Olá, pessoal! Hi, people!

Last week we learned about the idiom pois é in Portuguese.

(Here is the link, in case you missed it:

https://blogs.transparent.com/portuguese/the-pois-e-in-portuguese/ ). Now we are going to see other colloquial expressions that we Brazilians use all the time, mostly in spoken language or online. I’m talking about né and tá.

NÉ

The né carries the idea of, “right?”, “isn’t it?”. It works like a tag question. It is a contraction of não + é (not + is), therefore, isn’t it?. We add né at the  end of a sentence when we expect confirmation or validation of something said.

So: Vocês vão me levar com vocês na viagem, não é? becomes: Vocês vão me levar com vocês na viagem, né? (You guys are going to take me to the trip, aren’t you?)

• Hoje tá quente, né? (It’s hot today, isn’t it?)
• Que aula chata, né? (What a boring class, right?)
• Quanto tempo seu filho vai morar no Canadá? -Três meses – Nossa, três meses é muito tempo, né? (How long is your kid going to live in Canada? -Three months -Wow, three months is a long time, isn’t it?)
• Vocês estudaram pra prova, né? (You guys studied for the test, didn’t you?)
• Lembrou de trazer seu passaporte, né? (You remembered to bring your passport, didn’t you?)
• À noite nós vamos sair, né? (We’re going out tonight, right?)
• É melhor deixar pra trocar dinheiro quando a gente chegar, né? (It’s better to exchange the money once we get there, isn’t it?)

Sometimes it is even used as a sentence connector, with no precise meaning:

• Eu perdi o ônibus né, então tive que comprar outra passagem (I missed the bus, right? So I had to buy another ticket)
• O vôo era longo, né, aí acabei dormindo (The flight was long, right? I ended up sleeping)

TÁ

Another similar structure is “tá”. Tá is short for está, from the verb estar (to be) in the third person singular (as in: Minha irmã está cansada – My sister is tired).

So it can be used informally as a reduced form of the verb, as in:

• Onde você tá? (Where are you?)
• Meu chefe tá nervoso hoje (My boss is nervous today)
• O que tá acontecendo aqui? (What is going on here?)
• Minha mãe tá na cozinha (My mom is in the kitchen)
• Você tá louco? (Are you crazy?)
• Minha bateria tá acabando (My battery is running out)
• Tá fazendo frio aí? (Is it cold there?)
• Meu pai tá me chamando (My dad is calling me)

Tá also expresses acceptance and assent, and in some contexts it can be translated as okay:

• -Não chegue em casa tarde! –Tá, mãe (-Don’t get home late! –Okay, mom)
• -Te espero lá, tá? –Tá, até logo (I’ll see you there, okay? –Okay, see you later)
• -Lave as mãos antes de comer! –Tá (-Wash your hands before you eat! –Okay)

Finally, there are many idioms that use tá, most of them meaning the same as tá, that is, conveying agreement, such as: tá bom, tá certo, tá legal, (all of these mean alright, okay, cool).

-Não deixe o ar condicionado ligado –Tá bom (-Don’t leave the air conditioner on –Alright)

-Amanhã temos que acordar cedo – Tá legal (-We have to wake up early tomorrow –Okay)

Now take a look at this short dialogue with everything we learned:

-Tá ficando tarde, né? (It’s getting late, isn’t it?)

–Pois é. Vamos embora? (I know. Let’s go?)

–Tá. Vou pegar o carro. (Okay. I’ll get the car)

Até mais!

See you guys!