Falsos amigos em Português

Portuguese, like other languages such as French, Italian and Spanish, comes from Latin. So they are from the same família (family). Many words in English also have Latin origins, so you can identify that influence in a lot of nouns, adjectives and terms. This means that a large number of words in English share correspondence with vocabulary in Portuguese. It is said that there are over três mil (3000) cognates between Portuguese and English. Now, that sure makes learning easier!

Some of these words are either the same or very similar with some slight alterations. Take a look at this varied list of words. Can you recognize all of them?: animal, hospital, real, delicioso, emoção, criticismo, inteligência, ator, excelente, paciente, econômico, criativo.

(This older post may help you distinguish and understand it better: https://blogs.transparent.com/portuguese/1000-words-you-already-know-in-portuguese/)

However, our focus today are the false friends, that is, the false cognates in Portuguese. As you may know, false friends/cognates, are words that look basically the same in spelling, or sound very similar, but in fact have very different meanings. They are, of course, exceptions, because most words actually mean what they appear. But being tricked by false cognates can generate very embarassing and even funny situations. Today’s post will give you a list that will help you know who your true friends are.

So keep your friends close and your false friends even closer!

Assistir – to watch | Assist – to help

• Minha família sempre assiste TV à noite (My family always watches TV at night)
• A aluna ajudou o médico durante a operação (The intern assisted the doctor during the operation)

Fábrica – factory | Fabric – tecido

• Meu marido trabalha em uma fábrica de carros (My husband works at a car factory)
• O tecido do seu vestido é tão macio (The fabric of your dress is so soft!)

Gripe – the flu | to grip -segurar com firmeza

• É bom beber muito líqudo se você estiver com gripe (You should drink a lot of fluids if you have the flu)
• Para ser um bom jogador de golfe, é preciso ter uma mão firme (To be a good golf player, you must have a strong grip)

Livraria – bookshop | Library – biblioteca

• Minha irmã comprou o novo livro do Harry Potter na livraria da esquina (My sister bought the new Harry potter book from the bookshop on the corner)
• Preciso devolver uns livros atrasados na biblioteca (I need to return some overdue books at the library)

Notícia – news | To notice – perceber

• Você viu a notícia sobre a trágica queda do avião? (Did you see the tragic news about that tragic plane crash?)
• Não percebi que você estava com um novo corte de cabelo (I didn’t notice you got a new haircut)

Parentes – relatives | Parents – pais

• Eu tenho alguns parentes na França (I have some relatives in France)
• Meus pais não me deixaram ir à festa do Pedro (My parents didn’t let me go to Peter’s party)

Pasta – Folder | Pasta – massa

• Se precisar de alguma informação, basta olhar na pasta do cliente (If you need any information, just look in the client’s folder)
• Meus filhos adoram quando comemos massa no jantar (My children love it when we have pasta for dinner)

Pretend – to intend | To pretend – fingir

• Eu pretendo me tornar uma médica um dia (I intend to become a doctor someday)
• Ele estava fingindo ser meu amigo só porque eu tinha dinheiro (He was pretending to be my friend just because I had money)

Suportar – to stand | To support – apoiar

• Eu não suporto quando as pessoas conversam no cinema (I can’t stand it when people talk during the movies)
• Minha família me deu muito apoio na faculdade (My family gave me a lot of support during college)

É isso por hoje, vejo vocês no próximo post!

That’s it for today, see you in the next post!