How many phone numbers do you know by heart? When I was growing up in Brazil, I knew everyone’s phone number by heart: aunts, cousins, friends. Nowadays, however, I know very few numbers, although I can still remember my best childhood friends’ numbers from ages ago.

How about poems, do you know any by heart?

And do you know how to say in Portuguese that you know or don’t know something by heart? That’s what I am going to show you in this video lesson.

I will show you three ways to say that you know something by heart in Portuguese.

1. Saber de cor

Examples:

Quantos números de telefone você sabe de cor?

= How many phone numbers do you know by heart?

Você sabe algum poema de cor?

= Do you know any poem by heart?

2. Saber decorado

O verbo Decorar has two completely different meanings:

To decorate
To memorize, to learn by heart

It is a regular verb.

Therefore, saber decorado means to know by heart. The expression can come together in the sentence or separate, with the object of memorization in between the words, as I show below.

Examples:

Você sabe o número dos seus pais decorado?

= Do you know your parents’ number by heart?

Adoro Fernando Pessoa, mas não sei nenhum poema decorado.

= I love Fernando Pessoa, but I don’t know any poem by heart.

3. Saber de cor e salteado

I find this a fun expression. It means that you know something by heart so well that you can recite it in any order.

Examples:

Eu estudei tanto para a prova que sei o texto completo de cor e salteado.

= I’ve studied so much for the test that I know the entire text by heart.

Maria está bem preparada para a apresentação. Ela sabe o discurso de cor e salteado.

= Maria is well prepared for the presentation. She knows her speech by heart.

Practice with one of our amazing Portuguese instructors to know this and other useful expressions by heart. This way, you can use them with confidence when the opportunity presents itself.