The word for “poor thing” in Portuguese is coitado, which to the English-speaking ear may sound a bit odd, but don’t worry–it’s not a bad word. We use coitado for males and coitada for females, and add an –inho or –inha if we want to say “poor little thing.”

For example:
Ele está com dengue. He has dengue (fever).
Coitadinho! Poor little thing.

Another way we use coitado is with a possessive. As in: coitado dele, coitada dela, and coitado deles. It means the same thing, but is just a different way of forming the same phrase.

For example:
Ela foi demitida. She was fired.
Coitada dela! Poor thing!

We can also use this with the eu and nós forms: coitado de mim, coitado de nós.

For example:
Não temos dinheiro para o aluguel. We don’t have money for rent.
Coitado de nós! Poor us.