Portuguese Expressions

Ejemplo de expresiones en portugués: Estou com uma pedra enorme no meu sapato.

What’s up, guys!
Let’s learn Portuguese?

In one of our posts, we talked about some idiomatic expressions, very common in the Brazilian Portuguese.
Today, let’s see some popular expressions in Portuguese.

Portuguese Expressions

Abrir os olhos – To pay attention to something or to be careful.

  • José não é confiável. Preciso abrir os olhos com ele.
  • José is not reliable. I need to be careful with him.

Bater na mesma tecla – Keep on talking about the same stuff.

  • Nossa! Ele não para de bater na mesma tecla. Que absurdo
  • Wow! He keeps talking about the same thing all the time. It’s an absurd!

Baixar a bola – Calm down.

  • Acho melhor você baixar a bola, ou você poderá ter problemas aqui.
  • You had better calm down, or you may have problems here.

Dar o braço a torcer – When you change your mind or admit you are wrong.

  • Ela é uma pessoa muito difícil: nunca dá o braço a torcer.
  • He is a very difficult person: He never changes his mind.

Dormir no ponto – When you don’t have an attitude.

  • Marcos, você sempre dorme no ponto. Nunca faz nada quando deve fazer.
  • Marcos, you never take an attitude. You never do what you have to do.

Estar com uma pedra no sapato – When you have a problem or something is bothering you.

  • Estou com uma grande pedra no meu sapato. Não sei o que fazer.
  • I have a huge problem. I don’t know what to do.

Fazer de olhos fechados – A very easy task to do or that someone can do easily.

  • Acho incrível como Felipe faz esses trabalhos de olhos fechados. São muito difíceis para mim.
  • It’s amazing how Felipe does his tasks so easily. They are very difficult for me.

Onde Judas perdeu as botas – A very distant place.

  • Manoel mora lá onde Judas perdeu as botas. Muito longe!
  • Manoel lives really far from here. Way far from here!

Segurar a vela – When you are in the middle of a couple.

  • Lilian nunca sai de perto de Marina quando ela está com o namorado dela. Parece até que gosta de segurar vela.
  • Lilian never leaves marina when she is with her boyfriend. She loves to be between them.

Braço direito – Best friend or someone that you really trust.

  • José me ajuda em tudo. Ele é o meu braço direito.
  • José helps me with everything. He is my best friend.

Falar pelos cotovelos – Someone who talks too much.

  • Ela fala pelos cotovelos! Não para!
  • She talks a lot! She never stops!

Não ter pé nem cabeça – Something that doesn’t make sense.

  • Essa escultura não tem pé nem cabeça. Não entendi nada.
  • This sculpture doesn’t make sense. I don’t understand anything.

Estar com dor de cotovelo – When someone is sad because of the end of a relationship or someone who is jealous.

  • Ela perdeu o namorado. Está com muita dor de cotovelo porque viu o ex namorado com outra pessoa.
  • She broke up with her boyfriend. She is jealous because she saw her ex-boyfriend with another person.

Estar de cara amarrada – When someone has a serious face.

  • Não sei o que aconteceu. Mario está com essa cara amarrada desde ontem. Acho que ele brigou com a namorada.
  • I don’t know what happened. Mario has had this serious face since yesterday. I think he had an argument with his girlfriend.

Pôr os pingos nos iii – Make things clear.

  • Precisamos colocar os pingos nos iii. Esta situação não está muito clara.
  • We need to make everything clear. This situation is not very clear.

Ir por água abaixo – When someone has a negative result.

  • Todos os nossos planos de viajar no fim de semana foram por água abaixo por causa da chuva.
  • All of our plans to travel on the weekend went to naught because of the rain.

Bater papo – Talk to someone, chatting.

  • Gosto muito de bater papo com meus pais. Eles sempre me dão bons conselhos.
  • I like to chat with my parents. They always give me good pieces of advice.

Um “abacaxi” – A big problem.

  • Não sei o que fazer com esse abacaxi. Não sei como resolver. Acho que preciso de ajuda.
  • I don’t know what to do with this problem. I don’t know how to resolve it. I think I need some help.

Andar na linha – to do things correctly in order to avoid problems.

  • Depois que ela descobriu tudo é melhor eu andar na linha.
  • After she found out everything I better walk the line.

Cara de pau – a shameless person.

  • Mas esse Carlos é um cara de pau. Usou meu telefone sem me avisar.
  • Carlos has no shame at all. He used my phone without telling me.

Encher linguiça – to put unnecessary information into something to make it longer.

  • Essa palestra é muito chata. O palestrante fica enchendo linguiça.
  • This lecture is so boring. The speaker keeps padding out.

Nariz empinado – snob person, that gives the impression of superiority towards others.

  • A Marina tem o nariz empinado. Já viu como ela está sempre se exibindo?
  • Marina is stuck-up. Have you seen how she is always showing off?

Molhar o biscoito – to have sex.

  • Se tudo der certo, hoje a noite eu vou molhar o biscoito.
  • If everything goes right, tonight I’m having sex.

Tomar um chá de cadeira – to wait for a long time.

  • Hoje fui ao banco e tomei um chá de cadeira.
  • I went to the bank today and waited for a long time.

Barata tonta – a disoriented person that walks aimlessly.

  • Claudia deve estar perdida. Parece uma barata tonta.
  • Claudia must be lost. She looks like a headless chicken.

That’s it, guys!

We saw here more expressions of the Portuguese language. Have you heard any of these? Which one?

See ya on our next Dica!

Ler esta Dica em Português           Leer esta Dica en Español
Click in the links below to see more related Dicas
Idiomatic Expressions in Portuguese
Portuguese Informal Phrases
Classroom expressions in Portuguese
Phrases for discussion in Portuguese
Chutar o balde in Portuguese
Portuguese Word Caralho
Falar pelos cotovelos in Portuguese

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

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