Turn this distinction into automatic recall
Falando teaches Brazilian Portuguese through grammar, vocabulary, audio, examples, and spaced review, so confusing pairs stop feeling like guesses.
Quick answer
Fortuito describes an unforeseen chance event; aleatório describes lack of a determined pattern or a random selection method.
A reliable test is to identify the job of the word before translating from English.
What each word does
fortuito
fortuitous or unforeseen
Use fortuito for happening by chance or outside reasonable prediction and control.
aleatório
random
Use aleatório for selected or occurring without a determined pattern, often by a random procedure.
How to choose
- fortuito: Choose fortuito if the sentence points to happening by chance or outside reasonable prediction and control.
- aleatório: Choose aleatório if the sentence points to selected or occurring without a determined pattern, often by a random procedure.
Examples
O encontro fortuito mudou o rumo da pesquisa.
The chance encounter changed the course of the research.
A amostra foi escolhida de modo aleatório.
The sample was chosen randomly.
Common trap
A random sample is aleatória by design, not fortuita. A chance encounter is fortuito even without a statistical procedure.
Practice it in context
Pick one sentence from your real life and write it twice: once with fortuito, then once with aleatório. If both versions feel possible, name the meaning shift.
Turn this distinction into automatic recall
Falando teaches Brazilian Portuguese through grammar, vocabulary, audio, examples, and spaced review, so confusing pairs stop feeling like guesses.