Some pretty charming Portuguese words and phrases needed in English that fits well as a romance language and that simply cannot be translated completely into English.
“SAUDADE” symbolizes a mixture of a few emotions: longing, melancholy, incompleteness, and love. The word holds a lot of weight, and saudade can apply to a person, place, or another time. Eg, “I feel saudades for Lisboa.”
“APAIXONAR” signifies the action of falling in love and the feeling of falling in love. It’s like saying, “I am in that place of falling in love.”
“GOSTOSA” the literal translation is “delicious,” but gostosa can mean “super attractive.” To call a woman gostosa is saying that she is sexy or hot.
“DESABAFAR” every once in a while, people need to vent or let off steam. In Portuguese, the word desabafar is used to express aneed to talk about problems or forget about it in another way (running, walking, drinking, etc).
“MÁGOA” means to feel hurt physically or emotionally, sadness, grief, and/or sorrow.
“LINDEZA” is the term to describe someone; it can mean niceness and/or pretiness. It’s more than physical beauty.
“COMBINADO” the word translate to “combined” but is really a confirmation that something has been arranged. It’s the term used after making plans. For example, after someone states a plan of action, simply saying “combinado!” can mean “ok!”.
“FADO” is the name for a tradicional form of music. What many people don’t realize is that it also means fate and destiny, something that is supposed to happen no matter what actions occur beforehand.
“BEIJINHO” when Portuguese greet someone or say goodbye, they kiss one another on each cheek. Beijinho is a combination of beijo (meaning kiss) and the suffix – inho (which symbolizes little or cute), meaning “little kiss,” and represents that action but can be used to finish an email or text message in place of “goodbye.”
“POIS É” is a positive confirmation that is usually injected into a conversation. It’s also something people say when they don’t know what else to say. Eg, “It’s a beautiful day out. Pois é.”
“ENGRAÇADO/A” is an adjective that can be used for a person, place, or thing. Calling someone engraçado (or engraçada, when referring to a female or a feminine word) is definitely positive, but it can mean attractive, funny, cool, or any other compliment.
“FOFO” when something is fofo, it is cute or soft. A puppy or a child can both be fofo. Adding – inho to the end of the word, like fofinho, adds an element that represents extra cute or cuddly.
