Portuguese slang and idiom vocabulary: 448 words
Sound like a local — common colloquial words and idioms with their natural equivalents in each language (English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese). This page lists 40 of them with their Portuguese translations, then lets you practise the full set in either direction with spaced repetition.
English to Portuguese: the first 40 words
| English | Portuguese | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| cool | fixe | |
| awesome | espetacular | |
| guy, dude | gajo | Informal for a person; friendly, not insulting in casual speech. |
| to hang out | passar o tempo | |
| to chill, relax | relaxar | |
| No way! | Nem pensar! | |
| Awesome, right? | Fixe, não é? | |
| It's a piece of cake | é canja | Idiom: very easy to do, not about actual cake. |
| It's raining cats and dogs | está a chover a cântaros | Idiom: heavy rain, not animals falling. |
| to cost an arm and a leg | custar os olhos da cara | Idiom: extremely expensive, not literal body parts. |
| to pull someone's leg | gozar com alguém | Idiom: to tease or joke with someone, not physical. |
| to be broke | estar teso | Having no money, not damaged or injured. |
| Speak of the devil | falar no diabo | Idiom: person arrives just as you mention them. |
| not my cup of tea | não é a minha praia | Idiom: not something you like or enjoy. |
| to hit the nail on the head | acertar em cheio | Idiom: to say or do exactly the right thing. |
| Good luck! | boa sorte! | Said before a performance or challenge. |
| little by little | pouco a pouco | |
| more or less | mais ou menos | |
| What a mess! | Que confusão! | |
| Are you kidding? | Estás a brincar? | |
| no worries | não faz mal | |
| awesome time | uma curtição | |
| to be fed up | estar farto | Very annoyed or tired of something; impatient. |
| on the dot | em ponto | Exactly on time. |
| big deal, a lot | um monte | |
| to mess up | dar uma bronca | |
| step by step | passo a passo | |
| It's worth it | vale a pena | |
| so-so | mais ou menos | |
| to keep an eye on | ficar de olho | Idiom: to watch or monitor, not literal eye. |
| Get it?, Understood? | Percebeste? | |
| Okay, alright | está bem | |
| to be worth nothing | não valer nada | |
| hurry up! | despacha-te! | |
| to be in a hurry | ter pressa | |
| for real, seriously | a sério | |
| That's life | é a vida | |
| Better late than never | mais vale tarde do que nunca | |
| little by little the bird builds its nest | devagar se vai ao longe | Proverb: steady progress achieves goals over time. |
| to be on cloud nine | estar nas nuvens | Idiom: extremely happy, not literally in sky. |
408 more words in the full “Slang & Idioms” library, each aligned across seven languages and scheduled for you by spaced repetition. Add it to your account and start drilling English to Portuguese in one click.
What to watch out for in Portuguese
- Accents count. Answers are graded accent-sensitively, so you need
áâãàçéêíó— LinguaSwap shows a one-tap keypad for them while you type. - 339 words carry a usage note in the full library, for the cases where a direct translation would mislead you.
Practise Portuguese slang and idiom vocabulary
Words come back just before you would forget them, and every language direction is tracked separately.