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Dude! Man! Mate! Bro!
For many learners who are seeking to speak the informal Portuguese of Brazil, the following vocabulary items are an absolute ‘must.’ Though the terms vary from region to region, a firm grasp of these words will help the casual Portuguese speaker fit in and make friends in no time.
- Cara dude: Rio de Janeiro
- Meu Buddy: São Paulo
- Meu rei Lit: my king; buddy: Bahia
- Mano Bro: São Paulo (and beyond)
- Rapaz Guy: everywhere
- Broder Brother: Bahia, Ipanema and beyond
- Mané Dude (slightly aggressive): Rio de Janeiro
- Malandro Lit: street hustler; Dude: Rio de Janeiro
- Mermão Lit: my brother; Bro: Rio de Janeiro
- Cabra Lit: goat; Dude: Nordeste
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Pagar Mico means to be embarrassed. Specifically, pagar mico refers to whatever you did to embarrass yourself.
An example would be: “Ele escorregou no tapete na casa da minha avó. Pagou mico!” He slipped on the rug at my grandmother’s house. Pagou mico.
Other circumstances of pagando mico would be spilling a beer on your girlfriend, public incontinence, calling someone by the wrong name, and so forth. If someone does something really really embarrassing it is called a king-kong.
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MY favorite way of saying “of course” in Portuguese is lógico. Cleary cognate with the English logical, this is a great one-word phrase that communicates support of a proposition.
It is common for Spanish-speakers learning Portuguese to look for a counterpart to por supuesto, the standard phrase used to communicate this idea in Spanish. Though technically the phrase por suposto exists, it is my impression that it is rarely used in Brazil these days.
Another alternative that is essentially the same as saying lógico is Claro.
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Sometimes we all get a little annoyed, no matter what language we speak. This post will show you how to express your frustration in the most succinct and culturally common manner.
Chatear is the first word you will need to know; it means to bother or annoy. If you are upset, you may say that you are chateado/a; this is a very common saying. Someone who is generally the cause of such feeling is said to be chato/a, or even a pentelho.
A synonym for chateado is saco cheio. Stronger still is the expression “p. da vida”. Likewise, the verb chatear can be substituted by encher o saco, which is clearly related to the phrase above.
And if you are looking for the right way to say a pain in the butt in Portuguese, look no further: “um pé no saco” works perfectly.
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The use of the verb Dar to give with the alternate meaning to be possible is ubiquitous in Brazil.
Using dar in this manner is different from using poder; dar indicates possibility and likelihood of an occurrence in an impersonal way. Poder serves to specify literal ability: he can complete the task, it is believable, ‘I can get from here to there by bike’ and so forth. Dar is better used to say it will work, it will be possible, ‘this will work with my plans’, ‘there will be enough time’ etc.
Examples:
Vai dar pra você reunir um pouquinho mais tarde? Can you meet a little later?
Dá para ele comprar mais duas? Can he buy two more?
Note that the sentiment in these examples is not ‘is it physically possible’ but rather ‘is it going to be a possibility’ or ‘is there the option to…?’ In the second example, the question is not ‘is he physically capable of buying two more?’ but rather it implies something like ‘are there any more to buy?’ or ‘does he have enough money to buy to more?’ or even ‘does he have time to buy two more?’
See the difference?
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