• 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
Learn Portuguese: Simple words, double meaning in Portuguese – Part 1

Learn Portuguese: Simple words, double meaning in Portuguese – Part 1

posted on March 5, 2014

Portuguese Lesson: Simple words, double meaning in Portuguese

Just like in English, there are words in Portuguese that either look or sound like other words. Four that come to mind rather quickly are seu, sua, são and vão. You may very well recognize all of these words for their most used definitions. Below, I’ll show you what else two of these words mean (and, in another post, I’ll talk about the other two).

Seu

In its most used sense, seu is a possessive pronoun, like “your” is in English (your car – seu carro). In its secondary sense, seu is used as a form of respect towards someone masculine and it always comes before the name. Some language websites explain it as something created by slaves as a shortened form of senhor and, while I can’t back up the veracity of that, I do know it is used in the same way. One thing to watch out for when using seu is to remember that it is mostly used with the person’s first name. For example, if I were to ask the imaginary Mr. Jorge if he has been living here a long time, I’d say:

  • Seu Jorge, o senhor mora aqui há muito tempo?

Seu before insults

Another thing that’s good to know is that seu can also be used in cases where you want to speak badly to (or, if you know them well, joke with) someone. If I wanted to call someone a pig, I could easily say “seu porco!”, as the seu would just add a bit of emphasis.

 

Sua

If you know your pronouns, you’ll easily recognize sua as “your” for feminine words. At the same time, it is also the third-person conjugation of the verb suar, meaning to sweat. Since sweating is temporary, the verb is usually seen in its gerund (-ing) or past-tense form. There is, however, a trick phrase that uses sua which I’ll leave for you below. The idea is to make sense of the phrase by inserting the punctuation you think works best.

“Maria toma banho porque sua mãe diz ela pega shampoo.”

The phrase if translated without thinking twice would mean, “Maria takes a bath because her mother tells her get shampoo.” There’s obviously some errors in there if it were to be taken literally. If you think you’ve figured it out, leave a comment on Street Smart Brazil’s Facebook page . ; )

 

Also check out:

Simple Words, Double Meaning in Portuguese – Part 2 – vão & são

Related Posts:

  • My Favorite Online Dictionaries to Learn Portuguese
  • Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: Words beginning in PS
  • Articles in Portuguese - Portuguese lesson

About Adam Lee

Adam is a writer and a researcher who has studied Brazilian culture for over a decade and created several Brazil-themed blogs going back to 2008. Having taught himself Portuguese, he put it to practical use by spending three years doing Brazil on a budget (and living in favelas), from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon.

He now resides in Lisbon, Portugal, developing a startup and dreaming about having a beachside B&B in the Northeast of Brazil.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Patrick O'Rourke

    September 9, 2019 at 12:31 am

    It says “Seu” and “Sua” mean “your” but then they are used as “His” and “Her” and as “Mr.” and “Mrs.” How do I know what they mean when I see them? I can’t read or converse yet after studying Portuguese for 5 years and visiting Brasil 16 times so I haven’t learned how to know the context so I need to learn how to understand what they mean without context. It also says Seu and Sua are “second” and “third” person for referring to someone which would mean “Seu Jose” is “you” and “they” which is confusing to me. The more I study Portuguese the more confused I get. I study and practice every day and practice every day with my girlfriend who only speaks Portuguese and lives in Brasil and have for 2 years but I still can’t make out what people say and I have to translate most things. I only make out an occasional word and then I have to translate most things. . We didn’t learn English grammar terminology which makes it more difficult to learn because they refer to it when explaining most Portuguese terminology like “subjunctive, the verb to be and others, articles, prepositions, verb tenses” and many other things that I’ve never heard of before studying Portuguese. I can say greetings and very basic 1 and 2 word phrases but learning and remembering longer phrases is very difficult because of words with multiple meanings, different word order, having to translate most things into English to understand and not being able to use the longer phrases yet in conversations and forgetting them. Should I take English classes first? I thought I would be conversing by now after having so much exposure to the language. I see people conversing in Brasil after studying for only a month or two. It’s frustrating. I use a variety every f things like teachers, Duolingo, apps, books, movies and videos but it’s like my brain only works in English. Reading is like deciphering a secret code because of translating the words with multiple meanings like “Seu” and “Sua. Any ideas? Patfromamboy@aol.com. Thanks!

    Reply

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

My classes are awesome – I’m learning A LOT and it’s fun, convenient, and enjoyable. My instructor is a wonderful teacher, and she gives me a nice balance of grammar and oral & written comprehension.… Read more
Vanessa
Especially if you are in Rio de Janeiro, I highly recommend this class! You don´t have to fight traffic to get to class, your teacher will show up on time, you can make your own schedule, and the ma… Read more
Sarah
The quality of the instruction is outstanding. The instructors are flexible to schedule classes in times which are convenient. Being able to use SKYPE for face to face without traveling place to plac… Read more
Jennifer
I really enjoy studying with Street Smart Brazil. I have learned a tremendous amount and always look forward to the class. In June I traveled to São Paulo, Brazil, to visit my girlfriend and meet her… Read more
Drue

Find Resources

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

51 Portuguese Idioms – Speak Like a Brazilian

You will learn each expression inside a real-life context: everyday situations that could happen to any of us.
Purchase Now >

Recent Posts

  • Meio or Meia? How to say KIND OF in Portuguese
  • Family Vocabulary in Portuguese
  • The Power of Rehearsal to Improve Language Learning
  • Learn the Numbers in Portuguese: All you need to know
  • The Difference Between ESTE, ESSE, ISSO 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

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese

Footer Video CTA

Subscribe to my YouTube channel to get all the new video lessons

Subscribe

https://youtu.be/xoNtWBolAzE

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

Books

  • 51 Portuguese Idioms
  • Master the Word MESMO in Portuguese


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.