In Brazil, you can “take a cake” without eating anything. You can “take an outside” without going outdoors. And a soccer team can “take a beating” without anyone getting into a fight.
Confused?
Today, you’ll learn 12 Brazilian expressions in six pairs, using the verbs levar and dar. They’re common in everyday conversations, but translating them word for word can get pretty confusing!
Here’s what connects them: levar describes receiving or experiencing something, while dar describes causing it.
Once you see both sides of the situation, the expressions become much easier to understand.
Let’s start with that cake.
Levar um bolo
The literal translation of levar um bolo is to take a cake. But this expression has nothing to do with food.
Levar um bolo means to be stood up. You make plans to meet someone, but the person doesn’t show up: você levou um bolo (you were stood up).
It can describe a romantic date, but it can also be used for any situation in which someone agrees to meet you and then fails to appear.
Here is an example:
Ontem eu levei um bolo. Fiquei esperando por uma hora, mas ela não apareceu.
= Yesterday I got stood up. I waited for an hour, but she didn’t show up.
Now, to describe what the person who left you waiting did, we use dar um bolo: to stand someone up.
For example:
Ela marcou comigo e depois me deu um bolo.
She made plans with me and then stood me up.
Levar um fora
The literal translation of levar um fora would be something like to take an outside, which makes no sense in English.
In this expression, fora refers to a rejection, a rebuff, or a rude dismissal. So levar um fora means to be rejected, turned down, or brushed off.
We often use this expression in romantic situations, but it is not limited to romantic rejection. You can also levar um fora when you ask someone a question or try to talk to them and receive a cold, dismissive, or rude response.
For example:
Eu convidei Ana para sair, mas levei um fora.
I asked Ana out, but she turned me down.
As with levar um bolo, we can tell the story from the other person’s perspective by using dar.
Dar um fora means to reject or brush someone off.
For example:
Ana deu um fora nele.
Ana turned him down.
And in the situation where someone responds rudely, we could say:
Eu só fiz uma pergunta, mas ela me deu o maior fora na frente de todo mundo.
I only asked a question, but she rudely brushed me off in front of everyone.
Levar uma bronca
The literal translation of levar uma bronca is to take a scolding.
Levar uma bronca means to get scolded or to be told off. If someone is scolding you because you did something wrong, you are levando uma bronca.
For example:
Cheguei atrasado ao trabalho e levei uma bronca do meu chefe.
I arrived late for work and got told off by my boss.
To describe what the boss did, we use dar uma bronca, which means to scold or tell someone off:
Meu chefe me deu uma bronca porque cheguei atrasado.
My boss told me off because I arrived late.
I know the verb dar causes a lot of trouble. It’s an irregular verb, and the conjugations can be tricky. But we use it in so many expressions in Brazil that it’s totally worth getting comfortable with. That’s why I created my online course Portuguese Builder, with flashcards to help you practice the irregular verbs dar, querer, and fazer in context and learn lots of useful expressions along the way.
Now, let’s move on to levar uma surra.
Levar uma surra
The literal translation of levar uma surra is to take a beating.
This expression can be used literally when someone is physically beaten. But it is also frequently used in a figurative sense, especially in sports, when a team loses very badly.
Here is an example:
O nosso time levou uma surra: perdeu de cinco a zero.
Our team got thrashed: it lost five to zero.
In this context, levar uma surra means to suffer a crushing or humiliating defeat. In English, you could say that the team got thrashed, got crushed, or took a beating.
Following the same pattern, we use dar uma surra to describe what the winning team did:
O outro time deu uma surra no nosso: ganhou de cinco a zero.
The other team thrashed ours: it won five to zero.
Levar um susto
The literal translation of levar um susto is to take a fright.
Levar um susto means to get a fright or to be startled. We use it when someone or something suddenly scares or surprises us.
For example:
Levei um susto quando ouvi aquele barulho no meio da noite.
I got a fright when I heard that noise in the middle of the night.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that you were terrified. It can simply mean that something unexpected made you jump.
To describe what caused that reaction, we use dar um susto: to scare or startle someone. So we can describe the same experience this way:
Aquele barulho no meio da noite me deu um susto.
That noise in the middle of the night startled me.
Levar uma queda
The literal translation of levar uma queda is to take a fall—and this one is very similar to English.
It means to fall down.
For example:
Ela levou uma queda, mas não se machucou.
She took a fall, but she didn’t get hurt.
We can also simply use the verb cair (to fall):
Ela caiu.
She fell.
We also have dar uma queda. We use it to mean dropping something, as in this example:
Dei uma queda no celular e a tela rachou.
I dropped my phone and the screen cracked.
Bringing it all together
As you can see, levar doesn’t always mean to take something from one place to another.
In these expressions, it usually means that something happened to the person: they got stood up, got rejected, got scolded, got beaten, got startled, or took a fall.
And, as we’ve seen, there is a useful pattern. We use levar for the person receiving or experiencing the action, and dar for what causes it:
- Levar um bolo and dar um bolo
- Levar um fora and dar um fora
- Levar uma bronca and dar uma bronca
- Levar uma surra and dar uma surra
- Levar um susto and dar um susto
- Levar um queda e dar uma queda
Recognizing this pattern will help you understand and remember many expressions that we use in everyday conversations.
And for more practice with dar, check out Portuguese Builder. Até a próxima!
