Sense of humor is intrinsically connected to a country’s language and culture. Watching Brazilian comedy on youtube is a great way of getting to know and understand the Brazilian sense of humor. So let’s take a look at a funny video with some vocabulary explained.

You can change the settings on the video to show English or Portuguese subtitles.

 

Scene at 0:36

– Tá armando um temporal, bróder. – A storm is coming, dude.

(The word “bróder” is an adaptation of the word brother in English and people use it when talking to their friends. It means dude/bro/man)

– Então vamos meter o pé antes que o Rio de Janeiro alague. – So let’s get the hell out before Rio de Janeiro floods

(“meter o pé “means to get out quickly or to go somewhere quickly)

– Vão bora. – Let’s go.

(“Vão” is short for “vamos”)

– Aí, imagina isso na copa – Yeah, can you imagine this happening during the world cup.

In this scene they are making fun of the fact that cities flood when it rains and since the government doesn’t do anything about it there will be a problem during the world cup (the video was made before the 2014 world cup). They are also making fun of the fact that the sentence “Imagina isso na copa” (Picture this during the world cup) might have been overused when talking about the countries issues.

 

 

Scene at 0:46

– Tudo bem, cara? – How are you, man?

(“cara” is the same as man/dude)

– E aí meu broder, tranquilidade? – Hey, man. All good?

(“tranquilidade” is an informal way of asking if people are well)

– Tô bem, cara. – I’m good.

(“tô” is short for “estou”)

– Vão marcar uma parada, pra gente fazer alguma coisa.Vão marcar. – We should get together sometime, do something. Let’s do it.

(“marcar uma parada” is literally “schedule something” in an informal way. The word “parada” can also be used to mention something you can’t remember the name of or you don’t know what it is. For example: “tem uma parada na sua blusa” means “there is something on your shirt).

– Com certeza cara, vão marcar. – Sure. Let’s do it.

(“vão” is short for “vamos”)

– Demorou, meu irmão. – Sounds great, man.

(“demorou” is used when you think something is a great idea. If someone asks if you want to go out with them, for example, responding with a “demorou” shows you’re very interested in going. The word “irmão” means brother, but in this case it’s an informal way of calling someone, it means man/dude/bro.

– Valeu. – Great.

(“Valeu” can also mean thank you)

– Bom te ver, bróder. Um abraço. – Nice seeing you, man.

(People say “um abraço” to say goodbye instead of actually hugging people)

– Aquele abraço.

(means the same as “um abraço”)

– Quem é? – Who is he?

– Nunca vi na vida. – Never seen him before…

In this scene they are making fun of the way Brazilian people will pretend they know who you are and make plans to meet even if they can’t remember you and have no intention of ever meeting.

 

 

Scene at 3:20

– Partiu açaí? – Let’s get some açaí?

(“Partiu” translates as gone and is used informally to make invitations in few words, for example “partiu cinema” means let’s go to the cinema. Açaí is a Brazilian dietary supplement made from the fruit of same name)

– Já é. – Sure.

(“Já é” is also very informal and is used to accept an invitation)

The way people go and get açaí whenever they have nothing better to do. It would be the social equivalent of going for an ice cream and in the video they are making fun of the fact that it has become a fad.

 

 

Scene at 3:40

– Cuidado, pode ser dengue, hein. – Watch out, it might be dengue!

– Vira essa boca pra lá! – Bite your tongue!

(This expression translates literally as “turn your mouth to the other side” and it is used when someone says something you don’t want to happen. For example, let’s say you’re going to the beach and someone says they think it’s going to rain. Then you can say “vira essa boca pra lá”, because you don’t want it to happen).

In this scene they are showing how ridiculous the Dengue Fever situation is when the reality is that whenever a mosquito bites you you could be getting the disease and there’s no way of preventing it.

If you enjoyed the video, you should check out a youtube channel called Porta dos Fundos. The actors are famous Brazilian comedians who make short, funny videos. Most videos have Portuguese and English subtitles, don’t forget to choose the subtitles in the settings, since some of them will seem like they don’t have them. I find the videos very addictive to watch and hopefully you’ll enjoy them as well.