Olá, pessoal!

I just came back from a teacher’s confererence in João Pessoa, in the state of Paraíba, and it was fantastic. And today I’m going to teach you (with a little help from Facebook) how to use the slang word “véi”.

The word “véi” doesn’t actually exist, you won’t find it in a dictionary. It comes from “velho” (old). Velho is also used when addressing a man, something like “dude”, “guy”, or “man”. Due to “phonetic laziness” some people pronounce the lh as an i.

Sometimes you will listen to people saying:

muié instead of mulher
véio instead of velho
véia instead of velha

I found this really funny image that describes how to use the word véi – an even shorter version of véio – in everyday Portuguese.

Attention! This is used mainly by young males, so be careful if and when you use it.

I recorded the audio so you can listen to the authentic intonation.

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