False Friends English Portuguese

October 9, 2018

False Friends English Portuguese

Hi, guys! How are you? At our Dica today we’re talking about the so confusing False Friends English Portuguese!

It can be really confusing trying to understand Portuguese using words in English.

False Friends are those words written in a similar way in two languages yet meaning something different altogether.

That’s why we call them False Friends, because you can’t trust them at all!

Examples of False Friends

Push:
For example, the word PUSH
In Portuguese, PUSH can be understood as PUXE, that means to pull!

Amass:
What about Amass?
Amass sounds like Amassar em Portuguese, that means to crush something.

Exquisite:
There’s also Exquisite!
Exquisite sounds like Esquisito, that means Weird in Portuguese, so it’s best you don’t use that compliment.

Funny, right? So take a look at others False Friends:

List of False Friends

Now let’s see the most important False Friends English Portuguese, also called Falsos Cognatos in Portuguese and their actual meaning in English!

English Word	Portuguese Word (translation)
Actually	Atualmente (Currently)
Agenda	Agenda (A notebook)
Alias	Aliás (Also)
Amass	Amassar (To crumble)
Anthem	Ontem (Yesterday)
Braces	Braços (Arms)
Cigar	Cigarro (Cigarrete)
Collar	Colar (Necklace)
Convict	Convicção (Conviction)
Costume	Costume (Custom)
Data	Data (Date)
Diversion	Diversão (Fun)
Exit	Hesitar (To hesitate)
Exquisite	Esquisito (Weird)
Fabric	Fábrica (Factory)
Grip	Gripe (A cold)
Legend	Legenda (Subtitle)
Mayor	Maior (Bigger)
Novel	Novela (Soap opera)
Parents	Parentes (Family members)
Pasta	Pasta (Paste)
Policy	Polícia (Police)
Push	Puxe (To pull)

And that’s it! I hope you had fun at today’s Dica!

Tchau tchau and see you later!

Click on the links below to see more related Dicas
The Expression Pois Não in Portuguese
Pretender in Portuguese
Difference Between Tirar e Atirar
Chutar o Balde in Portuguese

This post is also available in: English Português (Portuguese) Español (Spanish)

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