If you’ve ever found yourself doing something at the last minute, or on short notice, then you’ve done it em cima da hora, literally on top of the hour. To remember it, think of yourself standing on the minute hand of a clock about to reach twelve and you’d be on top of the hour. Below, I’ll show you two examples.
Se eles cancelarem a viagem, vou ter que alterar os meus planos em cima da hora.
(If they cancel the trip, I’ll have to change my plans at the last minute.)
Desculpe se eu estou avisando você muito em cima da hora, mas não vou poder comparecer ao evento.
(Sorry if I am letting you know on such short notice, but I am not able to make it to the event.)
Estar em cima da hora
With the verb estar, this expression means that you don’t have much time left to get where you need to go or do what you need to do. For example:
Precisamos ir! O filme começa em 10 minutos. Estamos em cima da hora.
(We need to go! The movie starts in 10 minutes. We don’t have much time left.)
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