Top Gestures used by Portuguese People

No, this has nothing to do with Portuguese sign language. ๐Ÿ™‚ But linguists argue that only about 30% or so of our real communication is directly through words. The rest is a combination of other linguistic elements such as intonation, pitch, volume, facial and body language.

So a few months back we started gathering what we think are the most commonly used gestures by the Portuguese.

Enjoy!

PS: Captioning is available.

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88 Comments

  1. ะกarla, I have been learning Spanish, English and German watching free video lessons of Alexander. His method of teaching is really effective!!! All his subscribers and followers begin to speak a foreign language from the first lesson! Unfortunately, he doesn’t speak European Portuguese, only Spanish! I’d be very grateful if you start recording video lessons similar to his approach (method) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnqlr-hjkUcVVzuRYO4-3tQ (German)

  2. Thank you for this! I will practice them and surprise my Portuguese teacher with them ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜‚

  3. Obrigada! Conheรงo todos os gestos mas uso pouco porque na minha cultura nรฃo รฉ tรฃo habitualmente! Gostei de forma de liรงรฃo

    1. I once saw a guy in Portugal pull a dude out of his car yelling that he was a tourist and throttle him after he cut him off or something so that’s gonna be a pretty intense video.

    1. Olรก ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿฝ if you mean the written text of what we say, you just need to turn them on (if on the phone or tablet on the 3 little vertical dots) ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿฝ

  4. Eu comecei a ouvir os podcasts recentemente e, desculpe Marlon, mas imaginei tu com uma cabeรงa cheia de cabelos soltos!

  5. Anyone on here want to help me learn European portugese. Iโ€™m a native English speaker so I can help you with English.

  6. Hey does anyone know the origin of โ€œestou nas tintasโ€ ? Alguem sabe que significado ? E tambem nao entendo โ€œ canos โ€œ ? Does anyone know?

    1. I don’t know the origin of “estou-me nas tintas” but it means to not give a damn about something. “canos” are pipes in portuguese, but what Carla said was “Q’anos” short for “que anos” as in “Hรก que anos” which translates to “how many years (ago)”

    1. You can learn our gestures if you visit our country.
      Some good teachers like Carla teaches you some common portuguese gestures.
      1:31 my Grandmother makes this gesture often.

    2. Theyoutuberpolyglot i live in Portugal now and Iโ€™m learning Portuguese. I like your videos a lot

    3. Guo Yunjie Muito obrigado. Fico muito feliz/ contente de ler a tua mensagem. O meu nome รฉ Josรฉ.

  7. Tenho estudado portuguรชs por 5 anos em Portugal, e este vรญdeo ajuda-me muito no meu dia a dia. Tambรฉm me ajudar na minha apresentaรงรฃo na aula. Haha! muito obrigada! Curiosamente, vivo em Portugal hรก 5 anos, mas nรฃo vi e nรฃo sei estes gestos

    1. Hello. Let me help you and show you how your post would look like if posted by a portuguese native from Portugal.
      “Estudo portuguรจs hรก cinco anos em Portugal e este video ajudou-me muito no dia a dia. Tambรฉm ajuda-me na minha apresentaรงรฃo nas aulas. Curiosamente vivo em Portugal hรก jรก cincos anos mas nunca vi esses gestos.”
      Mind you, your post is not incorrect in a gramatical sense but it’s very stiff in the choice of words, it doesn’t flow as a romance language would naturally fow from a native speaker.
      Like all romance languages, portuguese is centered aroud the verbs, it’s an action language. also, portugues efrom Poetugal doesn’t rely on gerunds a much as brazilian portuguese.
      All that said, your portuguese is really very good and that’s no mean feat for a foreigners. Congratulations, really. Well done and thank you so much for showing such an interest in my natuve language, espacially the Portugal variant of portuguese whichbis by far the lesser learned version. Be well and welcome to my small country.

  8. Love Portugal I even made a video about this beautiful country ๐Ÿ’• . Great content though Carla ๐Ÿ‘

  9. HA being Portuguese, this is ๐Ÿ‘Œ I do have to say, my avรณs do some pretty amazing facial expressions as well ๐Ÿ˜‚

  10. If you could add some text for what Carla is saying, it would be great! Also, what does it mean when another person is being discussed and the speaker crooks their index finger and pulls a face, like “you know what he is”. But I don’t! Can you explain?

    1. It means they’re petty, malicious or just plain difficult/stubborn. “Ele รฉ torcido.” (Aka twisted) At least if I’m understanding what you mean.

  11. The one about being scared is the same in Italian haha! From where I come from we say “te si cagat sott” when we do that, which means “you sh*t your pants”, so the gesture refers to the excrements in your underwear

    1. Indeed, it is the same gesture, and it has the same meaning, but I believe the gesture itself represents a sphincter contracting… ๐Ÿ™‚

  12. Being Portuguese, having been so since 62 actually, I’d like to leave a comment. Dor de cotovelo: not realy used that way, maybe a little overdone; Snob, full of it: nariz empinado, ok, but not very used; I’ve had it: that looks American, never saw it, normally that would be on the top of the head; Eat a nice dish (รฉ de trรกs da orelha): an old one, I’m not sure anybody knows it; Full of it, garganta: well, kind of; Time to go: possible, yes; I don’t care: ok; Excuse me, please (at the restaurant) – yes, possible; Hurry up: more or less, possible; Stealing: ok; Namorisco: ok, in a jokingly manner; That was long ago: possible (never heard of canos, but I can see where it’s coming from – hรก que anos!); Fearful: ok; Drunk, tipsy: ok; Esperto, smart (de olhรฃo): ok; Este รฉ irmรฃo deste (I can see through you): never saw that.

    1. tbm sou portuguesa e o “i’ve had it” eu uso quase diariamente (num contexto escolar claro๐Ÿ˜…) e eu e os meus colegas usamos mais no sentido de “Vou-me matar se isto continua assim/ se isto nรฃo termina”, o nariz empinado tbm รฉ muito comum na minha รกrea, รฉ de trรกs da orelha conhecia o gesto mas nรฃo a frase e por a caso tbm รฉ comum entre os meus conhecidos, that was long ago tbm รฉ usado diariamente no meu caso. O รบnico que eu nรฃo tinha visto era o “este รฉ irmรฃo deste”
      mas pode ser por nรฃo ser da minha zona. Parece que nรฃo mas a parte do paรญs tbm altera a frequรชncia com que se vรชm estes gestos

  13. Funny enough, in Brazilian Portuguese some of these gestures have different meanings. For instance: the gesture you showed for “I don’t care” actually means “I have no clue” in Brazil, in answer to a question; the one for “Hurry up!” means “This was long ago” or “It takes a long time”; the one for “You’re scared” means “It’s crowded” ; and the one for “Smart” means “I’m watching you! Beware!”

  14. The washing of hands is the one I noticed most in Portugal. When something goes wrong, nobody takes responsibility for anything.

  15. algumas expressรตes nรฃo estรฃo bem explicadas atรฉ porque podem ter significados diferentes dependendo das situaรงรตes. good entertaining vid tho

    1. O objetivo deste vรญdeo รฉ dar aos estudantes da lรญngua portuguesa uma ideia de alguns gestos e algumas situaรงรตes em que estes podem ser usados. A intenรงรฃo nรฃo era criar um vรญdeo que abrangesse todos os significados em todas as possรญveis situaรงรตes. De qualquer maneira, obrigada pelo seu comentรกrio ๐Ÿ™‚

  16. Uma pessoa faz tanto esses gestos no seu dia-a-dia que nรฃo pensa muito nisso, atรฉ ver esse vรญdeo! Muito divertido! ๐Ÿ˜‚
    Parabรฉns!

    1. ๐Ÿ˜ obrigada! Demonstra como grande parte da nossa comunicaรงรฃo รฉ gestual ๐Ÿ˜€

  17. We have great host on Azores, he did earlobe gesture multiple times as he was explaining where to go, what to eat. I needed to know, if it means, what I thought ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. Fantastic ๐Ÿ˜„ touch your earlobe when speaking of food and you mean itโ€™s delicious ๐Ÿ˜‹

  18. At 3:35, that gesture, in French it’s the gesture equivalent of “mon oeil” which is used when we think the person we are speaking to is exaggerating or outright lying.

    1. Thatโ€™s so interesting how the same gesture can mean different things in different languages/countries – thanks for sharing ๐Ÿ˜Š

    1. Olรก, Mark ๐Ÿ‘‹๐Ÿฝ a few years ago we went to Sรฃo Miguel ๐Ÿ˜Š and last month we visited a few other islands in Azores – theyโ€™re all very beautiful ๐Ÿ˜

  19. Muito bom, finalmente, algo realmente รบtil, bem disposto e em portuguรชs! Bem ahaja. Vou passar!

  20. I speak a lot with my hands and i often don’t realise how much i do it. I tend to not do as much gesture speaking when i am abroad especially in a central euroepan, nordic country or in the UK. One never knows if one uses the wrong gesture that in the local culture has a very different, might even insulting meaning.

    1. Thatโ€™s really nice and thoughtful of you, Carlos, that you refrain from using as many gestures and youโ€™d normally do, so you donโ€™t offend the locals ๐Ÿ˜Š

    2. @Portuguese With Carla i try, i try. Of course it is hard to guess what others might think of us in other countries. But i feel the scottish people have a lot in common with us portuguese.

    3. @Carlos Saraiva I know a few Scottish people, but Iโ€™d be interested to know the commonalities you have spotted between the Scottish and the Portuguese ๐Ÿ˜Š

  21. O gesto de roubar rodando os dedos da mรฃo do mindinho para o polegar tem muito mais Histรณria e รฉ tipicamente portuguรชs. Esse gesto e os termos fanar e meter a unha tรชm haver com uma moeda de ouro indiana, o Fanรฃo. O Fanรฃo รฉ uma moeda de ouro fraco muito pequenina que os portugueses para as contar usavam tรกbuas de 25 e 50 alvรฉolos. Metiam um monte numa das extremidades da tรกbua e com um movimento parecido com esse retiravam o excesso de fanรตes preenchendo todos os alvรฉolos e facilitando assim a contagem. O Fanรฃo รฉ tรฃo pequenino, que quem os contava se tivesse as unhas grandes conseguia roubar moedas prendendo-as entre as unhas. Por isso esse movimento, meter a unha e fanar รฉ tรฃo portuguรชs.

  22. Surpreendeu-me que praticamente todos sรฃo os mesmos que no Brasil. O “estรก com medo”, porรฉm, รฉ totalmente diferente. No Brasil, esse gesto significa “grande quantidade”.

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