Genre guide · e-mail
Writing an email for the Celpe-Bras
The email is the genre the Celpe-Bras has asked for most: 10 of the 40 written tasks since 2020. It's rarely a chat with a friend. Usually you write as someone with a role (a parent, an employee, a resident) to an institution or a person in charge, to ask, propose, recommend or explain something, using the information from the task's input.
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What the exam asks for
The task sets who you are, who you're writing to and why: "as the HR manager, write to the company's staff to…", "write to the city's culture department to ask for…". The markers first check that your email does exactly that: the right person writing, to the right reader, for the stated purpose. A well-written email that does something else can't get past Intermediário.
Then they look at how you use the input. The video, audio or text gives you facts, figures and arguments; the email should pick the ones your reader needs and put them in your own words. Copying sentences from the input, or ignoring it, both cost marks.
The moves an email needs
Not a template to fill in, but the things your reader expects, roughly in this order.
1. Subject line
Short and specific: what the email is about, so it gets opened by the right person.
Assunto: Pedido de inclusão no programa Hortas na Cidade
2. Greeting
Matched to the reader: formal to an institution or someone you don't know, warmer to colleagues you know.
Prezada Sra. Lúcia Andrade,
3. Who you are and why you're writing
One or two sentences: your role, and the purpose of the email, up front.
Sou morador do Jardim Esperança e escrevo em nome da nossa associação de moradores para…
4. The body
The information and arguments from the input that your reader needs, organised in short paragraphs, each with one job.
Segundo a própria secretaria, cada horta recebe ferramentas e acompanhamento técnico no primeiro ano…
5. The request or next step
Say clearly what you want the reader to do, or what happens next.
Por isso, gostaríamos de solicitar a inclusão do terreno da Rua das Acácias no programa.
6. Closing and signature
A closing formula that fits the register, your name and, where it matters, your role.
Atenciosamente, Carlos Mendes Associação de Moradores do Jardim Esperança
Register: how formal?
Most Celpe-Bras emails go to an institution, a manager or a stranger, so they need a polite, formal register: Prezado(a) or Senhor(a), o(a) senhor(a) or impersonal forms rather than você, no slang, and Atenciosamente or Cordialmente to close. Formal doesn't mean stiff: short, clear sentences read better than long ones.
When the task has you write to colleagues or people you know, a semi-formal register is right: Olá, pessoal or Oi, Marta, você, and Um abraço to close. Read who the reader is before you write the first word.
Useful phrases
Opening
| Escrevo para… | I'm writing to… |
| Venho por meio deste e-mail… | I'm writing (formal)… |
| Em nome de…, gostaria de… | On behalf of…, I'd like to… |
Asking and proposing
| Gostaria de solicitar… | I'd like to request… |
| Seria possível…? | Would it be possible…? |
| Proponho que… | I propose that… (+ subjunctive) |
| Sugiro que a empresa adote… | I suggest the company adopts… |
Bringing in the input
| Segundo…, / De acordo com…, | According to…, |
| Um estudo recente mostrou que… | A recent study showed that… |
| Como foi divulgado… | As was announced… |
Closing
| Fico à disposição para mais informações. | I'm happy to provide more information. |
| Agradeço desde já a atenção. | Thank you in advance for your attention. |
| Atenciosamente, / Cordialmente, | Yours sincerely, / Kind regards, |
Two model emails
Written by us for invented tasks, to show the moves at work: the people, places and figures are made up. Read the task first, then the email.
Assunto: Proposta de clube de leitura em parceria com a Biblioteca Municipal
Prezada Diretora Helena Costa,
Meu nome é Paula Andrade, sou mãe do Lucas, aluno do 6º ano B, e escrevo para propor a criação de um clube de leitura semanal na escola, em parceria com a Biblioteca Municipal.
A biblioteca acaba de lançar o programa Leitura na Escola, que empresta coleções de livros às escolas públicas por um semestre e envia uma mediadora de leitura uma vez por semana, sem nenhum custo. Segundo o aviso publicado pela biblioteca, as escolas interessadas só precisam indicar um professor responsável e um horário fixo.
Acredito que o clube faria muita diferença para os alunos. Muitos deles, como o meu filho, não têm livros em casa, e um encontro semanal, com uma pessoa preparada para conduzir a conversa, pode transformar a leitura em um hábito. Além disso, a escola não teria gastos.
Por isso, gostaria de sugerir que a escola se inscreva no programa ainda este mês, já que as vagas são limitadas. Outros pais e eu estamos dispostos a ajudar na organização.
Fico à disposição para conversar sobre a proposta.
Atenciosamente,
Paula Andrade- The subject line and the first paragraph say who is writing and why before anything else.
- The second paragraph takes only the facts the head teacher needs from the input (free, a mediator weekly, what the school must do) and says where they come from.
- The request is explicit and has a reason to act now; the closing offers a next step.
Assunto: Cancelamento de matrícula sem multa – mudança de cidade
Prezados senhores,
Sou aluna da unidade Centro da academia Corpo em Movimento desde março, com o plano anual, e escrevo para solicitar o cancelamento da minha matrícula sem a cobrança da multa por cancelamento antecipado.
No mês passado, fui transferida pela empresa em que trabalho para Belo Horizonte, cidade onde a academia não tem unidades. De acordo com a cláusula 8 do contrato, a multa não é cobrada quando o aluno comprova mudança para uma cidade sem unidade da rede. Envio em anexo a declaração da empresa e o comprovante do meu novo endereço.
Gostaria de pedir, portanto, que o cancelamento seja feito a partir de 1º de novembro e que as mensalidades seguintes não sejam debitadas no meu cartão.
Agradeço desde já a atenção e aguardo a confirmação.
Atenciosamente,
Mariana Teixeira- The writer's situation and the request come first, in one sentence.
- The argument rests on the contract's own terms, cited precisely: that's the use of the input the markers look for.
- "Portanto" signals the conclusion; the specific date and the card leave no room for misunderstanding.
What costs marks
- Writing as yourself when the task gives you a role, or to the wrong reader.
- Forgetting the purpose: an email that informs when the task asks you to persuade or request.
- Copying sentences from the input instead of using its information in your own words.
- Mixing registers: Prezado senhor at the top and beijos at the end, or você to a mayor.
- No closing or signature, or a subject line that says nothing ("Olá").
Every email task in the past papers
Each one with who it's for and what it has to do, in our words, and its official files in the index.
- 2026/1 · Task 3the children's school: suggest bringing traditional circle songs into school, citing benefitsPractise this task
- 2025/1 · Task 3the city's mayor: ask for funding for a youth music NGO, citing its history and resultsPractise this task
- 2024/2 · Task 3general coordinators of a fashion fair: propose inviting an Amazon artisans' jewellery project to exhibitPractise this task
- 2024/1 · Task 2city governments (prefeituras): offer copies of a racial-equality law booklet for schoolsPractise this task
- 2024/1 · Task 3the city's culture department: nominate an Indigenous rapper for a festival of lesser-known artistsPractise this task
- 2023/2 · Task 2the company's board (writer works in people management): recommend a workplace nap room, citing benefits and good practicePractise this task
- 2023/1 · Task 1the city's municipal culture department: present a street fridge-library project and request funding to expand itPractise this task
- 2022 · Task 3a toy store's sales directors (writer is marketing director): propose adding Indigenous dolls to the catalogue and show brand benefitsPractise this task
- 2021 · Task 1clients on a tour package (writer is their travel agent): explain Brazilian baggage size and weight rules and give packing tipsPractise this task
- 2020 · Task 2company employees (writer is the HR manager): teach staff to spot fake news and stop spreading itPractise this task
Write one now
Our practice tasks have the input on the page and get feedback on how you used it.
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