeira aula de guitarra
Clara has her first guitar lesson — and the first chord hurts.
A2 · 83 words · 1 min
MessageEveryday life
Emprestas-me a máquina?
Tomás would like to borrow Beatriz’s camera for his trip.
A2 · 86 words · 1 min
EmailEveryday life
A torneira da cozinha
A tenant writes to his landlord: the kitchen tap drips day and night.
B1 (13)
B1 · 177 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A avaria na estrada
A breakdown after the toll booth, and what it costs in the end.
B1 · 181 words · 2 min
StoryEveryday life
A entrevista das dez
A job interview, and the question everybody dreads.
B1 · 174 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A receita da avó
A recipe without numbers, and a grandson who wants to write it down.
B1 · 152 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
Uma manhã no banco
A transfer, a bank statement and an instalment nobody knows about.
B1 · 152 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
A receita na farmácia
Two boxes, two times of day and a child next to the till.
B1 · 148 words · 1 min
StoryEveryday life
O quarto com vista
A booking, a room that is taken, and the morning after.
B1 · 192 words · 2 min
StoryTravel
Perdidos na serra
Vasco and Inês walk from village to village — until the path splits and neither will give way.
B1 · 201 words · 2 min
StoryMusic
O concerto às escuras
Joana plays alone on stage for the first time — and after two minutes the lights go out.
B1 · 204 words · 2 min
StoryEveryday life
A carteira no elétrico
Duarte finds a purse on the tram and returns it himself.
B1 · 152 words · 1 min
DialogueTravel
O comboio das sete
Raquel’s train to Porto is cancelled, and she has an appointment at ten.
B1 · 154 words · 1 min
DialogueMusic
Música na garagem
A neighbour complains about the band in the garage — and in the end there is an invitation.
B1 · 115 words · 1 min
MessageEveryday life
Quem fica com o cão?
Ana is going on holiday and needs someone for her dog — her brother can only do half.
B1 · 120 words · 1 min
EmailEveryday life
Um dia de folga na sexta
Patrícia asks her manager for a day off — and has already arranged cover.
B2 (7)
B2 · 236 words · 2 min
StoryTravel
A casa junto à falésia
On the coast Tânia misses the last bus — and finds a room that is in no guidebook.
B2 · 257 words · 2 min
StoryMusic
O homem da guitarra
For years Filipa walked past a street musician. Then one day he was no longer there.
B2 · 237 words · 2 min
StoryEveryday life
A reunião de condomínio
Eight flats, a crumbling facade and a meeting that lasts three hours.
B2 · 182 words · 2 min
DialogueTravel
O risco na porta
When the hire car is returned the employee finds a scratch — and Nuno took photos.
B2 · 198 words · 2 min
DialogueMusic
A música do casamento
A couple discuss with a musician what should be played at their wedding — and what definitely should not.
B2 · 185 words · 2 min
MessageEveryday life
A festa da Rita
A group secretly plans a party for Rita — and Rita must not notice a thing.
B2 · 163 words · 1 min
EmailEveryday life
A fatura da eletricidade
A customer complains about an electricity bill that charges the same month twice.
C1 (7)
C1 · 318 words · 3 min
StoryTravel
O bairro do Jaime
For twenty years a tour guide has shown visitors the same old quarter — and he now tells a different story about it.
C1 · 268 words · 2 min
StoryMusic
A oficina de guitarras
An old guitar maker takes on an apprentice and first teaches him to do nothing.
C1 · 294 words · 2 min
StoryEveryday life
A casa na aldeia
A family moves from the city to a village in the interior. A year later the mother takes stock.
C1 · 205 words · 2 min
DialogueTravel
Lugar a mais no voo
The flight is overbooked. At the desk Cristina negotiates compensation and a later flight.
C1 · 244 words · 2 min
DialogueMusic
A orquestra do bairro
A radio interview with the founder of an orchestra in which neighbourhood children play who had never had an instrument before.
C1 · 184 words · 2 min
MessageEveryday life
A visita de estudo
In the parents’ chat a school trip is discussed — politely, but clearly.
C1 · 223 words · 2 min
EmailEveryday life
Uma feira de trocas
A resident proposes a monthly swap market to the parish council.
C2 (7)
C2 · 378 words · 3 min
StoryTravel
O comboio que para em todas
A narrator deliberately takes the slowest train in the country — and reflects on speed, arriving and what lies in between.
C2 · 297 words · 2 min
StoryMusic
A última aula
After forty years a guitar teacher gives her last lesson — and does not talk about technique.
C2 · 305 words · 3 min
StoryEveryday life
A casa dos pais
Three siblings have to clear out their parents’ house and decide what happens to it.
C2 · 242 words · 2 min
DialogueTravel
A taxa turística
A radio debate: a hotel owner and a residents’ representative argue about a new tourist tax.
C2 · 214 words · 2 min
DialogueMusic
O ensaio geral
The evening before the concert a conductor and a guitarist argue about the tempo — politely, but without giving way.
C2 · 229 words · 2 min
MessageEveryday life
A consoada deste ano
Three siblings negotiate in the chat whose house Christmas will be at this year — with plenty of irony.
C2 · 229 words · 2 min
EmailEveryday life
Deixar a direção
After six years the chair of a residents’ association is not standing again and writes to the members.
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Learning words one at a time and practising grammar one point at a time is work on separate parts. A text is the first thing that needs both at once — and the only exercise where nobody tells you which rule is being tested.
What makes a graded text is a number: how much of it you already know at your level. If it is too low, reading turns into looking things up. Here that number is calculated for every text against this site’s vocabulary and shown with the text — together with the level that follows from it, next to the level on the label.
Every text is written for this site. Click a word to look it up without leaving the page.
What is measured here — and what is not
Coverage tells you about this site’s vocabulary, not about the text. If a text stands at 96 %, four words in a hundred are not explained anywhere here; they are then in the glossary next to the text.
The measured level can be below the stated one, and that is intentional. A set of minutes made up of perfectly ordinary words can be a very hard text — what makes it hard is the sentences they sit in. That is why the average sentence length is shown alongside.
Whether a text is good is measured by nobody here. That is for the reader to decide.