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Using Vague Language in Portuguese (with audio!) Posted by on Jan 23, 2014 in Learning, Uncategorized, Vocabulary

E aí, pessoal? Tudo em ordem?

In spoken Portuguese, it’s very common to use vague language. In this post I’m going to show you some examples.

Let’s start with quantities and qualities. Instead of boring you with rules, let me give you some real-life examples.

Isso custa uns mil reais. [around]
Isso custa aproximadamente mil reais. [approximately]
Isso deve custar uns mil reais. [dever is used as “must”]
Andamos uns 50 quilômetros de carro. [around]
Passamos por umas cinco cidades. [around]
Ela tem uns 40 anos. [around forty]
Ela está beirando os 40 anos. [late thirties, almost forty]
Ela tem 40 e poucos anos. [early forties]

Comprei umas camisetas hoje de tarde. [a couple of, some, a bunch of]
Coloca um pouco de/um pouquinho de sal na comida. [some, a pinch of, a dash of]

When it’s a large quantity, say:

Coloquei um monte de queijo ralado no macarrão. [a lot of]
Não se preocupe. Tem muita bebida ainda. [a lot of]
Tinha bastante gente na festa? [a lot of]
Ah, tinha trocentas pessoas na festa. [a jillion]
Comprei uma porrada de coisa na loja hoje. [a jillion – slightly vulgar]

-Ish?

To express the suffix -ish we can say:

Te pego lá pelas / umas seis. [six-ish]
Te pego umas seis e pouquinho. [six-ish]
Ela tem o cabelo meio avermelhado. [reddish]
O olho dele é meio azulado. [blueish]

Kinda?

If we cant to say “kind of/kinda” or “sort of/sorta” we say “meio” or “meio que”.

meio cansado. [sort of tired]
Estes sapatos são meio feios. [sort of ugly]
Ele meio que era nerd, mas… [kind of was]

What’s that Thingy Called?

In general situations we can say as coisas or o negócio. For objects we say coisa(s), troço(s)* or negócio(s).

Como estão as coisas no trabalho? [things]
O negócio lá tá feio! [things]

Que que é esse negócio aí na mesa?
Tira esse troço daqui! É nojento!
Pega aquelas coisas ali e joga no lixo.

*Make sure you pronounce the first o as an open vowel. Otherwise it will sound offensive.

Vague Phrases

We sometimes start sentences that use vague phrases. Check out some examples:

Eu acho que… [I think that…]
(É) difícil dizer, mas eu acho que… [It’s hard to say, but I think that…]
Eu diria… [I’d say…]
Olha, acho que é… [Look, I think it’s…]
Não tenho muita certeza, mas acho que… [I’m sure really sure, but I think that…]
De cabeça eu diria que… [Off the top of my head, I’d say that…]

…e esse tipo de coisa […and that kind of thing]
…ou algo do tipo […or something like that]
…ou coisas do tipo. […or things like that]
…aproximadamente. […or so.]

You will most likely find expressions like the ones above in everyday conversation, just like they happen in English or your native language. You don’t need to use them if you’re not ready yet. However, make sure you understand how they are used and when you’re ready, go to town!

Want more free resources to learn Portuguese? Check out the other goodies we offer to help make your language learning efforts a daily habit.

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About the Author: Adir

English / Spanish teacher and translator for over 20 years. I have been blogging since 2007 and I am also a professional singer in my spare time.