Brazilian Portuguese Lesson: Ficar na minha

Vou ficar na minha = I will keep to myself

In life, we’ve all had moments when we wanted to keep to ourselves, in the sense of staying away from other people. Of course, the secondary meaning would be to keep something a secret (ex, “keep that to yourself!”), but I’ll focus on the first definition today. So, how does one get this message across in Brazilian Portuguese? Ficar na minha is the general way you’d say it, though it’d need to be suited to the person talking or being talked about.

Let’s try the following phrase:

• Today I am going to keep to myself.

In Brazil, you’d say:

• Hoje eu vou ficar na minha.

So you can see how it changes depending on who’s talking. If you are talking about someone else, you can use “ficar na sua/dele/dela”.

For example: João told you that he did not want to go out tonight; he wanted to keep to himself. Later, on the phone with Milena, you can say:

• João não vai com a gente. Ele disse que quer ficar na dele hoje.

= João is not coming us us. He said that he wants to keep to himself today.

 

⇒Video lesson: How to use “A gente” – Make your Portuguese even Smarter

 

This phrase “ficar na minha” isn’t the complete thought, but don’t worry, no one says the rest. The Aulete dictionary explains what I mean further under their definition for “Minha”:

Popular use: Minha posição, opinião; meu lugar (My position, opinion; my place)
[In this sense, it’s applied only in particular use cases: estar (or ficar) na minha.]

 

Vou ficar na minha = I won’t get involved

Let’s look at a second definition and a direct translation:

Hoje eu vou ficar aqui na minha = Hoje eu não vou me envolver nisso (em alguma coisa) = Hoje eu vou ficar de fora = Hoje eu não me envolverei com a opinião, teoria etc. de ninguém.

Today I’m going to keep to myself = Today I’m not going to involve myself in that (in something) = Today I’m going to stay out of it = Today I will not involve myself in anyone else’s opinion, theory, etc.

Here is an example: You are having dinner with your friends Ana and João when they get into an argument. You consider saying something, but then you decide that it will be better to not get involved. You think to yourself:

• É melhor eu ficar na minha. = I better not get involved.

Later you tell your friend Milena:

• Eu fiquei na minha. = I did not get involved.

So, there you go! With this Portuguese lesson you have a new way to express yourself naturally in Portuguese.