Tricky Verbs & Words in Portuguese Part 2

Portuguese is quite a complex language as those of you know who have tried to tackle it before. This will be a continuation of a previous post of the same name. I’d like to thank my Brazilian friends of many years for the great conversations we have in Portuguese and about the Portuguese language as it helps me profoundly to understand the rich, complex and beautiful language of Brazil.

The only difference is that this post will deal more with idiosyncratic expressions and colloquialisms, basically things that won’t be found in a Portuguese language book. I’ll be giving examples with most.

Tags

vai! – (meaning he/she/it goes), but as a tag, it means ‘c’mon’ (come on), will you? won’t you?

Ex. Fala sério, vai! (Get serious, c’mon!)

hein? – it can equate to huh, but I feel that isn’t good enough. Perhaps admiration is better.

Ex. Tá bonita, hein? (You are looking good, huh)

né? – contraction of não é? (isn’t it?). Very much in popular use, so much so that its used improperly.

Ex. Você é inteligente, né? (You are smart, aren’t you?)

Ex. of Misuse – Você mora longe, né? (You live far, don’t you?) (Instead of Você mora longe, não mora?)

né isso? – the expression above accompanied with ‘this’ (also commonly used as ‘that’). Confirmation.

Ex. Ele me deve $10 reais, né isso? (He owes me $10 reals, isn’t that right?)

tá, bom? – literally ‘ok, good,’ but used as ‘you got it?’ or ‘okay??’ with emphasis.

Ex. Não gaste todo seu dinheiro em doces, tá bom? (Don’t spend all your money on candy, okay??)

Responses

Ué – difficult to explain, the closest I can get is ‘what do you mean?’

Ex. Meus sapatos estão sujos! Eu não posso usá-los hoje! (My shoes are dirty! I can’t wear them today!)

Ué! Usa chinelos! (What do you mean? Wear your flip-flops then!)

eu, hein? – it also means c’mon but can be used as a term of surprise like ‘what a question!’ or ‘what a thing to do!’

Ex. Caramba, acordei as 5:30 da manhã hoje!! (Wow, I woke up at 5:30 in the morning today!)

Eu, hein! (what a thing to do!)

pois, é – this can denote a change of subject is needed. Also when there isn’t much to add to the conversation or to what the other person just said. Like ‘you said it…’ or ‘guess so…’ or ‘for real….’

Ex. Acho que vai chover amanhã. (I think it’s going to rain tomorrow)

Pois, é…bem, vou dar uma mergulhada (Guess so…well, I’m going to take a dip/dive)

pode crer - literally ‘you can believe it’ but also used in slang as ‘cool’ or ‘look at you!’ or ‘not bad!’

Ex. Ontem passei o dia todo na praia! (Yesterday I spent the whole day on the beach!)

Pode crer! (Look at you!)

ainda bem – thank goodness, at least its good (that)

Ex. Eu não falo inglês muito bem, mas ele, ainda bem que ele fala português…assim que a gente pode se entender. (I don’t speak English that well, but him, thank goodness he speaks Portuguese…that way we can understand each other).

credo! – ew! or gross! its a sign of disgust or nausea. Literally it means creed. (‘Aff’ is its onomonopia)

Ex. Aquele bêbado apareceu do nada ontem a noite! (That drunk guy came out of nowhere last night!)

Aff, credo! (ew, gross)

Stand Alone Expressions

qual é? (or the shorthand cúe?) – what’s it with you? what’s your problem? literally ‘which is it?’

já pensou? - have you already thought about it? but more widely used as ‘can you imagine?’

não dá – there’s no way, it’s not available, it can’t be done, it doesn’t work. Lit. It doesn’t give.

Ex. Ela tem namorado, cara…assim não dá. (She has a boyfriend, dude…there’s no way)

quem dera - if only!, what I’d give for that to happen!

até parece – yeah, right! when pigs fly! yeah, whenever that happens!

tipo or tipo assim – used to give examples, meaning ‘like’ or ‘like this’

Ex. Você não entendeu? Bem, é tipo assim, a gente estava andando… (You didn’t get it? Well, it’s like this, we were walking…)

vou nessa – I’m out of here! I’m leaving! I got to go!

deixa pra lá – let it be! forget about it! put it behind us/you

Ex. Você não entendeu? Então deixa pra lá (You didn’t get it? Then let it be!)

você que sabe – you are the one that knows best, you decide

se liga! – get with it! get connected! pay attention!

dá no mesmo – its all the same

mesmo assim – even so, even like this

como assim? – how so? what do you mean? loosely, can you explain?

na mosca! – you got it! exactly! you hit it right on the head! Sometimes preceded with the verb ‘acertar’ (to get something right)

Phrase Differences

Deixa pra lá vs Desencana vs Sai dessa! – All relatively equal. Different ways to say ‘put it behind you’

Dá no mesmo vs Tanto faz – Dá no mesmo was already explained. Tanto faz means ‘its all the same’

Peraí vs Já volto vs Calma aí – Peraí is a contraction of ‘espera aí’ meaning ‘wait there’ or ‘wait a second’. Já volto means literally ‘I already return’, basically I’ll be right back. Calma (aí) is used not to mean ‘calm down’ per se, but more so to say ‘just a second’.

Sei lá vs Eu não sei vs Quem sabe - Sei lá is literally ‘I know there’, basically ‘I don’t know’ and sometimes carries the added conotation of ‘who cares?’ or ‘I have no idea’. Eu não sei is very basic meaning ‘I don’t know.’ Quem sabe? is just as basic meaning ‘who knows?’

Word Differences

só vs sozinho – both mean alone but só can mean ‘only’ also.

Ex. Eu vi só ele na festa. (I only saw him at the party)

como vs que nem – Como means like or as, and ‘que nem’ means ‘like’ or ‘just like’ or ‘exactly like’

Ex. Sou como você. Eu sou que nem você. (I am like you. I am exactly like you) Basically the same thing.

além vs fora – Além means beyond or beside or additionally while fora means out or outside.

Ex. Eu gosto de publicidade, entretenimento e além disso, o jornalismo. (I like publicity, entertainment and beyond that, journalism.

Ex. Eu gosto de journalismo, fora isso gosto de jogar futebol. (I like journalism, outside of that, I like to play soccer)

sim vs isso! – Sim means yes while isso means this, although they can be used interchangeably at times to give confirmation. Isso is used more for when you are given a choice and what you want is currently being pointed to or mentioned.

devagar vs lento – Both mean slow and both are interchangable, even though devagar is more widely used. There is a slight difference in usage but not important enough to go into here.

esperto vs inteligente – Esperto means smart, as in slick. Literally it means expert. Inteligente means intelligent.

concerto vs conserto – Concerto means a musical concert. Conserto means a repair. Be careful a repairman in Brazil doesn’t want to take your car to a concert! lol.

privado vs particular – Privado is private, confidential or personal. Particular is a good word to learn, it means private in most other senses. Examples include a place is fenced off, that means its particular. Another example might be someone is offering one on one language lessons, that is a aula particular. Based on my own experience, I have rarely run into the word privado in Brazil.

a gente vs nós – a gente (lit. the people) means us just like nós means us. The difference is, a gente uses the ‘he/she/it’ conjugation of the verb while nós uses the ‘we’ conjugation. I’m not sure why they both exist, but they do. (I’ll write a seperate post on this subject based on a book I read).

sentido vs sentimento vs significado – Sentido means ’sense’ as in one of the five senses, although its used equally to mean ‘meaning’ while sentimento means emotion or sentiment. Significado means ‘meaning’. Confused yet?

Ex. Essa frase não faz sentido. (This phrase doesn’t make sense/have meaning)

Ex. Eu tenho bons sentimentos. (I have good feelings)

Ex. Qual é o significado dessa frase? (What’s the meaning of this phrase?)

mamado vs mimado – Mamado is to be breast-fed or suckled. Mimado is to be pampered or spoiled.

carinho vs cafuné vs carente – Carinho is affection while cafuné is a type of affection, basically rubbing someone’s head. Carente is to want carinho, lit. it means wanting or needy. 

estranho vs esquisito – Estranho means strange in general while esquisito means strange and weird, pretty much off-kiltered.

estrangeiro vs desconhecido – Estrangeiro means foreigner while desconhecido means stranger.

tadinho vs todinho vs pobrezinho – Tadinho is shorthand for Coitado meaning poor and down on your luck. Todinho is not to be confused with it because it is a children’s chocolate milk drink in Brazil. Pobrezinho is another way to say Tadinho/Coitado. Often used in affectionate ways by mothers and girlfriend’s that want to be mothers.

Verb Differences

Sacar vs Entender – Sacar is to take out, withdraw but in popular slang it means to get it, to understand something. Entender is to understand, very basic.

Ex. Me traz um suco de laranja e um todinho, sacou? (Bring me some orange juice and a todinho, got it?)

Saquei! (I got it!)

Clarificar vs Esclarecer – Clarificar means to clarify but esclarecer means the same thing. I’m told esclarecer is more commonly used these days.

Passar vs Gastar vs Levar – Passar means to pass or spend (time) or to pass on information while gastar means to spend money or to use up something, which I suppose could be time. Levar has different meanings, in this sense its to take time doing something, to spend time doing it (see comments for more explanation).

Levar vs Trazer – Levar was given one definition above, but its principal meaning is to take something or to carry something. Trazer is to bring something.

Ex. Leva esse livro à biblioteca e me traz de volta mais dois do mesmo autor. (Take this book to the library and bring me back two more from the same author)

Reparar vs Consertar – Reparar is to repair or to fix and so is consertar.

Reparar vs Perceber – Reparar is also to take note of, to notice, and thus the small confusion. Perceber carries the same connotation, although technically it means to perceive.

Ter vs Existir vs Haver – Ter is almost always used to mean ‘to have’ while Existir is to exist. Simple, right? Well, sometimes they overlap (as in the example below). Not to mention there’s also Haver which is to occur, to have and to happen. Best advice is that you’ll learn as you go and to save Haver for later (see comments for further explanation).

Ex. Tem dois carros na garagem. Ex. Existem dois carros na garagem. Ex. Há dois carros na garagem. (There are two cars in the garage)

Haver vs Acontecer – Haver was explained above (you’ll learn later, but I just want to introduce you to it). Acontecer is strictly to happen so as a safe bet, stick with it.

Ex. Houve um acidente. Ex. Aconteceu um acidente. (There was an accident/An accident happened)

Pegar vs Ficar – Pegar is to catch, unite, stick together and also generally used to get a hold of something. Ficar is to stay with something or someone. In slang, pegar is to get with someone while ficar is to stay with them for a night or maybe more. Almost the same but slightly different.

Ex. Peraí, vou pegar um suco. Já volto! (Wait a sec, I’m going to get some juice. I’ll be right back!)

Ex. Pode ir. Vou ficar aqui. (You can go. I will stay here.)

Gostar (de) vs Curtir – Gostar is to like while curtir is to enjoy. Similar but a little different.

Ex. Eu gosto de ir à praia. (I like going to the beach)

Ex. Eu curto a praia. (I enjoy the beach)

Pertubar vs Incomodar vs Chatear – Last time, I spoke about pertubar, meaning to pertube, to upset. I forgot to mention incomodar, which means to make uncomfortable or to inconvenience. They can basically be used interchangeably although incomodar has more of an apologetic tone. Chatear on the other hand, is also a way to say annoyed and also bored, depending on what you’d like to say.

Tags: colloquialisms, differences, expressions, eyes on brazil, grammar, idiosyncratic, phrases, portuguese, tricky verbs, tricky words