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De Repente Posted by on Jul 24, 2007 in Uncategorized

Here’s a neat colloquial ‘hack’ in Brazilian Portuguese. Instead of using ‘talvez’ to say ‘maybe,’ you can say ‘de repente.’ De repente usually mean ‘suddenly,’ but it is commonly used, at least in Rio, as ‘maybe.’

While ‘talvez’ requires the subjunctive e.g. ‘quem sabe, talvez seja melhor ficar aqui,’ you can use ‘de repente’ with any voice.

Here’s a pretty common situation you might hear ‘de repente’ in:


João: “Você quer ir à festa na Lagoa hoje para dançar forro?”
Marcos: “Não sei, de repente a gente encontra mais gatinhas na festa lá no Centro.”

Here Marcos uses ‘de repente’ and the indicative to suggest an alternative, though dubious, plan.

Also you can use the conditional: “de repente levaria menos tempo andar na praia,” or the subjunctive: “de repente seja porque ele é chato.”

In a weird way, it kind of makes sense that ‘suddenly’ could mean ‘maybe.’ To me it’s easy for some reason to make the connection, though I admit I had no idea whatsoever what it meant the first time I heard it used. It’s pretty neat once you get the hang of it.

De repente você gosta da minha dica…

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Comments:

  1. Carla:

    That’s it!

    You’re thoroughly right! ‘De repente’ in Brazilian Portuguese has got such a weird meaning.

    CURIOSITY:

    Have you ever heard such a weird expression with the verb “pegar” when someone is telling someone else a happening or explaining him to do something?

    “Aí você pega e vai; eu peguei e disse pra ela…” I think in English people would use “kind of (kinda)”.

    What do you think?

  2. gaucho:

    I would argue that kinda translates better as mais ou menos, or even tipo.

    in my opinion, pegar in the sense described above is semantically empty, and analogous to an (outdated) UK slang expression, turn around, as in
    he turned around and said such and such.

    The subject in the sentence never actually did turn around, it’s just an embellishment/emphasizer.

  3. Jonice:

    I can’t emphasize highly enough how much I liked reading your posts. I’m a Brazilian who teaches English in a non-conventional way and for that very reason I can see how rich your understanding of some Portuguese expressions is.
    Muito legal! Super bacana!

  4. Hermes Pacini:

    Terrific. Gostei muito do que ví aqui.
    Temos um termo muito usado que, se ainda não foi explicado, poderia agora: Demorou (ou Demorô).

  5. Luiz:

    Alguem conhece uma expressão em língua inglesa equivalente a “chutar o pau da barraca”?

  6. Nat:

    Here I am, 5 years late!

    Chutar o pau da barraca = breaking bad 🙂

    It’s not a perfect translation but I believe it’s the closest one.