Bota frio nisso! Learn Colloquial Portuguese

This lesson was inspired by the cold front we have today in Brazil. I am in Paraty, Rio de Janeiro, and it is 8C or 46F. Here in Brazil we don’t have heaters. Everyone is freezing. If you were here, you would probably hear the following dialogue in every corner:

Brian: Que frio!” 

Luciana: Bota frio nisso!

This is a colloquial expression that we use a lot here in Brazil. I will explain what it means and how versatile it is. First, you need to know that:

• Botar = colocar = pôr = to put. The dialogue above literally translates as:

Brian: How cold!

Luciana: Put cold in this!

How to understand this expression?

Imagine a truck fully loaded with wood.

You look at the truck and say, “Look how much wood in that truck”. If I think there really is a huge amount of wood in the truck, I will answer: “Put more wood in this.” Or, “Add more wood to this.” This is one way to agree that there really is a whole lot of wood in the truck.

What is cool is that we can use this expression for several things. Check out the examples below:

Claudia: Que calor! = How hot!
Heleno: Bota calor nisso!

Clara: Estou louca de fome. = I am starving.
Rafael: Bota fome nisso.

In the text Grande Edgar, by Brazilian writer Luis Fernando Veríssimo, you will see:

“Há quanto tempo!” = Long time, no see!
Reply: “Bota tempo nisso.”

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