How to say ‘call’ in Portuguese Posted by carol on Nov 26, 2019 in Grammar, Learning, Vocabulary
You might remember the scene: two men are standing on the sidewalk, one of them asks the other: call me a cab! to which the other replies: you’re a cab! Well, these two are none other than the great Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor in the unforgettable 1952 musical Singing in the Rain. In addition to the obvious comic effect of deliberately changing the meaning of the verb call, this dialogue also shows the many possibities for the word. In Portuguese, we can translated it as ligar or chamar, but it all depends on the context! This is why it is important to learn the distinctions between them properly. So you may know how to call your friend a cab in English, but can you do so in Portuguese? I guess coming here was a good call, then. Let’s get to business!
CALL AS A VERB | CALL COMO VERBO
to call as to give a name do someone or something | nomear algo ou alguém:
CHAMAR (DE)
- Nossa família acabou de adotar um cachorro do abrigo. Nós vamos chamá-lo de Rex | Our family just adopted a dog from the shelter. We are going to call him Rex
- Prazer em conhecê-lo, Sr. Richards – Por favor, você pode me chamar de Charles | -Nice to meet you, Mr. Richards – Please, you can call me Charles
- Angelina Jolie e Brad Pitt chamaram o filho de Shiloh. Eu acho que é um nome adorável | Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt called their son Shiloh. I think it’s a lovely name
- Essa catedral é chamada de St. Vito’s | This cathedral is called St. Vito’s
- Médicos usam um instrumento chamado bisturi para realizar cirurgia | Doctors use a device called scalpel to perform surgery
to call as to use your phone to talk to someone | usar o telefone para falar com alguém: LIGAR (PARA)
- Vou informar Miss Rowland que você ligou. Gostaria de deixar uma mensagem para ela? | I’ll let Miss Rowland know you called. Would you like to leave her a message?
- Ligue para a polícia, alguém invadiu nossa casa! | Call the police, someone broke into our house!
- Ligaremos para você assim que tiver mais informações sobre sua solicitação | We will call you as soon as I have more information about your request
to call as to have an opinion about something | ter uma opinião sobre algo: CHAMAR (DE)
- A imprensa chamou Daniel Day-Lewis de um dos melhores atores de sua geração | The press has called Daniel Day-Lewis one the best actors of his generation
- As pessoas chamam o Pelé de rei do futebol | People call Pelé the king of soccer
- Hoje em dia todo mundo pode se chamar de “life coach” mesmo que não possua qualificação | Nowadays everybody can call themselves a “life coach” even if they have no qualification
- Você não precisa me chamar de idiota só porque eu entendi a resposta errada | You don’t need to call me stupid just because I got the answer wrong
to call as to use your voice to get someone’s attention or ask them to come to you | solicitar a atenção de algo ou alguém: CHAMAR
- Estarei na cozinha, me chame se precisar de algo | I’ll be in the kitchen, call me if you need anything
- No Brasil, geralmente chamamos as pessoas pelo primeiro nome em qualquer situação | In Brazil, we usually call people by their first name in any situation
- Meus irmãos e eu brincávamos no quintal até nossa mãe nos chamar para entrar para o jantar | My brothers and I would play in the yard until our mother called us inside for dinner
- I think he’s hurt. We’d better call an ambulance | Eu acho que ele está machucado. É melhor chamarmos uma ambulância
CALL AS A NOUN | CALL COMO SUBSTANTIVO: LIGAÇÃO OU CHAMADA
- Long distance calls are always much more expensive | Ligações interurbanas são sempre muito mais caras
- I have 5 missed calls from my mom! This cannot be good | Tenho 5 chamadas perdidas da minha mãe! Coisa boa não pode ser
Let’s call it a day!
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