Olá, queridos alunos! (Hello, dear students!)
Did you know that many words you use every day in English don’t exist in Portuguese?
In this lesson, we’re going to study 7 words that are very common in English but don’t have a direct translation into Portuguese.
To express the same idea in Portuguese, we need to use several words and often change the structure of the sentence.
Understanding these differences between Portuguese and English will allow you to speak Portuguese more naturally and without getting stuck.
👉 This lesson comes with a free worksheet with the summary of the lesson, many examples in sentences, and exercises for you to practice. Click here to download your worksheet.
1. Outdoors
There isn’t a single word in Portuguese that expresses the idea of “outdoors.” Depending on the context, we can say “ao ar livre” (in the open air), “na natureza” (in nature), or “fora de casa” (outside the house).
For example:
Maria gosta de fazer exercícios ao ar livre. (Maria likes to exercise outdoors.)
Meu marido e eu adoramos fazer trilhas e outras atividades na natureza. (My husband and I love hiking and other outdoor activities.)
As crianças precisam brincar mais fora de casa. (Children need to play outdoors more often.)
A fun fact: The word outdoor (spelled the same way) is used in Portuguese, but with a completely different meaning. In Brazil, the word “outdoor” (with a Brazilian accent) is used to refer to advertising on a large billboard, usually along streets and highways.
2. Siblings
The English word “sibling” means brother or sister, without specifying gender.
In Portuguese, there isn’t a single word that carries exactly the same neutral meaning. We need to say “irmão” (for a man) or “irmã” (for a woman).
Theoretically, we can use the term “irmãos,” the masculine plural form, as a neutral way to include both brothers and sisters, but in practice it’s a bit confusing. When I hear the word “irmãos,” I think of male siblings, not female ones.
So, to sum up, we don’t have an ideal term in Portuguese to express the concept of “siblings.”
Let’s look at some examples in sentences:
Carol tem um irmão e uma irmã. (Carol has a brother and a sister.)
Eu tenho três irmãos, todos homens. (I have three siblings, all men.)
Você se dá bem com seus irmãos? (Do you get along with your siblings?)
3. Commute
The term “commute” in English means to travel regularly between home and work or school. In Portuguese, we don’t have a single word that conveys the same idea.
Online translators will tell you to use the word “trajeto,” but it doesn’t have exactly the same meaning and isn’t a very common word.
To express the idea of “commute,” we usually use verbs related to movement, especially the verb “ir” (to go).
For example, to say:
How long is your commute to work?
We can say:
Quanto tempo você leva para ir ao trabalho? (How long does it take you to go to work?)
or
Quanto tempo você leva para chegar ao trabalho? (How long does it take you to get to work?)
Let’s see more examples in sentences:
Como você vai ao trabalho? (How do you commute to work?)
Carol ouve podcasts enquanto vai para a universidade. (Carol listens to podcasts while she commutes to the university.)
Joana trabalha remotamente e não precisa ir ao trabalho todos os dias. (Joana works remotely and doesn’t need to commute to work every day.)
4. Chore
The concept of “chores” isn’t very common in Brazil. We can translate the word “chore” into Portuguese as “tarefa doméstica” (household task), but we don’t use that phrase as often or in the same way the word “chore” is used in the United States.
For example, to say:
I have to do some chores today.
The literal translation would be:
Eu tenho que fazer algumas tarefas domésticas hoje. (I have to do some household tasks today.)
But we are not likely to say it like that. It sounds much more natural to say:
Eu tenho que cuidar da casa hoje. (I have to take care of the house today.)
We rarely use the phrase “tarefas domésticas.” Usually, we say “cuidar da casa” (take care of the house) or we say exactly what we have to do:
Eu tenho que lavar roupa, limpar a casa, lavar a louça, etc. (I have to do the laundry, clean the house, wash the dishes, etc.)
5. Errand
Just like “chore,” the concept of “errand” isn’t common in Brazil either. We don’t have a single term that conveys the same idea. I think the most common translation would be resolver coisas (to take care of things). For example:
Passei a manhã resolvendo umas coisas na rua. (I spent the morning running some errands.)
Preciso resolver umas coisas antes do jantar. (I need to run some errands before dinner.)
Ele saiu para resolver umas coisas agora. (He went out to run some errands.)
6. Mindful
The word “mindful” doesn’t have a direct translation into Portuguese. “Being mindful of something” in Portuguese would be “ter consciência de algo” (to be aware of something), “estar atento” (to be attentive), “estar ciente” (to be aware), or “prestar atenção a algo” (to pay attention to something). For example:
É importante ter consciência das suas palavras. (It’s important to be mindful of your words.)
Ana é muito atenta aos sentimentos das outras pessoas. (Ana is very mindful of other people’s feelings.)
Preciso prestar atenção à minha postura durante o trabalho. (I need to be mindful of my posture while working.)
7. Serendipity
In Brazilian dictionaries, you’re going to find the word “serendipidade,” but we never hear this word being used. To convey the idea of “serendipity” in Portuguese, we usually say “feliz acaso” (happy accident) or “feliz coincidência” (happy coincidence). For example:
Foi um feliz acaso termos nos conhecido naquele dia. (It was pure serendipity that we met that day.)
Muitas descobertas científicas aconteceram por um feliz acaso. (Many scientific discoveries happened by serendipity.)
Encontrar aquele livro na livraria foi uma feliz coincidência. (Finding that book at the bookstore was a moment of serendipity.)
Free worksheet!
👉 This lesson comes with a free worksheet with the summary of the lesson, many examples in sentences, and exercises for you to practice. Click here to download your worksheet.
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