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I Messed Up Posted by on Jun 10, 2008 in Learning

There are a few ways to say “I messed up” or “I made a mistake.” Here they are:

1. Pisei na bola. [Pee-zay nah boh-lah]

This expression literally means “I stepped on the ball.” In reality, it means “I made a big mistake.”

Eu esqueci meu passaporte em casa, mas só reparei agora no aeroporto. Pisei na bola!
I forgot my passport at home, but I only noticed that now, in the airport! I made a big mistake.

2. Fiz besteira. [Feez best-ae-rah]

This expression means “I messed up.”

Eu bati o carro do meu pai. Fiz besteira.
I crashed my dad’s car. I really messed up.

3. Fiz mal. [Feez maw]

This means “I made a mistake,” but could also be translated as “my bad.”

Eu perdi a minha câmera. Fiz mal.
I lost my camera. I made a mistake.

4. Dei mole. [Day moh-lee]

This expression means “I messed up.”

Eu colei na prova e a professora me viu. Dei mole!
I cheated on the test and the teacher saw me. I messed up!

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Comments:

  1. Junior Sousa:

    Hey, what’s up?

    I’m Brazilian, born in Rio de Janeiro, lived in NY, and now at São Paulo for almost 8 months. I speak a little bit of english, I have to deal with business all day long, because I work for an international company here, and the “sócios” (partners) are gringos (foreigners). So that’s part of my job. Reading all over this web site I sent to one of them, to try to make them speak more and more portuguese =)
    but this two sentences bellow does not sounds like alright for me. I’ll put my comments capitalize just to split what is comment and what is not, does not mean that I’m yelling, ok? 😉

    3. Fiz mal. [Feez maw]

    This means “I made a mistake,” but could also be translated as “my bad.” ACTUALLY THIS CAN’T BE TRANSLATED AS “MY BAD” CAN BE “I DID BAD”
    THE WORD FIZ COMES FROM THE VERB FAZER (WICH MEANS ( I DO )AND OBVSIOLY IF YOU DO SOMETHING BAD IS YOUR BAD, SO COULD BE “MY BAD” 🙂

    Eu perdi a minha câmera. Fiz mal.
    I lost my camera. I made a mistake.
    -> THIS KIND OF SENTECE NOBODY SAYS, RIGHT ?
    NOT HERE IN BRASIL, IT’S TOO BASIC, OF COURSE PEOPLE CAN UNDERSTAND BUT WHY COMPLICATE?

    Estou triste, perdi minha câmera.
    I’m sad, I lost my camera.
    SOUNDS A LOT BETTER.

    Grande Abraço,
    (Big Hug)

  2. Christopher:

    Are there other meanings of ‘dar mole’?

  3. Eduardo Siqueira:

    “Fiz mal”, não.

    “Foi mal” é a forma usada.

  4. Renato:

    I would add
    “Pisei no tomate” (pee-zay noo too-much) literally, “I stepped in the tomato”, wich has the same meaning of “pisei na bola”. The expression “foi mau” is slightly different, once it generally expresses “excuse me, my mistake”.