Brazilian Portuguese -- Street talk and useful phrases

[sucuri]

If you can speak Spanish already, you'll have a much easier time in Brazil 'cause they'll more or less understand you. Still, here are some phrases and words I've found useful...

Arranjar -- (verb): to hook up with, without the recipiant paying anything. Ex. E aí meu irmão, da pra me arranjar um cigarro seu? Hey bro, could you hook me up with one of your cigarettes?
Carona -- A free ride. Ex. Será que pode me dar uma carona até a próxima cidade? You think you could give me a lift to the next town?
Dar uma força: To help out, usually with money, but could mean give a hand too. Ex. Você não quer dar uma força para nós? You don't wanna help us out a little? (money). Or, you're struggling with something heavy. You say to your friend, "Ey Marlón! Me da uma força aqui!" Hey Marlon! Help me out here!
Irmão, amigão, mano, sangue-bom, maluco, moleque, meu parceiro -- all equilivant to "bro," "dude" or "man"
Meu patrão, Senhor, Senhora, Capitão, Doutor -- More formal ways of referring to somebody
E aí! -- What's up!
Vem cá rapidinho -- Come here real quick
Tá por aí -- It / he / she's over there
Eita! / Ûpa! -- Whoa!
Porra! -- Damn!
Espera aí rapidinho -- Hang on a sec
'Bora / Vamos lá -- Let's go.
O Sr./a Sra pode arranjar um pouco desses restos de comida para nós? -- Could you hook us up with some of those scraps?
Bleck / baseado / feijão / skunk / maconha / Manga Rosa / Camarão -- Weed
Uma gelada / uma cerveja: Beer
'Bora tomar uma -- Let's go have a drink (alcoholic)
'Bora quebrar um / Tocar uma Flauta / Espremer Um -- Let's go smoke one (could be weed or crack or whatever, not cigarettes though)
Bêbado / porre / bebão / embriagado / ximbrado -- drunk
Chapado / lombrado / viajando -- Stoned, trippin'
Porra....tô chapadão mano -- Damn....I'm really stoned, man.
Malandro -- Scumbag, crook, thief
Malandragem -- Scumbaggery, Thievery. Crook-like behavior.
Sacanagem -- Fucking around, either literally or figuratively. Ex. Literally: Ontem a noite foi muito sacanagem...transemos por quatro horas, ela nem quis parar para beber uma água. Yesterday night there was a lot of fucking around going on...we screwed for four hours, she didn't even want to stop for a drink of water. Figuratively: Parem com essa sacanagem, gente! Stop fucking around, guys!
Fuder, transar -- to fuck, to have sex (vulgar)
Fazer amor, fazer sexo -- To have sex (not vulgar)
Cagar -- To take a shit
Cagar no pau -- Literally, "to take a shit on the dick" -- or, to fuck something up.
Pisar na bola -- Literally, "to step on the ball" -- or screw something up. Less vulgar than the above.
Vai te embora / Cai fora d'aqui / Some! -- Get outta here!
Tu é doido -- "You're crazy." But it could also mean "No way!" Ex. Tu é doido maluco! Não vou comer esse pão não. Já tá com bem umas três semanas no fundo da sua mochila. No way, dude! I ain't eating that bread. It's been in the bottom of your backpack for at least three weeks.
Tu é foda, mano -- "You suck, man." But it could also mean "you're sick, man!" Like, if your buddy grabs a guitar from somewhere and starts shredding Van Halen on the sidewalk. You could say Porra! Tu é foda mesmo!
Isso é foda -- This sucks. It could also mean this is awesome, depending on your tone.
Foda-se / Vai se ferrar /vai tomar no cu -- Go fuck yourself / Fuck off / Stick it up your asshole (The last one's fightin' words if you don't know the guy or if you really mean it. But it's cool if you're joking with friends)
Tô com fome / sede -- I'm hungry / thirsty
Tirem essa merda d'aqui -- Get this shit outta here
Aqui da pra te pousar sim -- It's cool if you crash here (referring to squats)
Aqui não da pra te pousar não -- Not cool to crash here
Muita polícia -- Lots of cops
Pouca polícia -- Few cops
Filha da puta -- Son of a bitch
Caralho -- Asshole
Puta que pariu -- Literally, "The whore that shat you out." Parir is an extremely vulgar verb meaning "to be born." The nice way of saying it is dar luz -- literally, "to give light." But you can't say puta que te deu luz -- you'll sound like Flanders. "Oh, dag diddly darn it!" Anyway, puta que pariu is used like, Puta que pariu! O cara foi embora com o meu dinheiro, mano! Goddammit! The guy disappeared with my money, man! Or puta que pariu! O que foi isso?? Holy fuckin' shit! What was that??
Eu vou te esperar bem aí -- I'm gonna wait for you right over there.
Quanto tempo? -- How long?
'Bora pra lá -- Let's go there...over there
Eu vou dormir -- I'm going to sleep
Tô cansado -- I'm tired
Vou vazar / Eu já vou -- I'm gonna bounce
Tu já vai? -- You're leaving already?
Pode ser. -- sounds good / could be
Pois é... -- Yeah...Uh-huh...Well...
Pode crer -- Right on.
O Sr / a Sra. não quer comprar um / uma...-- Would you like to buy a....
Não quero não / Quero sim! -- Nah, don't want it/any / Yes I want some!
Estou procurando -- I'm looking for
Estou meio perdido... -- I'm kinda lost...
Socorro! -- Help me!

Anyway, that's all for now. Hope it helps anyone who makes it down here. Brazil is pretty much a bum's paradise. Always warm. Friendly people with a vulgar sense of humor. Beaches. Shit tons of street kids in the cities. Easy food. Easy money. Beautiful women. Cheap booze. Only thing lacking is the weed -- that could be a lot better.

 

[sucuri]

Oh, and here is a cool language trick I learned down here:

In the English language there are about 200 words that end in the suffix -tion. Like Nation, Ration, Competition, Inhibition, Prohibition, Attribution, Attraction, Faction, Complication, and Concentration.

There is a really simple way to turn these into Portuguese words. Simply remove the -tion suffix, and add the Portuguese -ção (pronounced "saow"). So then, our English words turn into Nação, Ração, Competição, Inibição, Proibição, Atribuição, Atração, Facção, Complicação and Concentração. There are just as many words in Portuguese that end in -ção as there are in English that end in -tion. Of course, there are a few exceptions -- but most translate perfectly this way.

Now think of some English words that end in the suffix -ty. Like Liberty, City, Tranquilty, Humanity, Velocity, Maternaty, Contability and Capacity.

To turn these into Portuguese just remove the -ty and add -dade (pronounced "da-jay). And now we have Liberdade, Cidade, Capacidade, Humanidade, Velocidade, Maternidade, Tranquilidade and Capacidade. Once again, there are some notable exceptions, like for example felicidade in Portuguese means "happiness," not "felicity."

There's more; think of English words that end in the suffix -nce. Like Competance, Fluence, Assistance, Permanance, Intelligance, Patience, Flatulance, and Concience. Just replace the -nce with -ência, and you get the Portuguese words Competência, Fluência, Assistência, Permanência, Inteligência, Paciência, Flatulência, and Consciência.

Lastly, take English words that end in -al. Like Crystal, Floral, Cannibal, Total, Animal, Continental, Artificial, Radical, Professional, Fiscal, Moral, and Suicidal. These words are the excat same in Portuguese as they are in English. You just change the pronunciation a little bit -- for example, "crystal" would be pronounced krish-tahl and "artificial" would be ahr-chi-fee-seeahl As usual, there are some exceptions, like Espacial in Portuguese is not "Espacial" in English.

And you know what, you can even use this for Spanish. It's almost exactly the same, since Spanish and Portuguese are sister languages. For -tion just put -ción (so that Action and Fraction become Acción and Fracción), for -ty put -dad (so that Atrocity becomes Atrocidad), and for -nce use the same, -éncia (Fragrance becomes Fragréncia). The -al words also just stay the same. The only differance between Spanish and Portuguese with these words is generally when they are in plural form; for example, "generals" in Portuguese is Generais, whereas in Spanish it's Generales. Cannibals? Canibais (PT), Canibales (ES). Morals? Morais (PT), Morales (ES). So in Portuguese the plural ending is generally an -is, wheras Spanish is generally an -es.

Sorry for the lecture...I just thought I would add that. Apart from being extremely useful, it's downright interesting! And think about it -- you just learned about 800 Portuguese words in the time it took you to read this post

 

[ATX]

Well damn dude. I don't even know where to begin. Some useful phrases and such, it just makes me feel like an idiot reading it though. I keep trying to pronounce the words and know for a fact I am nowhere close haha.

 

[sucuri]

@ATX, once you get used to the accent the words start to roll off your tongue. Just remember in Brazil, "J" is "ej," "H" is "L", "T" is "ch", and "R" is "H", and "D" is "J"

....maybe that is a little confusing too. Sorry dude. You just gotta get used to it

 

[roughdraft]

awesome

RIP