Puxar means pull, not push, which is why English speakers walk into Portuguese doors. Pretender means to intend, esquisito means weird, and a livraria is a bookstore, not a library. These false friends look like English words but mean something else. Below are the ones that cause real mistakes, with the word you actually want.
On doors in Brazil and Portugal you will see PUXE and EMPURRE, or the infinitives PUXAR and EMPURRAR. Puxe sounds almost exactly like "push," and it means the opposite: pull. Empurre is push. A simple way to remember it: the word that sounds like push is the one that is not push.
Puxar also shows up in common expressions. Puxar conversa is to strike up a conversation. In Brazil, puxar o saco means to suck up to someone, and a puxa-saco is a brownnoser. Ele puxou ao pai means he takes after his father.
| Portuguese | Actually means | For the English meaning, say |
|---|---|---|
| pretender | to intend, plan to | to pretend: fingir |
| assistir (a) | to watch (a show, a game) | to assist: ajudar |
| realizar | to carry out, achieve, hold (an event) | to realize: perceber, dar-se conta |
| atender | to answer (the phone), to serve (a customer) | to attend: ir a, frequentar, comparecer |
| prejudicar | to harm, hurt | prejudice (noun): preconceito |
| resumir | to summarize | to resume: retomar |
Pretendo viajar em maio means I plan to travel in May. If you want "he's pretending he didn't see me," use fingir: Ele está fingindo que não me viu in Brazil, Ele está a fingir que não me viu in Portugal.
Assistir is the everyday verb for watching something that is happening: Assisti ao jogo ontem, I watched the game yesterday. Careful writing and European Portuguese keep the a; everyday Brazilian speech usually drops it: Assisti o jogo. For helping someone, use ajudar: Posso ajudar?
Realizar is about making something real: realizar um sonho, to make a dream come true; A reunião será realizada na sexta, the meeting will be held on Friday. For the moment you understand something, say Percebi que tinha perdido o trem in Brazil or Percebi que tinha perdido o comboio in Portugal: I realized I had missed the train.
Atender comes up constantly: Ninguém atende, nobody is answering the phone; Já foi atendido?, have you been served? To attend a class or a school regularly, use frequentar; to attend a meeting, ir a or comparecer a.
| Portuguese | Actually means | For the English meaning, say |
|---|---|---|
| esquisito | weird, strange | exquisite: requintado, primoroso; for food, delicioso |
| atualmente | currently, nowadays | actually: na verdade, na realidade |
| eventualmente | occasionally, possibly, if it comes to it | eventually: com o tempo, por fim, mais cedo ou mais tarde |
| educado | polite, well-mannered | educated: instruído, culto, com estudos |
| sensível | sensitive | sensible: sensato |
| largo | wide | large: grande |
Telling a host that dinner was esquisito is not a compliment: Que comida esquisita means "what strange food." Say Estava delicioso instead.
Atualmente catches people because English speakers use "actually" constantly. Atualmente moro em Lisboa means I currently live in Lisbon. To correct yourself or disagree gently, use na verdade: Na verdade, eu prefiro chá, actually, I prefer tea.
Educado is mainly about manners. Ele é muito educado means he is very polite, not that he has a degree. For schooling, say Ele tem muitos estudos or Ele é muito culto.
| Portuguese | Actually means | For the English meaning, say |
|---|---|---|
| livraria | bookstore | library: biblioteca |
| parentes | relatives | parents: pais |
| data | date (on a calendar) | data: dados |
| compromisso | appointment, commitment | compromise: acordo, meio-termo |
| novela | soap opera | novel: romance |
| fábrica | factory | fabric: tecido |
| legenda | subtitle, caption | legend: lenda |
| pasta | folder, briefcase, paste | pasta (food): massa |
| balcão | counter (in a shop, bar or bank) | balcony: varanda; in Brazil also sacada |
| injúria | insult, verbal offense | injury: ferimento, lesão |
Parentes versus pais is worth drilling: Meus pais moram no Texas (my parents) but Tenho parentes em Portugal (I have relatives in Portugal). Watch the accent too: pais is parents, país is country.
A compromisso is often just an appointment: Tenho um compromisso às três, I have something at three. Pasta de dentes is toothpaste, but spaghetti is massa. And if a Brazilian mentions the novela das nove, they mean the nine o'clock soap opera, not a book.
Not every lookalike is a trap. Some endings line up reliably and let you guess hundreds of words: -tion becomes -ção (informação, nação, estação), -ty becomes -dade (cidade, universidade, qualidade), and -ly often becomes -mente (rapidamente, exatamente). Estação is a nice bonus: it means both station and season. The plural of -ção is -ções: informações, estações.
False friends stick best after you use the right word in context once or twice. Try a real situation, like asking at a livraria whether they have a book, or telling a tutor Pretendo ir à praia no sábado, and you will stop pushing the door marked puxe.
Puxar means to pull. Door signs say puxe for pull and empurre for push. Because puxe sounds like the English word push, English speakers often push doors that should be pulled.
No. Pretender means to intend or plan to, as in Pretendo viajar em maio. To pretend is fingir: Ele fingiu que estava dormindo.
Say na verdade or na realidade. Atualmente means currently or nowadays, so Atualmente moro em Lisboa means I currently live in Lisbon.
No, a livraria is a bookstore where you buy books. A library is a biblioteca.
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