• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Street Smart Brazil

We teach smart Portuguese

  • Contact
  • My Account
  • Cart
  • Policies
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Service
    • Disclaimer
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Speak Portuguese With Ease
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop for Lessons
  • Starter Kit
  • Testimonials
  • Resources
  • Blog
Cara: 5 Expressions to Sound Great Speaking Portuguese

Cara: 5 Expressions to Sound Great Speaking Portuguese

posted on July 21, 2015

Cara: 5 Expressions to Sound Great Speaking Portuguese

The other day I was talking to a good friend who is from São Paulo. We hadn’t had a good chat in a while. It was great to catch up.

Being from São Paulo, my friend uses the word Cara quite a lot. She uses it as I explain in section 5 in this post.

But the funny thing is that the word cara came up in a couple other ways in our conversation. Being a word geek, I couldn’t help but notice it.

We were discussing how things are so expensive here in Brazil. We used an idiomatic expression with the word cara to express that idea.

Then I mentioned how surprised I was with a few things. The word cara made its way again into our conversation through a different colloquial expression.

So here it is for you: 5 idiomatic expressions with the word cara in Brazilian Portuguese. Use these expressions to sound natural and cool when speaking with your Brazilian friends and family!

At the end of the article, I give you links to 3 additional expressions with cara.

Ready? Keep learning.

1. Estar na cara

Meaning: to be obvious.

You know when you can tell that someone is upset (or happy or angry) just by looking at their face? Even if that person denies the emotion, we can see it clearly on their face. That is the meaning of “estar na cara”. Literally it means “to be on the face”.

Want to sound more natural?

You might already know that here in Brazil we rarely say the verb Estar with all its syllables. In spoken Brazilian Portuguese and in informal written Portuguese, we drop the first syllable.

I will use the informal shortened Estar in the examples below to help you practice. Your Portuguese will sound more natural this way.

For written professional communication, use the verb with all its syllables.

Examples:

1) Leve um guarda-chuva com você. Tá na cara que vai chover. (opening picture)

= Take an umbrella with you. It definitely looks like it will rain.

Slide1

 

2) Tá na cara que você não acredita em mim.

= It’s obvious that you don’t believe me.

 

3) Paulo devia estar aqui há 30 minutos. Tá na cara que ele não vem para a reunião.

= Paulo should have been here 30 minutes ago. It is obvious that he is not coming to the meeting.

 

2. Ser a cara de alguém

Meaning: to look just like someone, to be the spitting image of someone

Examples:

1) Aninha é a cara da mãe.

= Aninha looks just like her mother.

Cara: 5 Expressions to Sound Great Speaking Portuguese

 

2) Tiago é  cara do pai.

= Tiago is the spitting image of his father.

 

3) Cris, a Aninha é a sua cara!

= Cris, Aninha is your spitting image.

 

3. Custar os olhos da cara

Meaning: to be very expensive; to cost an arm and a leg

Literally translated: to cost the eyes of your face

Examples:

1) A comida aqui é maravilhosa, mas custa os olhos da cara.

= The food here is wonderful, but it costs an arm and a leg.

 

2) Produtos de tecnologia no Brasil custam os olhos da cara.

= Technology products in Brazil cost an arm and a leg.

 

4. Ficar de cara

Meaning: to feel surprised, to be in disbelief.

Examples:

1) Todo mundo ficou de cara quando o Brasil perdeu de 7 a 1 para a Alemanha.

= Everyone was in disbelief Brazil lost 7 – 1 to Germany.

Cara: 5 Expressions to Sound Great Speaking Portuguese

 

2) Eu tenho um negócio inacreditável pra te contar. Você vai ficar de cara.

= I have something unbelievable to tell you. You will be in disbelief.

 

3) Fiquei de cara quando Paloma pediu demissão do trabalho.

= I was very surprised when Paloma quit her job.

 

5) Cara

By itself, cara can mean “dude”.

Examples:

1) Cara, estou exausto hoje.

= Dude, I am exhausted today.

 

2) Calma, cara. Você não vai resolver nada dessa forma.

= Calm down, dude. You won’t find a solution to anything this way.

 

2 Additional Expressions with the Word Cara

I have two additional great expressions with the word cara in my book 51 Portuguese Idioms – Speak Like a Brazilian. Get the book at Amazon.com to make your Portuguese smarter and sound really good speaking the language.

coverfront-51port

 

One more: Livrar a cara

Yes, cara, I know! We have so many expressions with the word Cara.

I explain the expression Livrar a cara in another blog post. Learn it here.

 

You want to speak Portuguese correctly, but you certainly don’t want to sound like a textbook or as if you’ve just traveled in time from 20 year ago, right?

At Street Smart Brazil we make sure that you learn correct Portuguese for all occasions AND that you are able to choose the best words for each occasion.

Why struggle with Portuguese? We can help you move from learner to speaker of Brazilian Portuguese. Book a Trial Lesson to see for yourself how we can help you speak comfortably.

Portuguese Lessons via Skype

Related Posts:

  • 4 language learning hacks for your Portuguese
  • My Favorite Online Dictionaries to Learn Portuguese
  • Brazilian Portuguese Idiom: Não é a minha praia

About Luciana Lage

I’m Luciana, founder of Street Smart Brazil. I am so happy to be able to help you in your Portuguese speaking journey! Teaching Portuguese as a foreign language was one of the best things that could have happened in my life. I’ve had the privilege of teaching Portuguese at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of San Francisco. Now I am fully dedicated to the Street Smart Brazil community.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Want to see your pic by your comment? Get a free custom avatar at Gravatar.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • Brazil
  • Brazilian music
  • Brazilian Portuguese
  • Business Culture
  • Culture and History
  • Flashcards
  • Food
  • Grammar
  • Idiomatic Expressions
  • Learning Languages
  • Pronunciation
  • Resources
  • Video lessons
  • Visiting Brazil
  • Vocabulary

Schedule a Trial Session

Testimonials

I absolutely love learning Portuguese with Street Smart Brazil! Top four strengths of Street Smart Brazil:
  • A perfect combo of order and flexibility: you have a roadmap of the learning process, you… Read more
Togzhan
I always wanted to learn a second language, but as much as I tried, I couldn’t manage to do it on my own. Much to my surprise, after learning with Street Smart Brazil, I find myself speaking in sente… Read more
Michael
Street Smart Brazil and their instructors have proven themselves to be patient, smart, helpful, and true professionals in their craft. Learning a new language for me has been one of the most challen… Read more
Blake
Choosing to take classes at Street Smart Brazil was the best decision that I’ve made since deciding to learn Portuguese.  My classes are going very well. Every week my instructor gives me more challe… Read more
Michael

Find Resources

Make your learning fun and easy with good resources.
Learn More

Recent Posts

  • Brazilian Portuguese Idiom: Não é a minha praia
  • Brazilian Books You Need on Your Bookshelf
  • How to use ONDE and AONDE in Portuguese
  • Master Question Words in Portuguese: O que, Que, Qual
  • Meio or Meia? How to say KIND OF in Portuguese

Search

Cart

Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil

Footer Subscribe

Footer Full CTA

Book a Trial Lesson today to get started.

Get Started Now

Footer CTA

Street Smart Brazil

  • About
  • Shop For a Portuguese Class
  • Testimonials
  • Blog

Portuguese Classes

  • Trial Lesson
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Subscription
  • One-on-One Portuguese Lessons via Video Meetings – Packages
  • Celpe-Bras Prep Classes with Street Smart Brazil


Street Smart Brazil, LLC

phone 415.573.8180
email info@streetsmartbrazil.com
Oakland, California

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Disclaimer
  • Sitemap

© 2014–2023 Street Smart Brazil, All Rights Reserved.