Bring It Here or Take It There? Trazer and Levar Direction Drills — Practice

Locate the speaker and the destination

Trazer usually describes movement toward the speaker or another reference point adopted in the conversation. Levar usually describes movement away from that point toward a destination. English bring and take are a useful starting point, but the actual conversation tells you which place is treated as here.

Before choosing the verb, identify who is speaking, where that person is, and where the object should end up. A meeting can become the shared reference point even while people are discussing plans remotely. State the locations in this exercise so you can explain your choice instead of guessing from an isolated verb.

Change the reference point and compare

Imagine the same object moving between home and school. At home, you may ask someone to trazer the object to you. If you are sending it from home to school, levar describes taking it there. When you later speak from school, the place treated as here can change.

Draw two places and mark the speaker before doing the recall prompts. Say the destination aloud after the verb, even when ordinary conversation might leave it unstated. This temporary extra detail makes your reasoning visible and helps you notice why two speakers can describe one trip from different perspectives.

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. Can you bring the book here to my house?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Pode trazer o livro aqui para casa?

2. I’m going to take the book to school.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Vou levar o livro para a escola.

3. Can you take this box to reception?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Você pode levar esta caixa até a recepção?

4. I’m at school. Can you bring my notebook?

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Estou na escola. Pode trazer meu caderno?

5. I leave home at eight and take the notebook with me.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Saio de casa às oito e levo o caderno.

6. When you come here, bring an identity document.

   Show a Portuguese answer

   Quando vier aqui, traga um documento.

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.

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 Trazer vs. Levar: Bring or Take 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.