Portuguese Language Blog

Hey, there!

Today let’s have some fun with tongue twisters, trava-línguas, in Portuguese. I recorded nine of them – short, medium-length and long ones.

Wanna try saying them?

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Short

Sabia que o sabiá sabia assobiar?
Lara amarra a arara rara – a rara arara da Lara de Araraquara.
O rato roeu a roupa do rei de Roma.

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Medium-length

Lá atrás daquela jarra, tem uma aranha rara.
Quando a aranha arranha o jarro, o jarro arranha a aranha.

“Alô, o Tatu tá?”
“O Tatu não tá, mas a mulher do Tatu tando, é o mesmo que o Tatu tá!”

O doce perguntou ao doce: “Qual é o doce mais doce?”
O doce respondeu ao doce: “O doce de batata doce!”

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Long

O peito do pé do Pedro é preto.
Quem diz que o peito do pé de Pedro é preto,
tem o peito do pé mais preto que o peito do pé do Pedro.

O tempo perguntou ao tempo quanto tempo o tempo tinha.
O tempo respondeu pro tempo que o tempo tinha tanto tempo
Quanto tempo o tempo tem.

Sabendo o que sei, e sabendo o que sabes,
E mais o que não sabes, e o que não sabemos,
Ambos saberemos, se somos sábios, sabidos,
Ou simplesmente saberemos, se somos sabedores.

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Oi, pessoal! Tudo bem?

How’s the weather where you are right now? Here in Bebedouro (state of São Paulo, Brazil) it’s warm and it’s been raining occasionally so you can imagine that we have a warm Christmas.

Talking about the weather is surely a good way to start a conversation with someone you don’t know, make small talk, that kind of thing, so here are some useful sentences you can use to talk about the weather in Portuguese. Practice with the audio!

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Como está o tempo hoje? – What’s the weather like today?
Nossa, que calor, né? – It’s so hot, isn’t it?
Nossa, que frio! – Wow, it’s so cold!
Adoro o calor. – I love warm weather.
Adoro o frio. – I love cold weather.
O tempo está ótimo hoje. – The weather is great today.

Está… – It’s…
quente – hot
frio – cold
nublado – cloudy
chuvoso – rainy
choviscando / garoando – drizzling
chovendo – raining
congelante – freezing
ventando – windy
meio nublado – kind of cloudy
meio chuvoso – kind of rainy
friozinho – chilly
fresco – cool
quente – warm
ameno – mild

Está fazendo trinta graus Celsius. – It’s thirdy degrees Celsius.
Está menos cinco graus Celsius. – It’s minus five Centigrade.
Está dois graus abaixo de zero. – It’s two degrees below zero.
Parece que vai chover. – It looks like rain.
Vai cair um pé d’água. – It’s going to pour.

Qual é a previsão do tempo para…? – What’s the weather forecast for…?
Vai fazer calor o dia todo. – It’s going to be hot all day.
Vai chover de tarde. – It’s going to rain in the afternoon.
Parece que vamos ter um dia de sol. – It looks like we are going to have a sunny day.
Vai ser um fim de semana chuvoso. – It’s going to be a rainy weekend.
O homem do tempo diz que… – The weatherman says that…
A temperatura está subindo. – The temperature is rising.
A temperatura vai cair. – The temperature is going to drop.

Como é o tempo no seu país? – What’s the weather like in your country?
Faz frio a maior parte do tempo. – It’s cold most of the time.
A temperatura fica em torno de… – The temperature is around…
A temperatura é amena. – The temperature is mild.
Chove muito aqui? – Does it rain a lot here?
Não chove há meses. – It hasn’t rained for months.
Faz muito frio no inverno. – It’s very cold in the winter.

É muito frio para ir nadar. – It’s too cold to go swimming.
Estou com frio. – I’m cold.
Estou com calor. – I’m hot.
Estou morrendo de frio. – I’m freezing to death.
Estou sentindo calor. – I’m feeling hot.
Estou derretendo. – I’m melting.

Tenham um ótimo fim de semana!

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We’ve looked at a number of instances when Brazilians often cut off syllables from words in spoken Portuguese, so today we’re going to look at some more. Remember that in written Portuguese, you shouldn’t cut off syllables, but in spoken Portuguese people

acabou – The verb acabar means to end. Occasionally, you’ll hear people cut off the ‘a’ at the beginning so that it becomes “cabou.”

Ganhamos o jogo! We won the game!

Cabou! [Acabou.] It’s over!

de nada – This is the phrase for you’re welcome. Sometimes, though, you’ll hear people just say “nada.”

Obrigado pela dica. Thanks for the tip.

Nada! You’re welcome!

vamos embora – This means “let’s go” or “let’s leave.” You’ll sometimes hear this shortened either as “vamobora” or simply “bora,” which is very slangy.

Estamos atrasados. Vambora! [Estamos atrasados. Vamos embora!] We’re late. Let’s go!

Bora gente! [Vamos embora gente] Let’s go guys!

Similarly, you’ll sometimes hear people cut off the ‘s’ from vamos to become vamo‘.

imagina – Imaginar can be used in a number of ways, but as an expression – imagina! – it can mean “think about that”/”Wonder what” or “no problem.” In this context, you’ll sometimes hear people cut off the ‘i.’

-Obrigada querida. -’Magina! [Imagina] Thanks honey. No problem.

-’Magina na Copa. [Imagina na Copa] Wonder what [will happen] during the World Cup.

aguenta aí – This is a slangy expression for “wait a sec” or “hold on.” You’ll sometimes hear people cut off the first ‘a.’

‘Guenta ai bróder! [Aguenta aí bróder] Wait a sec dude!