A palavra “papo” em português

Olá pra todos! Hi to all!

Our previous post focused on vocabulary in Portuguese connected to talking and communicating. Today’s topic will expand a little bit on that and explain the term papo – a word that is also related to speaking – and show a number of expressions and collocations with papo in our language.

Papo in Portuguese literally means crop, as in the stomach of a bird or an animal. So it is somehow loosely connected to the mouth, which might explain its origins and current meaning. So, as a slang, papo refers to a casual and informal conversation, a chat, a friendly and relaxed interaction between people.

There are many common usage phrases with the word papo. Let’s check them out and read some examples:

bater papo – it means to chat, to engage in light conversation

• Depois do trabalho a gente foi pro bar e ficamos batendo papo à noite inteira – After work, we went to bar and chatted all night
• Os jogadores on-line ter a opção de bater papo durante o jogo – Online players have the option of chatting during the game
• A gente não saiu ainda, estamos só batendo papo por enquanto – We haven’t gone out yet, we’re just chatting for now

bate-papo – bater papo is the verb, and bate-papo is the noun

• Acessar salas de bate-papo para conversar com estrangeiros é uma boa ideia para quem quer aprender um idioma – Accessing chat room to talk to foreigners is a good idea for those who want to learn a language

ficar de papo – it is similar to bater papo, it means that you have spent your time chatting with someone

• Vocês vão trabalhar ou vão só ficar de papo? – Are you guys going to do some work or are you just gonna keep chatting?
• Por que você fica de papo com ela se ela tem namorado? – Why do you keep talking to her if you know she has a boyfriend?
• Chega de ficar de papo, senão vamos nos atrasar – Enough with all the chatting, or we’re gonna be late

papo furado – when something is a lie, idle talk, meaningless conversation, gibberish, nonsense talk

• Todos acham que as promessas de políticos não passam de papo furado – Everyone thinks that politicians’ promisses are nothing but idle talk
• Não acredito nele, é tudo papo furado – I don’t believe him, it’s all gibberish
• Aquela história de que Obama teria gravado Trump era papo furado – That story about Obama recording Trump was nonsense

*Note: similar to conversa fiada from our previous post

dar papo – to engage in conversation, to be interested in talking

• Queria conhecer ele melhor, mas ele não me deu papo – I wanted to get to know him better, but he wasn’t interested
• Quando estiver viajando, cuidado para não ficar dando papo pra qualquer um – When travelling, don’t start talking to anyone

papo bom/ bom de papo – to be good at conversation

• Ele tem um papo muito bom, passamos o dia conversando – He’s a good talker, we spent the day chatting
• Não consigo me interessar por pessoas que não são boas de papo – I can’t be into people who are not good at talking

Chega de papo! Por hoje é só 🙂

Enough with the talking! This is it for today 🙂