Getting acquainted with Portuguese idiomatic expressions is key to reaching language fluency and feeling at home with day-to-day lingo.
Today, I am bringing you 13 frequently-used Portuguese idioms, all of which have this one thing in common: they mention the word pé. Let’s dive in.
1. De pé atrás
De pé atrás denotes caution or suspicion:
| O João ouviu a explicação do Miguel mas, contudo, ficou de pé atrás. João listened to what Miguel had to say, but he was still suspicious. |
2. Com pezinhos de lã
We say, com pezinhos de lã when someone is trying to move quietly:
| A Alberta entrou no quarto com pezinhos de lã para não acordar o Ricardo. Alberta walked into the room on her tiptoes so as not to wake Ricardo. |
3. Bater o pé
Bater o pé means to stand one’s ground.
| O Francisco tentou persuadir-me mas eu bati-lhe o pé. Francisco tried to coax me but I stood my ground. |
4. Do pé para a mão
The expression do pé para a mão suggests an immediate answer or solution. We normally use it to negate such possibility:
| – Preciso imediatamente de arranjar um emprego, tens alguma dica? – Assim do pé para a mão não tenho. Deixa-me pensar. – I need to get a job right away. Any tips? – Not off the top of my head. Let me think about it. |
5. Meter o pé na argola
Meter o pé na argola means approximately the same as to screw up:
| A Maria disse o que não devia – meteu o pé na argola. Maria talked about things she shouldn’t – she screwed it up. |
6. Meter os pés pelas mãos
Meter os pés pelas mãos is synonymous to the previous:
| Estava nervoso demais e acabei por meter os pés pelas mãos. I was too nervous and I just screwed it up. |
7. Sem pés nem cabeça
We say sem pés nem cabeça to point out that something is aimless, ridiculous, or dumb:
| Só dizes coisas sem pés nem cabeça. You only talk nonsense. |
A common expression synonymous to sem pés nem cabeça is sem jeito nenhum. Learn more about the word jeito:
8. Dos pés à cabeça
Dos pés à cabeça is the Portuguese equivalent of from head to toe.
| Estou farto das tuas histórias – farto dos pés à cabeça! I am tired of all your talking – tired from head to toe. |
9. Acordar com os pés de fora
Acordar com os pés de fora means to wake up on the wrong side of the bed:
| Alguém acordou com os pés de fora. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. |
10. Com os pés para a cova
The expression com os pés para a cova is the Portuguese equivalent of with one foot in the grave:
| Ele está com mau aspeto, acho que já está com os pés para a cova. He doesn’t look well; it seems he already has one foot in the grave. |
11. Entrar a pés juntos
We use the expression entrar a pés juntos to express discourteous or unpolished behavior:
| Ela entrou a pés juntos e acabou por magoá-lo. She was too harsh and ended up hurting him. |
12. De mãos e pés atados
De mãos e pés atados, literally with tied hands and feet, often refers to situations where one feels powerless or disenfranchised.
| Eu não pude fazer nada para ajudar porque estava de mãos e pés atados. I couldn’t do anything to help since my hands were tied. |
13. Fugir a sete pés
We say fugir a sete pés to exacerbate a situation, mostly humorously, where one needs to escape some kind of threat or unpleasant situation:
| Roma não era cidade para mim. Assim que pude, fugi de lá a sete pés! Rome was not a city for me. I ran away from it as soon as I could. |
Tips! If you’ve enjoyed this article, you’ll probably want to take a look at this one as well: Portuguese Idioms: 50 High-Frequency Idiomatic Expressions that Will Make You Sound More Natural
