Portuguese Idioms and False Friends: How to Learn 196 Flashcards (and Fix the Wrong Ones)
Learn Portuguese idioms and false friends with 196 flashcards: custar os olhos da cara, pretender, puxar, propina. Which cards to fix, and BR vs PT usage.
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Portuguese idioms paint vivid images (things that "cost the eyes of the face", rain that falls "like penknives"), while Portuguese false friends are where English speakers make mistakes: pretender means to intend and puxar means to pull. The Flip It deck Portuguese Idioms, Expressions & False Friends (deck code UO6640, 196 cards) covers both, in two clear blocks: idioms in cards 1-98, false friends in cards 99-196.
Study this deck: Portuguese Idioms, Expressions & False Friends
1 / 10It's raining heavily
Tap the card for the answer · swipe right if you knew it, left if not
Sample cards
| Front | Back |
|---|---|
| To cost an arm and a leg | Custar os olhos da cara (to cost the eyes of the face) |
| To kick the bucket | Bater as botas (to hit the boots) |
| To be caught red-handed | Ser apanhado com a boca na botija |
| To kill two birds with one stone | Matar dois coelhos com uma cajadada |
| To burn the midnight oil | Queimar as pestanas (to burn the eyelashes) |
| Pretender | To intend, to plan (NOT to pretend = fingir) |
| Constipado | Having a cold (NOT constipated) |
| Propina | Tuition fee, bribe (NOT tip = gorjeta) |
What you'll master
Idioms: estar nas nuvens, ter um frio na barriga, acordar com o pé esquerdo, quando as galinhas tiverem dentes, estar-se nas tintas, ser canja, fazer uma tempestade num copo de água, estar em maus lençóis, acertar na mosca, ser a menina dos olhos, dar um passo maior que a perna, nascer em berço de ouro, ser água passada, pôr-se a pau, agarrar o touro pelos cornos, atirar a toalha ao chão. False friends: actualmente, parentes, assistir, eventualmente, realizar, preservativo, educado, compromisso, puxar, livraria, simpático, esperto, gripe, costume, sobremesa, jornal, propina.
Fix these cards first
Most of the deck is right, but a few backs don't match their fronts:
- Card 4: estar com uma pedra no sapato means having a nagging problem, not being in a good mood. For a good mood, write estar bem-disposto.
- Card 34: quem não tem cão caça com gato means "make do with what you have", not "actions speak louder than words".
- Card 51: não contar com o ovo no cu da galinha means "don't count your chickens before they hatch".
- Cards 35 and 45 are word-for-word translations from English (dar o ombro frio, ficar com os pés frios). Natural Portuguese uses virar a cara and acobardar-se.
- Cards 11, 28 and 44 all point to estar nas nuvens. Merge them into one card.
- In the false-friend block, cards 104 and 121 are Spanish (exquisito, lectura). Keep 124 esquisito and 193 leitura, and delete 158 (quisição is not a word). Also delete fake traps like casaco/cask, pé/pea and ciúme/chewing gum, and move true cognates (cena, tópico, fábula, idiota) to a separate "safe" tag.
Know which Portuguese you're learning
The deck is European Portuguese: está a chover, controlo, estar-se nas tintas, propina as a university fee. In Brazil you'd hear está chovendo canivetes, jogar a toalha, controle. Some false friends depend on the country: bravo means angry in Brazil but fierce in Portugal, novela is a TV soap in Brazil, and propina means a bribe there. Tag those cards BR/PT. Our Brazilian vs European Portuguese flashcards guide lists the pairs. Actual/actualmente use the spelling from before the 1990 reform: today both countries write atual, atualmente.
For false friends, drill both directions: livraria = bookstore, but library = biblioteca. The same method works for the German idioms and false friends deck.
Open Portuguese Idioms, Expressions & False Friends (UO6640) in the library at flip-it.app.
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