Learn 10 false cognates
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| Top 10 false cognates in Portuguese |
| E aí gente, beleza? Hi everyone, how are you? Welcome to Top 10 false cognates in Portuguese |
| 1. puxar / empurrar "to pull / to push" |
| I always get confused when I get to a door and it’s written “puxar” or “to push.” Because I never remember if it’s “puxar” to pull or “empurrar” to push. |
| É pra puxar ou empurrar? "Is it for pull or to push?" |
| 2. assistir / ajudar "to watch / to assist" |
| You can actually use this word “assistir” to mean “assist,” but we usually use this to mean “watch.” |
| Eu estou assistindo um filme. "I’m watching a movie." |
| 3. na verdade / atualmente "actually / nowadays " |
| So many people get confused with “actually” because they think it means “atualmente”, or “nowadays, currently” in Portuguese. But it means “na verdade.” |
| Na verdade, eu não quis dizer isso. "Actually, I didn’t mean to say that." |
| 4. colégio / faculdade "school / college" |
| So you might confuse “college” with “colégio.” But we use the word “colégio” to mean private schools or more specifically high schools. |
| Eu fui pro colégio hoje. "I went to school today." |
| Ele já está na faculdade. “He’s already at college.” |
| 5. esquisito / requintado "weird / exquisite" |
| So, if you just come to Brazil and say “Humm, que esquisito!”, people will be like “wow, you’re criticizing my food!” because it means "Hmm, that’s weird!”, not “hum, that’s rich, that’s tasty.” So you could say “Nossa que esquisito! Eu tinha deixado aqui.” “Wow, that’s weird! I had left it here.” |
| Esse é um prato muito requintado. “This is a very exquisite dish.” |
| 6. idioma / expressão idiomática "language / idiom" |
| That’s a pretty easy way to get confused, because “idiom” means “expressão idiomática” and not “idioma”, which means “language.” |
| Eu sei muitas expressões idiomáticas nesse idioma. "I know many idioms in this language." |
| 7. pretender / fingir "to intend / to pretend" |
| These two verbs sound verb similar: “pretender” and “to pretend.” But they are totally different. “Pretender” means “to intend”: |
| Eu pretendo ir ao Brasil ano que vem. "I intend to go to Brazil next year." |
| Ele está fingindo que está ajudando. “He’s just pretending he’s helping.” |
| 8. lanche / almoço "snack / lunch" |
| So this is actually one of the first false cognates that I learned when I was in English school, because my teacher just asked me “What did you have for lunch?” and I was like “No, I didn’t had lunch yet.” I’m just… You know, it’s just 2 o’clock. I just had… ah, how do you say that in English? Oh, that’s “lunch.” Yeah, “almoço” is “lunch,” and “lanche” in Portuguese is “snack.” So I was saying “I didn’t had any snack yet” (or so I thought). You know, I got confused! |
| Ela nunca almoça e sempre toma lanche. "She never has lunch and always eats snacks." |
| 9. parente / pais "relative / parents" |
| Yes, that’s very confusing. You can say: Os meus parentes vão vir hoje. "My relatives are coming today." |
| Os meus pais não vieram. “My parents didn’t come.” |
| 10. realizar / perceber "to carry out / to realize" |
| So these are very tricky two verbs. “Realizar” and “realize.” |
| Nós vamos realizar uma festa semana que vem. "We are carrying out a party next week." |
| Eu não percebi que eu estava errado. “I didn’t realize I was wrong.” |
| The end! O fim! That’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed it, and didn’t get confused. Let us know in the comments if you have any questions! |
| See you next time! Tchau! |
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