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Mal dá pra acreditar! Learn Useful Idiomatic Expressions

posted on September 20, 2012

 

On the first day of the month I posted the picture above on Facebook:

  • Já é setembro! Mal dá pra acreditar! = It’s already September! I can hardly believe it!

In today’s Portuguese lesson, I will give you a few more examples using:

  • Mal + verb Dar + para

Mal = (1) the opposite of well; (2) evil; (3) illness; (4) damage; harm (5) barely, hardly.

The verb Dar is one you should become very familiar with. Literally it translates as To Give, but what makes it a special verb is that it is used in a number of idiomatic expressions with completely different meanings.

Now let’s see some useful sentences using “Mal dá pra”. Please notice that in the examples below I use “pra” as a short for “para”. This is how we almost always say it in spoken Portuguese in Brazil. 

 

1) Num show:
Joana: Quanta gente! Mal dá pra ver a banda.

Tradução:
At a concert:
Joana: So many people! I can barely see the band.

 

2) Dois amigos conversando:
Antônio: Paulinha chegou de viagem. Ela estava na festa ontem. Você a viu?
Carlos:   Vi, mas mal deu pra falar com ela porque saí cedo da festa.

Tradução:
Antônio: Paulinha is back from her trip. She was at the party yesterday. Did you see her?
Carlos:   Yes, but I could barely speak with her because I left the party early.

 

3) Numa palestra:
Camila: Ele fala muito baixo. Mal dá pra entender o que diz.

Tradução:
At a lecture:
Camila: He speaks too softly. I can barely understand what he says.

 

4) Falando da vida:
Pedro: As coisas estão muito caras aqui no Brasil. Mal dá pra se viver com o salário mínimo.

Tradução:
Talking about life:
Pedro: Things are very expensive here in Brazil. One can hardly live with the minimum wage.

 

5) Em casa, depois do trabalho:
Melissa: Tive um dia daqueles! Mal deu tempo pra tomar um café.

Tradução:
Melissa: I had one of those days! I barely had time to have a cup of coffee.

 

In all the examples above, you can also translate “mal dá/deu para…” as: “it is/was barely possible to…”.

Stay tuned for additional Portuguese lessons with Mal. In my next post I will show you the relationship and the differences between mal, bem, mau, and bom. And in a following lessons I will teach you how to use Mal with other verbs.

—————-

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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.

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  1. Michael Tseggay

    April 22, 2017 at 11:03 am

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      Eu é que agradeço, Mario. Muito bom ver você por aqui!

      Reply

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