Repost This Article
Feature photo by SantaRosa OLD SKOOL / Photo above by Rodrigo Solon
1. Tudo bem?
Photo by Rodrigo Solon
“How’s it going?” (lit. “Everything good?”)
A super-common informal greeting. The correct response is also “tudo bem”.
2. Oí, árbitro! Cadê o penalty?
“Hey, ref! Where’s the penalty?”
A useful phrase to know when traveling to any football-loving country. Shout as needed at the television, radio, or, when possible, the referee himself.
3. Não, não posso faze-lo.
“No, I can’t do it”
Photo by SFMission.com
As my Portuguese professor once explained to me, Brazilians tend to avoid saying no. When they do say no, however, they say it as emphatically as possible. If you really want to be clear, tack on another não to the end of the sentence.
4. Legal
“Cool.”
One of the most useful slang words in the Portuguese language, you can use legal to describe a whole host of things. People can be legal, as can clothes, places, and, ironically, gangster rap.
5. Como? Não falo português europeu.
“Come again? I don’t speak European Portuguese.”
Brazilian Portuguese and European Portuguese are two very, very different dialects. So different, in fact, that Brazilian TV shows are frequently translated and broadcast with subtitles in Portugal.
Even if you already speak Brazilian Portuguese, you’ll probably need some practice before you can understand speakers from Europe or Africa.
Photo by Peter Fuchs
6. Dirige mais rápido, estamos num bairro perigoso.
“Drive faster, we’re in a dangerous neighborhood.”
It’s unfortunate, but Brazil is one of the most unequal countries in the world in terms of income distribution, and most major Brazilian cities have several favelas, or shantytowns.
While the favelas and their residents have made many important contributions to Brazilian society and popular culture, they can also be very dangerous places, especially for visitors.
7. Como vai, gatinha?
“How’s it going, baby?” (lit. “kitten”)
A pretty simple pickup line. I take no responsibility for what happens if you actually try to use it.
8. Que diabo…quem projetou esta cidade? Não faz sentido!
“What the hell…who designed this city? It makes no sense!” (for trips to Brasilia)
Photo by malias
In 1954, Brazil’s government decided that the country needed a new capital. So, they did the logical thing and built a giant, airplane-shaped city called Brasilia in the middle of nowhere.
Oscar Niemeyer was hired to fill Brasilia with unusually-shaped buildings.
9. O Brasil é lindo maravilhoso!
“Brazil is magnificent!”
Lindo maravilhoso is a Brazilian idiom which literally translates to “beautiful marvelous”. You can use this phrase to smooth things over with any Brazilian friends who may have just heard you publicly mocking their capital.
10. É o jeitinho brasileiro.
“It’s the Brazilian way.”
How can Brazil be the world’s largest Catholic country, the world’s party capital, and an industrial giant to boot?
Why did Brazil lay out its capital in the shape of an airplane and stick it in the middle of nowhere?
The answer is simple: É o jeitinho brasileiro.
Attention, Brazilians!
What do you think of the phrases above? How’s the grammar? The author is not a native speaker, so if you notice any mistakes or have other suggestions, please leave a comment below!
Going to Brazil?
Be sure to check out Ernesto Machado‘s excellent article 10 Tips to Improve Any Trip to Brazil.
Finally, for the tragic story of the Brazilian boy whose smiling face illustrates our Community Connection to Brazil graphic, click over to Beija Flor’s Brazilian street kid gallery on Matador.
Adam Roy
Born and raised in Chicago, Adam Roy is a travel writer, avid scuba diver and aspiring renaissance man. For more of Adam's writing, visit his blog at www.illadvisedadventures.com.
Connect with Facebook
It is not correct , in portugal we don´t put subtitles on brasilian shows . May be the opposite , the brasilians have some difficult understand portuguese from portugal.
Nice post!
I’m a native speaker, and I would say that 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 would hardly be said by a Brazilian. Instead one would say:
2 – Filho the puta! Foi penalti!
3 – Não, não posso or Não, não dá (para eu/mim fazer) eu fazer is the grammatically correct, but most Brazilians would say “mim fazer”.
6 – Vamos! Acelera aí porque a barra é pesada!
7 – Como vai filé? – I think “filé” is more common than “gatinha” and fits both male and female.
8 – Que merda! O que que é isso (quê qué isso).
the answer for “Tudo bem” can be just “Tudo” as well. People are saying a lot of “Tudo mara” as well. (because of a TV show that was aired 2/3 years ago).
As said before “Como” can be replaced by “oi”, “repete”, “Que (quê)”. It all depends where in Brazil you are…
“Como vai filé? ”
Em que lugar se fala isso pelo amor de Deus? hahaahahhahaha
So se for em Minas…
Eu acho que falam mais: E ai gostosa?
LOL
lol Everything started in Rio lol
E mais… Minas o povo é mais recatado! lol “E aí gostosa” já tem que ser íntimo! haha
- It was forgotten to explain that “barra pesada” is used for more other cases to a difficult situation like a “catch-22″. The meaning of this example is specific.
- “Filho da puta” and “Que merda” are inadvisable and bad expressions. Let us avoid to use them.
- I’m Brazilian native speaker and I had never heard this strange “Tudo mara” and “como vai, filé?” (?!!!)…
what does Mas que Nada translaste to?
more than nothing
No. It means “but, what a thing!”, an insignificance, a nonentity. It’s an expletive expression of anger or impatience, so it has a negative meaning.
Some suggestions:
- Point 2: “Ei, juiz! Cadê o pênalti?”. It’s the correct form to say it in Portuguese.
- Point 5 is absolutely false! There is not difficult to a Brazilian understanding European Portuguese. It’s like different accents between American and British English. Portuguese and Brazilians understand each others very well. It is the SAME LANGUAGE.
Portuguese and Spanish are DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.
- It’s great using:
“cara” (informal referring to a man, a lad, a guy) and.
“Cadê?” /kah-deh/ (or “onde está?”) (where is at?).
- Point 9: please, choose only either “lindo” (beautiful) or “maravilhoso” (marvelous).
- “Assim não dá.” (it does not work like this).
And a very-very important phrase to use in Portuguese, to bartenders:
- “Dá uma caipirinha aí!” (give me a “caipirinha” /ky-pee-reen-a/).
“There is not difficult to a Brazilian understanding European Portuguese. It’s like different accents between American and British English.” Não MESMO, não só o próprio acento, mas o significado diferente das palavras em comum também torna o Português europeu BEM difícil de ser entendendido. Pelo menos para mim e mais 12312421431 pessoas que eu conheço.
Ops, *sotaque, não acento haha.
The fact is that Portuguese is ONE language, and it’s true. It may be that you have not more contacts or conversation with Portuguese-speaking Europeans.
Differences in accents and in word meaning are normal, even between American and British English. Even inside the Portuguese among Brazilian regions and among Portuguese regions.
But it’s THE SAME LANGUAGE.
Carol Martins exatamente! eu, particularmente, nao entendo quase nada daquele portugues doido de portugal..
More than anithing, with the connotation of impatience as in “First of all!” in a sentence witha demanding bent. Losely translated, the song mas que nada by Jorge Benjor goes: ” First of all, get of the way because I want to dance the samba…”
Let us clear this subject:
In Portuguese, “MAS” is different than “MAIS”.
“MAS” = but, however, yet, even.
“MAIS” = more.
We do not confound!
—– “More = más” is SPANISH, NOT PORTUGUESE! —
2) “Oi, árbitro!” -> “Po, juiz!”
3) “Não, não posso faze-lo.” -> “não vai dar, não”, “não posso, não”.
5) ” Como?” -> “Oi?”, “Quê?”, “Ahn?”
7) “Como vai” -> “E aí”.
“como vai” can also be used, but “e aí?” is more common.
8) “Que diabo” -> “que inferno”.
Brazilians do not need subtitle for watching a Portuguese program. It is not true.
On number 6, the translation was not direct. Estamos would mean we are all because it generally applies to a group three or more.
“Nós estamos” has strictly the same meaning as “we are”. “We” (or “nós”) is plural, applied to more than one person (with the person who is speaking): it means, two or more.
if you were brazilian you wouldn’t spell it with a Z
Thanks again!
If he were typing in Portuguese he would spell with “s”, but since I were typing in English have to spell with “z”.