15 Brazilian Portuguese Words and Expressions We Use Every Day

The Brazilian words you'll hear most on the street almost never show up in Portuguese textbooks. That's why I put together this list of 15 common Brazilian words and colloquial expressions we use every day in Brazil, each one with real example sentences so you can see how we actually use them.

A quick note before we start: in Brazil we speak Portuguese, not "Brazilian." What does exist is a whole set of Brazilian Portuguese words and everyday Brazilian Portuguese vocabulary you won't hear in Portugal, and most of them don't have an obvious English equivalent, so a dictionary alone won't cut it.

I split the list into three parts: verbs like torcer, arrepiar and cogitar, everyday vocabulary like faxina and enchente, and expressions like encher linguiça or dizer algo na lata. If you want to keep going afterward, check out the 30 most common Brazilian Portuguese expressions too.

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Word List

These are the first Brazilian words on the list: five verbs we use all the time in Brazil that hardly any textbook explains well. A few of them look familiar, but the way we use them day to day is pretty different from what you'd guess.

Here are some sentences using the vocabulary explained in the video.

All of this vocabulary comes from my Portuguese courses. (VIP Course)

TORCER

Torcer means to twist or sprain something, like your foot or ankle, but in Brazil we use it all the time to mean rooting for a team. "Torcer por um time" is "to root for a team," and the crowd of fans is the "torcida."

• Você torce pra qual time de futebol?
• Semana passada eu tava caminhando na rua e torci o pé, tive que ir ao hospital.

ARREPIAR

Arrepiar means getting goosebumps, when the hair on your arms stands up from cold, fear or a strong emotion. We also use it for frizzy or messy hair, "cabelo arrepiado," and you'll hear "me arrepiei" at pretty much any concert in Brazil, like saying "that gave me chills."

• Tá fazendo muito frio ao ponto de eu me arrepiar, você pode fechar a janela?
• Seu cabelo tá muito arrepiado, vá se pentear porque a gente vai pra casa da sua avó.

COGITAR

Cogitar means to consider or entertain a possibility, a bit like "toying with the idea." It sounds formal, but we use it a lot in Brazil, especially in the negative: "nem cogitei" is "it didn't even cross my mind."

• O governo está cogitando a possibilidade de subir os impostos para pagar as dívidas.
• Eu nem cogitava que ele seria capaz de fazer o que fez.

ASSOAR

Assoar means to blow your nose, and it almost always comes with "o nariz": "assoar o nariz." It's one of those Brazilian words nobody learns in class until they catch a cold, and in casual speech we also say "dar uma assoada."

• Meu nariz tá escorrendo muito, tenho que ir ao banheiro pra dar uma assoada. (assoá-lo)
• Tem alguém doente aqui em casa? Eu escutei uma pessoa assoando o nariz várias vezes hoje pela manhã.

BROCHAR

Brochar means to lose an erection, and that's where its most common use among friends comes from: suddenly losing all your enthusiasm, like when something "kills the mood." It has a double meaning, so only use it with people you're close to, never in a work meeting.

• Na hora H ele percebeu que a menina não tinha tomado banho e tava fedendo muito, ele brochou.
• Eu tava todo animado pra participar do projeto mas quando descobri quem seria o gerente brochei no mesmo momento. (perdi a vontade)

The many ways to say penis and vagina in Portuguese

VOCABULARY

Here are five nouns and adjectives from everyday Brazilian Portuguese vocabulary that you'll hear at home, on the news and on the street. They're very common Brazilian words, but none of them has an obvious English equivalent, so they're worth learning with examples.

FAXINA

Faxina is a deep clean of a house or any place, the kind of top-to-bottom spring cleaning you don't do every day. The person who does the cleaning is the "faxineiro" or "faxineira," and "fazer uma faxina" is also used figuratively, like getting rid of everything that's no longer useful.

• A gente tá precisando fazer uma faxina nesta casa.
• Já ligou pro faxineiro vir hoje à tarde?

DESASTRADO

Desastrado is a clumsy or careless person, the one who's always knocking something over or breaking it. Careful, it doesn't mean "disastrous": in Brazil it's an adjective for someone who isn't careful with things, and we usually say it jokingly rather than as an insult.

• Acho melhor eu fazer isso porque tenho mais cuidado, você é muito desastrado e é capaz de quebrar tudo.
• O garçom desse restaurante é muito desastrado, sempre derruba algo na mesa.

Different ways to say YOU'RE CLUMSY in Portuguese

GRISALHO

Grisalho means graying, when your hair starts turning gray or white. We use it for hair and beards, "cabelo grisalho" or "barba grisalha," and often as a compliment, like "salt-and-pepper" in English, as you'll see in the second sentence.

• Nossa, você tá ficando velho, já tem até cabelo grisalho.
• Ela gosta de homens com cabelo grisalho.

ENCHENTE

Enchente is a flood, especially when a river overflows after heavy rain. You'll hear it a lot on the news in Brazil during the rainy season, and "inundação" works as a synonym too.

• Vi no jornal uma reportagem falando que por conta da chuva intensa é possível que haja uma enchente.
• No ano passado houve uma enchente super forte aqui na cidade e mais de 5 mil pessoas ficaram sem casa.

How to use "TER" and "HAVER" in Portuguese

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BERÇO

Berço is a baby's crib, but it also shows up in a very common expression: "nascer em berço de ouro," literally "to be born in a golden crib." It's the same idea as being "born with a silver spoon in your mouth," meaning born into a wealthy family.

• Ela está grávida de 2 meses e já comprou até o berço do bebê.
• Você fala isso porque nasceu em berço de ouro e não sabe o que é passar necessidade.

EXPRESSIONS - COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE

This is the most colloquial part of the list: five expressions we use in everyday conversations in Brazil that have no literal translation. Once you get them, you'll understand the Brazilian Portuguese spoken on the street much better, not just the textbook version.

ESTAR DE BOBEIRA

Estar de bobeira means being free with nothing to do, just chilling, which makes it perfect for inviting someone out. But watch out for "dar bobeira": it means slipping up or not paying attention and missing a chance, like "dropping the ball."

• Você tá de bobeira hoje pra gente sair com o pessoal da universidade?
• Ele não prestou atenção e deu bobeira, no final das contas perdeu tudo.

DIZER ALGO NA LATA

Dizer algo na lata means saying something straight out, no beating around the bush, even if it's uncomfortable. We use it for people who are very direct, "ele fala tudo na lata," a lot like telling someone something "to their face."

• Eu sei que ele é muito direto ao ponto, diz tudo na lata sem importar o que as pessoas vão pensar.
• Eu já tô ficando sem paciência, tô vendo a hora chegar pro chefe e dizer tudo o que eu penso na lata.

How to say I DON'T CARE in Portuguese

TOMA LÁ DÁ CÁ

Toma lá dá cá is trading favors: I give you something and you give me something back, like "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" or a quid pro quo. In Brazil it almost always has a negative tone, especially in politics, when people talk about support traded for positions or perks.

• Ele conseguiu ser reeleito, mas foi no "toma lá dá cá".
• Será que é possível conseguir algo nesta empresa sem o "toma lá dá cá"?

ENTREGAR DE MÃO BEIJADA

Entregar de mão beijada means giving someone something without them having to make any effort, what you'd call "handing it to them on a silver platter." In Brazil we use it for people who get everything handed to them, or to make it clear we're not giving anything away for free.

• Tudo que ela conseguiu na vida foi entregue de mão beijada, nunca teve que trabalhar.
• Não vou entregar de mão beijada, você vai ter que se esforçar por isso.

19 expressions with MÃO in Portuguese

ENCHER LINGUIÇA

Encher linguiça means padding something with empty content to fill time or space, like the student who writes a lot without saying anything. Literally it's "stuffing sausage," and in English you'd call it "filler" or "padding."

• A gente parou de assistir o final do seriado porque começaram a encher linguiça.
• Pagamos por 2 horas de apresentação mas depois de 45min o palestrante já não tinha muito o que falar, no final das contas começou a encher linguiça pra matar tempo.

EXTRA

If these Brazilian words left you wanting more, every region has its own vocabulary. Do you know what "arengar" or "se avexe não" mean? I explain them in the expressions from Northeastern Brazil, and if you like folk wisdom, find out what "apressado come cru" means in the Brazilian sayings you'll hear on your trip.

The 30 Most Common Brazilian Portuguese Expressions

After this vocabulary, the next step is the expressions that pop up in almost any conversation in Brazil, like "pois é," "beleza," "nossa" and "né." In the video I go through them one by one, with the pronunciation and the context where we use them.

Full post here

You'll definitely pick up more expressions we use in Brazil through the videos, but of course you need to take notes on everything covered in the lessons. If you don't, you'll forget the vocabulary.

(click to see the full post: 26 Portuguese expressions to use at work)