4 slang expressions for you to sound more natural when speaking Portuguese

Daniel Moreira
Mar 8
2 min read

Hi, everyone! 👋

When learning a new language a cool thing to do is to not only communicate what we want, but also to speak in a more natural fashion. One way we can do that is by incorporating common slang into our vocabulary.

With that being said, here are some expressions for you :)

Estar ligado (em algo)

You can use this expression when you are aware of something (usually an event or something that happened). A similar expression in English that comes to my mind is "to be tuned in (to something)"

Here are a couple example sentences:

Você 'tá' ligado no que aconteceu ontem?

"Are you aware of what happened yesterday?"

Não estou ligado nas últimas notícias.

"I'm not tuned in to the latest news"

Geral

At least in Rio de Janeiro, this expression is used when you want to refer to "everyone". Other two expressions that can be used 'interchangeably' (keep in mind that 'geral' is not formal) are "todo mundo" or "todos".

Here's an example:

Geral vai para a festa. Você vai também?

"Everybody is going to the party. Will you go, too?"

Meter o pé

If you are leaving a place, instead of saying that you are going to "sair" or "partir", you can say that you are going to "meter o pé".

Vou meter o pé daqui a pouco

"I'm going to leave soon"

Ela meteu o pé assim que serviram o bolo

"She left as soon as the cake was served"

Did you know all of these expressions?

As you already know, practice makes perfect. With that being said, I want to invite you to leave a comment down below using at least one of these expressions that you learned. As always, I will try my best to check and correct all of your answers : )

Kind Regards,

Daniel.

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About the author

Oi! My name is Daniel and I started Portuguese With Dan out of my passion for teaching and language learning. I graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (#3 in Brazil) with a bachelor's degree in Modern Languages (Portuguese and English) and conducted research in the field of Linguistics, more specifically in Phonetics and Phonology.

I have been teaching Portuguese and English online since 2020. My teaching experience also includes working as a teaching assistant in Phonetics and Phonology and volunteering to help students write essays for college entrance exams. Currently, I work in the civil service as an English Teacher while also creating language-learning content on social media platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

On a more personal note, I grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and have a deep love for travel and lifelong learning. Speaking of which, learning new languages has given me the opportunity to connect with people from diverse backgrounds and broaden my horizons. I’m also passionate about music and enjoy playing the guitar and the keyboard in my free time.