This page lists sets of Portuguese words that correspond to a single English word, and vice-versa. Translating sentences with these terms may require extra qualifiers, rewording or a clear enough context, or may cause the loss of information or important undertones. Words that are not normally understood as representing a single concept will not be included; i.e., words like letter, which corresponds to letra(“a letter of the alphabet”) and carta(“a letter you write to someone”), do not meet the criteria.
Distinctions made in Portuguese but not in English
cabelo is the hair that grows on the scalp of humans, pelo is the hair that grows on the rest of the skin, or on animals, but it rarely refers to beards and moustaches; both terms can refer to a single string or to the whole thing
parede is a wall that is part of a building; muro is a selfstanding wall; a medieval style defensive wall (e.g. around a castle, or the Great Wall of China) can be called muro or muralha; a figurative wall that separates communities, ideas, etc. is usually muro, sometimes parede, and it can be called muralha if it is particularly strong
ser introduces an inherent quality, one that is not expected to change; estar introduces a quality that is liable or expected to change; surprisingly, to be dead is estar morto
barbear is to shave one’s beard and moustache; depilar is to remove one’s pelos (see above), but not necessarily with a bladed instrument; raspar applies to both, and also to shaving one’s head
conhecer is knowing that someone or something exists (conhecer um livro e seu autor(“to know a book and its author”)), being acquainted with a person (conheço o João(“I know John”)), having previously visited a place (conheço Londres(“I know London”)); saber is knowing a subject (saber matemática(“to know math”)), how to speak a language (saber holandês(“to know Dutch”)), knowing how to do something (saber (como) pular(“to know how to jump”)) and knowing that something happened (soube de um acidente(“I’ve heard about an accident”)) or that something is the case (sabia que eu ganhei?(“did you know that I won?”)); both can refer to knowing a specific value or datum (conhecer/saber a altura do Everest(“to know the height of Everest”), conhecer/saber a capital da Inglaterra(“to know the capital of England”))
línguas and idiomas are human linguistic communication systems, such as Portuguese and English; linguagem is the ability to use such systems (a linguagem é uma habilidade humana(“language is a human skill”)), non-linguistic communication systems (such as computer languages, but not simple mappings of human language, such as Morse code; C++ e Java são linguagens(“C++ and Java are languages”)), or a particular way of using a human language (usar linguagem rebuscada(“to use fancy language”); a hypothetical language-like communication system used by non-humans is usually linguagem, sometimes língua and rarely idioma (a linguagem/língua/idioma dos cães(“the language of dogs”))
mascar is chewing something for a long time or for pleasure, usually without the intention of swallowing it (gum, tobacco); it is also used disparagingly for someone who is taking too long swallow the food in their mouth; mastigar is chewing something (usually food) in order to break it down so it can be swallowed; both can be used in reference to chewing as a compulsive habit (tips of pen, pieces of string), but for fingernails roer is usually used instead
pilha is a single-cell battery of the cyllindrical kind that you buy to use in your remote control and cheap toys; bateria, while according to technical definitions can refer to any kind of battery, for most speakers it only refers multi-cell batteries
usage varies from region to region, and from person to person, but in general Portuguese offers a four-way distinction between elevation sizes; monte is also used as the title of a mountain regardless of its size
pichação is vandalistic graffiti and grafite is, in general, artistic graffiti; since artistic value is subjective, a particular piece of graffiti may be called a pichação by one person grafite by another
Distinctions made in English but not in Portuguese
assassinato does not refer to the murder of an important person specifically; the distinction between murder and manslaughter is made with qualifiers: homicídio doloso and homicídio culposo
preterite
present perfect, simple past
modern Portuguese does not distinguish past actions based on their present relevance as in I did vs. I have done; formerly, the auxiliary haver could be used for this purpose;
usually the context is enough, but if a clear distinction between being physically inside an entity or physically on top of it is necessary, dentro de and em cima de can be used respectively; for being on top of a surface that is not also the top of an entity, the literal nasuperfíciede can be used
the distinction between the receiver and the giver is made with prepositions: emprestar <algo> de <algém>(“to borrow something from somebody”), emprestar <algo> para/a <alguém>(“to lend someone something”), or with other verbs and the adverb emprestado: tomar/pegaremprestado(“to borrow”), daremprestado(“to lend”); this means that emprestar without an indirect object can be ambiguous: O João gosta de emprestar coisas (“John likes to borrow things”? “John likes to lend things”?); there’s also no special verb for loaning, but lending/borrowing as a commercial venture is more often expressed with the similarly ambiguous fazerumempréstimo
often the distinction is made by the use of ser alto for being tall and estar alto for being high (see above), although estar alto can also refer to tallness as an inconstant property; sound is alto in the same way that a value, temperature,
a pocketwatch is a relógio de bolso and a wristwatch is a relógio de pulso; a wall-mounted clock is a relógio de parede; the clock of a mobile phone is a relógio do celular and that of a computer is a relógio do computador; the clock as a reification of the flow of time is just relógio: contra o relógio(“against the clock”), although it is not used as often as in English; all these kinds of timepiece are called just relógio unless one needs to be more specific
boa noite is used when arriving and when leaving; relatedly, a distinction between night (noite) and evening (noitinha) is not made very often in Portuguese
media that tries to influence people is propaganda regardless of whether it is commercial or ideological; its purpose may be indicated with adjectives: propaganda política(“political propaganda/advertisement”), propaganda ideológico(“ideological propaganda”), etc. Terms unique to commercial advertisements include publicidade(“advertisements as a mass noun; also means publicity”), anúncio(“an advertisement; also means announcement”) and comercial(“a broadcast advertisement”)
dedo corresponds to digit, but it almost always refers to a finger (“quantos dedos você tem?” “tenho 9, perdi um na guerra”); a toe is called a dedo do pé and a finger can be called dedo da mão
usually, the context makes the intended sense clear, but sometimes the word can be ambiguous (“foi um casamento curto”, it was a short wedding~marriage)
