Expressões IdiomáticasIdiomatic expressions , or idioms, are expressions that you shouldn’t interpret literally. Portuguese idioms have a symbolic meaning, which is rarely maintained upon literal translation into other languages. These expressions reflect the customs and history of the country and are part of all conversations of the Portuguese, rich or poor, from North to South of Portugal. They often incorporate slang words and can be used to convey irony, exaggeration, or impatience, or even just to save time.
Or, as we say in Portugal:
Poupar o nosso latimSpare our Latin
This expression, Poupar latimSpare Latin , is itself idiomatic, and is based on the fact that Portuguese is a language originating from Latin.
During the 1755 earthquake, two convents collapsed in Lisbon, one with the name Carmo and one with the name Trindade. It was here that the expression Cair o Carmo e a Trindade appeared, which initially implied terror and panic. Although it still retains that meaning, nowadays it is often used in an ironic tone, when you fear the consequences of something unimportant. For example:
Ui, parece que caiu o Carmo e a Trindade!Yikes, it looks like the crap hit the fan
There is another expression which, supposedly, also originated on that terrible day: resvés Campo de Ourique. Resvés means by an inch and Campo de Ourique refers to an area of Lisbon that narrowly escaped the destruction caused by the earthquake.
Foi mesmo resvés Campo de OuriqueYou cut it pretty close
Another old Portuguese idiom, which references the lifestyle that the French General Junot and his soldiers maintained during the French invasions, is à grande e à Francesa. It means with luxury and abundance or, more literally, in a big and French way. You can use it, for example, when having dinner at a buffet or, ironically, if someone keeps asking you for things, favors, or money.
Isto aqui é tudo à grande e à Francesa!We do it big here!
If you have a lot of experience in a specific job or know a lot about a particular subject, muitos anos a virar frangos is an expression you can start using. Although the literal meaning is many years turning chickens, it’s not just for those who cook chicken on a barbecue. If someone says to you “Wow, you sure know what you’re doing!”, you can reply by simply saying:
São muitos anos a virar frangosI know the ropes
Keeping with the theme of Portuguese gastronomy, we have the expression encher chouriços, which literally means filling chouriços. Chouriço is a type of Portuguese blood sausage. We use it whenever we have to wait for something or someone and, during that wait, carry out useless or unimportant activities. In these cases, we can say that:
A professora estava a encher chouriços na aulaThe teacher was padding out the lesson
When a problem is easy to solve you can say that é de caras. People also use it when something is obvious.
Mas isso é de caras!But that's easy!
However, de caras can also appear preceded by the verb darto give . For example, “dei de caras com o Paulo”, which means you bumped into Paulo while doing something else.
Feito num oito means messed up and it can be used literally if someone is hurt or figuratively, if the person is in a tough situation.
Ele ficou feito num oitoHe's all messed up
Of course there are also Portuguese idioms related to death. One that is very common is bater as botas, which is a simple euphemism for dying. There are other similar ones, such as esticar o pernil (literally stretch the leg) and ir desta para melhor (literally move to a better one).
Parece que ele bateu as botasLooks like he died
Estive quase a ir desta para melhorI almost died
There are many, many other expressions like these, and you can practice them in the following lessons. Get ready for some laughs!
Idiomatic Expressions 1
I really appreciate this unit! It is perfect to learn common expressions. Now I have to start listening for them in my daily life :-). Thank you for this unit and for doing a great job with your site!
I think that this is the most dispiriting unit in the whole couse. It is a guessing game at best. I have just come back to it after completing all the units and am faced with the same issues. I just cant remember these after a few minutes. They make little sense when translated. There is no chance of me remembering them in a month.
I have so much to learn in Portuguese….just not this stuff at this time. I will take a rain-check.
Sorry R & J. I am usually among your greatest supporters.
Mac
Hi Mac, sorry you didn’t like this unit. Idioms can be frustrating since, like you said, the literal translation makes no sense! Don’t be discouraged though – not all the units are going to be useful for everybody, and I think you can safely ignore this one. I would think of idioms as more of a bonus, rather than a requirement. You’ll probably learn many of the more common idioms by picking them up over time in conversation.
Hi. I certainly found these challenging at the beginning. The only way I could deal with them at first was to only do one unit of idioms at a time, then go to other units until I felt that I had a grip on the first batch of idioms, then return to the next chapter of idioms.
Finally I started writing them down with the translation on the other side and reviewing them. That works quite well.
Thanks for including these!
When I was an English teacher in the German speaking part of Switzerland some years ago, I dedicated part of a lesson to an advanced conversation class to the use of idioms, and I did it by giving them small cards with a) the English idiom, b) the German equivalent, and c) the literal translation. It went amazingly well and the learners really enjoyed it. A couple of my favourites were:
She’s a bit batty . = Sie hat nicht alle Tassen im Schrank. = She does not have all her cups in the cupboard.
To muddle through = Durchwuersteln. = To sausage through.
Idioms can be SUCH fun!!
What a great idea! I agree, it’s fun to try to figure out the actual meaning from the literal translation. 🙂
Eu gosto muito desta lição, mas não é muito fácil lembrar-me nessas expressões.
This was a nice diversion from the daily grind of learning just the basics. Won’t remember many but a few I will. Bater as botas and ir desta para melhor. I’m 67. My wife is going to get tired of hearing those two.
I don’t know why, but Mac’s comment irritated me. It sort of implies that English language idiomatic expressions somehow make perfect sense, when they have no logical meaning to a non-English speaker or English learner. For example:
Chew the fat.
Under the weather.
Cat got your tongue?
Bob’s your uncle.
A piece of cake.
Quit cold turkey.
My neck of the woods.
Thick as thieves.
Wipe the floor with [someone].
These make very little literal sense to non-native English speakers without a lot of practice. Just chill and learn them. Or, opt to not use these expressions in your daily life.
Boa tarde!
I always find idioms very interesting. I am Puerto Rican (I live in Praia da Luz, probably the only PR in Portugal…), and we have hundreds of idioms that we use constantly. Some are serious, others hilarious, others sarcastic. I love it!
Thank you for this lesson!
Boa! Gusto muito disto. Mas … o que significa “oito” e “de caras”? Quais são as suas origens?
Olá, Reva. Não pude confirmar as origens, mas é possível que a expressão “Feito num oito” esteja associada à forma torcida (twisted) do número 8. Por outro lado, “caras” pode traduzir-se literalmente por “faces”, pelo que podemos pensar em “é de caras” como algo “in your face” (algo óbvio, evidente).
I’m from Canada but currently live in the US. One expression we use in Canada which they don’t have a clue what we mean in the US is “Fill your boots!” It generally means “Go for it!” We’ve found that this expression is also used in the UK. Is there anything like it in Portuguese?
Haha, I’ve never heard that expression (Joel must have). We don’t have any similar/equivalent expression in Portugal, as far as I know 🙂
Maybe I’m a little dense but I can’t tell from the explanation above what ‘poupar latim’ actually means as an idiom. Can anyone explain?
It means to spare our words, i.e. to stop talking or not talk so much 🙂
Thanks Joseph! Could you say “Deveria poupar meu latim” to mean I should stop talking, or say “poupe seu latim” telling someone to shut up?
You can use both, absolutely 🙂 Using it to shut someone up is more common, I’d say!
Hi Matthew. I totally agree. The study of any idiom in any language, including English, is by definition hard but also fascinating and rewarding when you produce it correctly and in the right context. I teach English as an additional language to teenagers and almost all I’ve ever met love trying to learn and use some more idioms. An idiom is a little window into a different culture and can prevent people from beating around the bush, if you’ll allow me that one :-).
It is great to quote these expressions, for they make us mature.
What about Nao poipas nao tems. Something like that. When you don’t take care of your things you will never have nice things.
Olá! I guess you mean “Não poupas, não tens” or, in a more general wording, “Quem não poupa, não tem”. Indeed, that’s also an idiom we might use in Portuguese, mainly about saving and using money responsibly.
“Feito ao bife. “ can it also be – feito de bife?
And “não foi pêra doce “ and – not não foi uma pêra doce?
These idiomatic expressions are fixed, so they should stay as “feito ao bife” and “não foi pêra doce”. “Feito de bife”, although grammatically possible, would be interpreted very differently (literally as “made of steak”), whereas “Não foi uma pêra doce” keeps the same meaning, but doesn’t match the established wording of the idiom.