Category Archives: Phrases

Tal Phrases

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A seguir, umas frases e tal ; )
Below, some phrases and stuff

Tal - Such, Like (or Said)
Ex. Falam que tal livro conta a história de nosso povo.
Ex. They say that said book tells the history of our people.

E tal / Coisa e tal – …and stuff / and things like that / etc.
Ex. O livro se trata de dragões e tal.
Ex. The book is about dragons and stuff.

Tal…tal… – Like…like…
Ex. Tal mãe, tal filha.
Ex. Like mother, like daughter.

Que tal… – How about…
Ex. Que tal a gente se encontrar na quarta-feira que vem?
Ex. How about we meet up this Wednesday?

*the title of the post, if written in Portuguese, would be ‘tais frases’ since ‘tal’ becomes ‘tais’ in plural form.

Rethinking Phrases

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There are some phrases in Portuguese, like any other language, that perhaps need some rephrasing. One of them is “fazer o quê?” which is sort of like a rhetorical way of saying “well, what do you want me to do about it?” Perhaps a better phrase would be “o que fazer?” While the first phrase suggests inaction, the second one suggests action.

Likewise, there’s another phrase (I mean, verb) which is “esperar“. When you wait for something, you may feel rather imprisoned by the feeling, as if someone else must act or something else must happen for that hope to turn into something real and tangible. Here, I suggest “esperançar” as a replacement. Over at Mitancunhã, a blog where I found the topic being proposed, the author references a song by Aldir Blanc called “O Bêbado e a Equilibrista” where one of the lines says “esperar sentados, porque em pé cansa” (“wait sitting down, because standing is tiresome”). The author continues to say that “if by waiting, we’re invited to sit, hoping invites us to dance” and “if waiting means standing still, hoping means to be already on one’s way”.

I’m sure all languages could benefit from a bit of rethinking in order to inspire its speakers to ask “why not?” instead of “why?” but who knows, maybe language used to be less cautious but human behavior somehow made our speech dictate our actions…or vice-versa.

More Info

Mitancunhã (in PT)

Cross My Heart… – Phrases

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In English, we have a phrase that goes “Cross my heart, hope to die(, stick a needle in my eye)” which acts as a way to convey trust. In Brazil, it’s not so literal but there is a comparable phrase. Before I get to it, another English phrase is “I swear on my (insert relative here)’s grave” which means the same. In Brazil, one swears on the health of someone important to them.

Ex. I swear! Cross my heart, hope to die.
Ex. Eu juro! Pela saúde da minha mãe.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be one’s mother. You can also say “juro por Deus” (like “I swear to God”).

The Famous “Depois” – Phrases

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I love how certain words in other languages require one to ‘read between the lines’. To me, ‘depois’ (after) is one of those and Brazilians are famous for saying it. There’s what it means and then there’s what it probably means.

Imagine a situation where someone has offered me something or asked me to do something. If I respond with “depois eu faço” or in the case of food, “depois eu como”, what I’m most likely doing is being polite in my refusal or at least in the uncertainty that I will, in fact, do the thing in question.

There’s another way to use depois, which I feel like I’ve discussed here before (yet a search of my posts reveals nothing). After just doing a Google search for “depois eu que sou…” to come up with an example to use, I saw “depois eu que sou a bêbada!” This is basically a way to say “…and they call me a drunk!” (or “…and I’m the one that get’s called a drunk!”) One can presume that the conversation was about person A drinking but then it is found out that person B seems to drink a lot more so person A would say the phrase. Get it?

Post-edit: For more on this, see Danielle In Brazil‘s post.

Vem Cá – Informal Phrase

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Most of us who are sufficiently versed in Portuguese know that the phrase “vem cá” means “come here” (though, technically, I suppose it should be as a command, ie “venha cá” ). There’s a second meaning which can be loosely translated into English as “hold on”, “wait just a second”, “listen up” or even “pay attention”, all of them serving as a way to call attention to something you wish to say.

Ex. “Vem cá, o que está acontecendo aqui?”
Ex. “Hold on a sec., what’s going on here?”

So how do you tell the difference between someone wanting you to come closer or wanting you to listen up? Aside from understanding the context, the informal usage has a slightly different intonation than the literal one.

In Portuguese, a substitute for “vem cá”, in the informal sense, is the phrase “olha só”. Some people might have an aversion to this secondary usage and may respond by saying “Vem cá pra onde? Eu não estou aqui já!?” (Come where? Am I not already here?).

Without Salt – Phrases/Slang

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I just learned a new phrase for saying a woman is a plain Jane. I haven’t confirmed if this is applied to men as well but I wouldn’t see why not. It seems to go like this, since salt is seasoning and seasoning generally makes food more appealing or interesting, then to say someone is without salt, means they’re boring.

Ex. Ela é muito sem sal e não sei o que ele vê nela.
Ex. She is such a plain Jane and I don’t know what he sees in her.

You may also see “sem sal, nem açúcar” which is basically the same, meaning without salt, nor sugar.

To Miss Work/Class – Phrases

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Since the verb ‘to miss’ has a few meanings, one might end up interpreting such a phrase as ‘I missed work today’ or ‘I missed class today’. For this, you wouldn’t use ‘sentir falta (de)‘ because that is used to express the idea that you miss something that is not or no longer present in your life. What do you say then? The verb ‘faltar (a)‘!

Ex. Hoje, eu faltei ao trabalho.
Ex. I missed work today.

To say you missed class, just change ‘o trabalho’ for ‘a aula’. Keep in mind that you will also see ‘Eu faltei no trabalho/na aula’, so don’t worry, it means the same thing. Knowing what verb requires something else after it or with it is called regência verbal, in grammatical terms…but that’s another post!

Also keep in mind that if you wish to express truancy/playing hooky/cutting class, you would say ‘Eu matei aula‘, so that’s ‘matar‘ (to kill). Another verb for truancy is ‘cabular‘, as in ‘cabular aula‘, which is more specific although less used.

The Seven-Headed Monster – Phrases

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Bicho de Sete Cabeças is a phrase in Brazilian Portuguese that means “seven-headed monster”, which can be employed in English, although it isn’t the most common way to express such an idea. In Brazil, though, this is a common expression used to describe a very difficult thing. A student, for example, could say that math is a “seven-headed monster”, meaning that it is a hard thing to go to battle against (as the mythological animal was).

The expression is often used to describe an overreaction. When saying that someone “made a seven-headed monster”, the person is in fact saying that this “someone” is seeing big difficulties or problems when they are small or even do not exist. In the Brazilian movie of the same name, the main character’s father overreacts when sees his son with a marijuana cigarette. Instead of trying to solve a small familiar problem, he thought that it was a huge problem that should only be solved with psychiatric intervention. So, it can be said that he made a seven-headed monster.

Ex. Calma! O português não é um bicho de sete cabeças!
Ex. Chill! The Portuguese language isn’t that complicated!

Fazer Cú Doce – Phrases

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While this phrase might seem inappropriate (considering cú means a-hole), it really isn’t when you consider the way it is used. The colloquial idiomatic Brazilian-Portuguese phrase actually means ‘to want something but to pretend you don’t’ and in this sense, the person offering will insist until it seems like you are the one doing the favor. Basically, the person feigns disinterest or indifference probably because they like playing little games with people in order to attract attention or perhaps they think the more that the person offering insists, the more they care. Among interested parties (one who wants to date the other), it can be considered ‘playing hard to get’ (fazer de difícil).

Ex. Aquela menina me deu bola, mas na hora que eu a convidei pra sair, fez cu doce.
Ex. That girl was into me, but when I invited her out, she pretended like she wasn’t interested. 

Other ways to say the same thing in Portuguese would be fazer doce, fazer charme or fazer frescura. Btw, if you want to read a joke that uses the phrase, see the second explanation on Informal Dictionary.

Fairy Tale – Phrases

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Today I learned a new phrase which can be used in two ways. First, let me tell you the normal way to say ‘fairy tale’, which is conto de fadas (lit. tale of fairies) although the one I just learned is conto de carochinha (lit. tale of little lies), although either can be used to talk about something that is or seems like a lie. The example I heard was ‘racial democracy in Brazil is a mere conto de carochinha,’ at which point I had to look up carocha.

Carocha can mean ‘beetle’ (and thus one will find this name as an alternative to the Fusca by Volkswagon…which we call a ‘VW Bug’ in English), ‘dunce hat’, ‘witch’ and a ‘lie’.