The 'E' & 'Mas' Trap: 8 Portuguese Connectors to Make Your Writing Flow

You’ve reached an exciting stage in your Portuguese journey. 🚀 You’re at level B1. You’ve memorized hundreds of words, you can conjugate verbs without breaking a sweat, and you can understand the gist of articles and conversations. You can write a sentence. You can write another sentence.

But when you try to connect them, something feels… off.

Your writing looks something like this:

Eu fui ao mercado. E eu comprei maçãs. Mas eu esqueci de comprar leite. Então, eu voltei para casa.

Technically, it's correct. But it feels like a list of facts delivered by a robot. Each sentence is an island, connected by the simplest possible bridges: e (and), mas (but), and então (so/then). It’s the linguistic equivalent of building a house with nothing but LEGO bricks and no mortar. It holds together, but it's clunky, repetitive, and lacks sophistication.

This is the 'E & Mas' Trap, and it’s one of the biggest hurdles for B1 learners. You have complex thoughts, but your language tools are too basic to express them. You're not just adding facts or stating simple contrasts; you're building arguments, showing cause and effect, and making concessions.

This guide is your upgrade kit. We’re going to move beyond the basic connectors and give you 8 powerful alternatives that will transform your writing from a simple list into a flowing, logical, and impressive narrative.

Part 1: Your Connector Upgrade Kit

Think of these not just as vocabulary words, but as logical tools. Each one signals a specific relationship between ideas. Mastering them is the key to unlocking nuance.

Group 1: Moving Beyond E (And)

You use e to add one idea to another. It’s the most basic form of addition. But what if you want to add an idea with more weight, or create an elegant parallel structure?

1. Além disso (Furthermore / Besides that)

Use além disso when you're adding a new, distinct, and often stronger point to support your argument. It’s like saying, “And if that wasn’t enough, here’s another important thing.”

• Before: O restaurante tem comida excelente e o serviço é muito rápido.
• After: O restaurante tem comida excelente. Além disso, o serviço é muito rápido.

Notice the difference? The second version gives more emphasis to the service. It feels like you’re building a more compelling case for why the restaurant is great, rather than just listing its attributes.

2. Não só… mas também… (Not only… but also…)

This is a powerful structure for highlighting two related points and giving them equal, or even greater, emphasis. It’s elegant and immediately makes your writing sound more advanced.

• Before: Ela fala português e ela fala espanhol fluentemente.
• After: Ela não só fala português, mas também espanhol fluentemente.

This structure is fantastic for showing off your command of the language. It links the two ideas in a sophisticated way that a simple e can never achieve.

Group 2: Breaking Up with Mas (But)

Mas is your go-to for simple contrast. “I like this, but I don’t like that.” It’s direct and effective. But often, the contrast you want to express is more nuanced. You might want to concede a point before refuting it, or introduce a surprising obstacle.

3. Porém / Contudo (However)

Both porém and contudo are slightly more formal and emphatic than mas. They are perfect for academic or professional writing, and for when you want to signal a significant turn in the argument. They often start a new sentence.

• Before: Eu estudei muito para a prova, mas não consegui uma boa nota.
• After: Eu estudei muito para a prova. Porém, não consegui uma boa nota.
• Also: Eu estudei muito para a prova. Contudo, não consegui uma boa nota.

Using porém or contudo creates a stronger pause and emphasizes the disappointing result. It adds a touch of seriousness to the statement.

4. No entanto (Nevertheless / However)

No entanto is very similar to porém and contudo, but it’s excellent for acknowledging the truth of one statement before introducing an overriding or more important contrasting point. It’s like saying, “Despite that fact, this other thing is also true.”

• Before: O carro é caro, mas é muito seguro.
• After: O carro é caro. No entanto, é muito seguro.

The second sentence acknowledges the high price but immediately pivots to highlight the benefit of safety, framing it as a worthwhile trade-off.

5. Embora / Apesar de (Although / Despite)

These are the real power players for expressing concession. They allow you to combine two clauses into one complex sentence, showing a much deeper command of grammar.

• Apesar de is followed by a noun or an infinitive verb.
• Embora is followed by a clause with the verb in the subjunctive mood (a key B1/B2 skill!).

Let’s see them in action:

• Before: Estava chovendo, mas nós fomos à praia.
• After (with Apesar de): Apesar da chuva, nós fomos à praia. (Despite the rain…)
• After (with Apesar de and verb): Apesar de estar chovendo, nós fomos à praia. (Despite it being raining…)
• After (with Embora): Embora estivesse chovendo, nós fomos à praia. (Although it was raining…)

Using embora + subjunctive (estivesse) is a clear signal to any native speaker that you’ve moved beyond the beginner stages. It shows you can handle more complex grammatical structures gracefully.

Group 3: The Cause & Effect Engine (Beyond Porque and Então)

Cause and effect are the backbone of storytelling and argumentation. Porque (because) and então (so) are the workhorses, but adding more specific tools to your kit will make your logic clearer and your narrative more compelling.

6. Visto que / Já que (Since / Seeing that)

Use visto que or já que when the reason for something is already known or obvious to the listener/reader. It’s a bit like saying, “Given the fact that…”

• Before: Eu não vou sair porque estou doente.
• After: Visto que estou doente, eu não vou sair.

The second version frames the sickness as the established context for the decision not to go out. It’s a subtle but powerful shift in perspective.

7. Portanto (Therefore)

Portanto is a formal and logical connector used to introduce a conclusion. It signals that what follows is a direct result of the preceding statement. It’s perfect for making a logical argument.

• Before: Todas as provas indicam a sua culpa, então ele foi condenado.
• After: Todas as provas indicam a sua culpa. Portanto, ele foi condenado.

Portanto adds a sense of finality and logical certainty that a simple então doesn’t quite capture. It makes your conclusion sound much more definitive.

8. Por isso (That’s why / For that reason)

Por isso is similar to portanto but a bit less formal and more common in everyday speech and writing. It directly links a cause to a result in a very clear, easy-to-understand way.

• Before: O voo foi cancelado, então tivemos que ficar no hotel.
• After: O voo foi cancelado. Por isso, tivemos que ficar no hotel.

It cleanly and clearly states: “This happened, and for that specific reason, this other thing was the result.”

Part 2: The Practice Problem - How to Actually Own These Words

Okay, take a breath. That was a lot of information. 😅

You now have a list of 8 powerful upgrades for your Portuguese writing. You might be feeling motivated, writing them down in your notebook, thinking, “Great, I’ll try to use contudo next time.”

But we both know what usually happens next. You forget.

When you’re in the middle of writing, your brain defaults to the easiest, most familiar path - back to e and mas. To truly master these new connectors, you can’t just memorize them. You need to absorb them through a cycle of meaningful practice. That cycle looks like this:

1. Exposure: Seeing the words used naturally in compelling contexts.
2. Production: Actively trying to use the words yourself in your own writing.
3. Feedback: Getting corrections to see if you used them correctly.
4. Reinforcement: Reviewing the words in context so they stick in your long-term memory.

The problem is, building this cycle yourself is incredibly difficult and time-consuming. You have to find level-appropriate articles, motivate yourself to write, find a native speaker to correct you (and explain your mistakes!), and then create your own flashcards.

This is the exact wall that stops most learners from progressing. It’s not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of an effective system for practice.

The System to Supercharge Your Learning

This is where technology can provide an incredible advantage. Instead of trying to juggle all those steps yourself, a tool designed around this learning cycle can automate the entire process. And that’s precisely what we built at Toritark.

Let's see how you could master a word like embora using a system like Toritark.

Step 1: Exposure Through Personalized Stories 📚

Instead of searching for random articles that might be too hard or too boring, you start by creating your own. On Toritark, you can pick a topic you’re interested in - say, “uma viagem a Lisboa” (a trip to Lisbon) - and the AI generates a brand-new, unique story just for you, perfectly tailored to your B1 level. As you read this engaging story, you’ll naturally encounter connectors like embora and além disso used correctly. When you find one, you simply long-press the word to save it to your personal vocabulary list. No more manual list-making.

Step 2: Active Production with Story Retelling ✍️

Here’s where you bridge the gap between passive understanding and active skill. After you finish reading the story about Lisbon, Toritark prompts you: “Retell this story in your own words.” This is your sandbox. It’s your low-pressure opportunity to try using the new connectors. You can try to build a sentence like, “Embora o tempo estivesse nublado, a cidade era linda.” You’re not just writing into a void; you’re actively applying what you’ve just learned.

Step 3: Instant, Granular AI Feedback ✅

This is the game-changer. You finish your retelling and hit “Submit.” Within seconds, our AI analyzes your text and gives you feedback that’s like having a personal tutor available 24/7. It doesn’t just give you a score. It shows your text side-by-side with a corrected version.

It might highlight your sentence and explain, in English: “The use of 'embora' here is grammatically correct with the subjunctive 'estivesse'. Great job! You could also strengthen this contrast by using 'no entanto' in the next sentence to introduce another point.” Or, if you made a mistake, it would say: “You wrote 'Embora estava nublado'. Remember, 'embora' requires the subjunctive mood. The correct form is 'estivesse'.” This specific, actionable feedback on your own writing is the fastest way to improve.

Step 4: Reinforcement in Context 🧠

Finally, to make sure embora doesn’t slip from your memory, you visit the “Learn words” section. Toritark automatically creates fill-in-the-blank exercises using the words you saved, placed back into the original sentences from the stories you read. So you’ll see: “______ estivesse chovendo, nós fomos à praia.” This forces you to recall the word in its proper context, cementing it in your memory far more effectively than a simple flashcard.

From Clunky to Confident

Moving beyond the basics of e and mas is more than just a grammar exercise. It’s about unlocking your ability to express your true thoughts and ideas in Portuguese. It's the difference between describing a series of events and telling a compelling story.

The theory is all here. You now have 8 concrete tools to elevate your writing. The next step is to put them into practice.

Whether you use a notebook and find a language partner or use a tool designed to accelerate the process, the path forward is the same: expose yourself to new structures, actively use them, get feedback on your attempts, and review them consistently.

If you're ready to stop feeling stuck and start writing Portuguese that truly reflects your intelligence and ideas, it's time to embrace the full learning cycle. Start weaving your sentences together with confidence. You've got this.