Real Brazilian Portuguese & Culture
Popular Brazilian Portuguese Common & Colloquial Phrases II The following is a vocab list of some popular Brazilian Portuguese expressions that you will hear all the time in Brazil: “na verdade” - actually, in truth Example: “Na verdade, eu não gosto de massa.” – Actually, I don’t like pasta.” “daqui a pouco” – in a little while, in a bit [...]
DRUNK DRIVING IN BRAZIL: National A Epidemic RECORD DEATHS, BLITZ CONTROVERSY, POLICE CHECKPOINTS, PROVOCATIVE AD CAMPAIGNS, RANDOM BREATHALIZING, & A DRUNK VALET “a famosa lei seca, que esta apavorando muitos” If you’ve been to Brazil, you have probably seen ads like these, meant to make people think twice about driving drunk (although since they are billboards on the road, [...]
HOW TO LEARN PORTUGUESE The best way to learn Brazilian Portuguese (or any language) is to expand your vocabulary by gradually memorizing lists of related words. This technique will help orient your mind to making connections between words in a certain category or taxonomy, which will facilitate your retrieval of the newly learned words later [...]
PORTUGUESE & ENGLISH COGNATES A cognate is a word in one language that looks similar (or the same) and has the same (or similar) meaning as a word in another language. Cognates typically derive from the same root word in a language such as Latin. Portuguese is a Romance Language, and therefore it shares many cognates [...]
Here’s the Portuguese word of the day! If you have any words that you would like to nominate for this word of the day series, let me know! portugueseblogger@gmail.com “DESENCADEAR” desencadear – to trigger, initiate, provoke, unleash Here are some news headlines that i found using the word “desencadear“: “Livro polêmico desencadeia protesto de judeus ortodoxos em Jerusalém.” - “Contriversial book triggers protest [...]
TERRAINS IN PORTUGUESE Here are some Portuguese words for different types of terrains… terreno – terrain, land floresta – forest selva – jungle bosque – woods, grove mato – bush, jungle sertão - refers to the semi-arid region in Northeastern Brazil deserto – desert o interior – a rural area, an area with very low or no [...]
Here’s the Portuguese word of the day! If you have any words that you would like to nominate for this word of the day series, let me know! portugueseblogger@gmail.com “ENXURRADA” enxurrada – 1. a flood or outpouring of water 2. (figurative) a large quantity, abundance or outpouring
HOW TO LEARN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE The best way to learn Brazilian Portuguese (or any language) is to expand your vocabulary by gradually memorizing lists of related words. This technique will help orient your mind to making connections between words in a certain category or taxonomy, which will facilitate your retrieval of the newly learned words [...]
Here’s the Portuguese word of the day! If you have any words that you would like to nominate for this word of the day series, let me know! portugueseblogger@gmail.com “AFROUXAR” afrouxar – to loosen, slacken, ease, alleviate (especially when talking about rules, laws or regulations) “Governo federal vai afrouxar controle sobre obras da Copa e das Olimpíadas.” – The federal government is [...]
How To Speak Portuguese Like A Mineiro Translated from Mineirês, the cartoon above reads: M1 – Antes de ontem achei um quilo de carne dentro do forno. Comi tudo. Que azia que deu. M2 – Nossa senhora. Doido demais. M1 – Só pinga com mel pra descer do estômago. M2 – Isso mesmo. M1 – Olha, pra você ver, guardei um pouco embaixo da cama que é pra eu comer amanhã. M2 – *Silêncio* Vish, divide aí. Have [...]
HOW TO LEARN PORTUGUESE The best way to learn Brazilian Portuguese (or any language) is to expand your vocabulary by gradually memorizing lists of related words. This technique will help orient your mind to making connections between words in a certain category or taxonomy, which will facilitate your retrieval of the newly learned words later [...]
PORTUGUESE CHESS VOCABULARY Plan on playing chess against a Portuguese-speaking opponent? Here’s some vocab to make that easier: xadrez - chess tabuleiro - board casa - square coluna - column fileira - rank partida – game as brancas - white as pretas - black relógio - clock peças - pieces peça menor - minor piece peão - pawn bispo - bishop cavalo - knight torre - rook dama - queen rei - king roque - castle promoção - promotion xeque - check [...]
If you spend any time living in Brazil you will soon come across an institution that does not exist in the United States, but which is part of the everyday bureaucratic life of this country. Brazilian bureaucracy requires government-approved translators to translate all legal documents that originate in non-Portuguese speaking countries into Portuguese. Such a [...]
SER VS. ESTAR IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE The fact that there are two words in Portuguese that mean “to be”, ser and estar, can baffle some English speakers at first. How am I supposed to know the difference? you may wonder. First off, don’t get aggravated about it because every language has its own special characteristics that don’t [...]
THE SEASONS IN PORTUGUESE Here is some vocab for the seasons in Portuguese. Remember that since it is in the Southern hemisphere, Brazil’s seasons occur opposite to ours in the Northern Hemisphere. as estações do ano – the seasons of the year ano bissexto – leap year um ano – a year estação – season [...]
PAULISTA VS. PAULISTANO What is the difference between a “Paulista” and a “Paulistano” in Brazilian Portuguese? -A Paulista is a native or inhabitant of the state of São Paulo. -A Paulistano is a native or inhabitant of the city of São Paulo. If there are any other groups of similar words in Portuguese that get you [...]
TURMA [gang, group of people, usually friends] Vou sair com a turma hoje. – I’m going out with the gang tonight.
HERE IS A LIST OF BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE COLLECTIVE NOUNS FOR OBJECTS: acervo – collection (art, collectibles, etc) baixela – tableware bagagem - luggage cartuchame – cartridges (ie for printers, video games, etc) clientela – clientele comboio – fleet of trucks, ships, or trains elenco – cast madeixa – tress/lock of hair (bunch of hairs) molho (de chaves) – bunch of keys * ror – a [...]
Here are some Portuguese slang terms for Brazilian money, with some examples of the words used in sentences. grana – dinheiro (this is a very common slang word for money in Brazilian Portugues) Mãos ao alto, isso é um assalto, me passa a grana e o celulá! Hands up, this is a robbery, give me the money and the [...]
GREETING SOMEONE INFORMALLY IN BRAZILIAN PORTUGUESE This is just proof of how extensive that Brazilian slang vocabulary is. There are about 100 ways to greet your friends in Brazil and many of these greetings will have slightly different tones to them or shades of meaning. Sometimes there is just no great translation, our English slang inventory is simply not as [...]
