Vocabulary

/kon-shtee-puh-sow/

🚫 English speakers think: Constipation (digestive problem)
✅ Actually means: A cold (the illness)

This is arguably the most dangerous false friend in the entire language. Walk into a pharmacy and confidently announce you are constipado, and the pharmacist will hand you tissues and Vitamin C, leaving your actual problem… decidedly unsolved.

Example in Context

“Estou constipado desde ontem.” → “I’ve had a cold since yesterday.”

How to say “Constipated”

If you actually have the digestive issue, the term you need is prisão de ventre (literally “prison of the belly”).

• Tenho prisão de ventre. → “I am constipated.”

Related False Friend

Portuguese is full of these traps. Just like you don’t want to mix up your illnesses, you definitely don’t want to insult a chef by calling their food esquisito when you actually meant “exquisite.”

Or what if you are trying to say ‘actually’? Think it’s atualmente? Think again.

Memory Trick

Imagine Constipação refers to your nose being blocked up, not… the other part.

/poosh-ar/

Verb Type: Regular -AR verb

🚫 English speakers think: To push
✅ Actually means: To pull

This is the single most physically painful word in the Portuguese language. I can’t tell you how many times I have walked into a glass door because the sign said Puxe (Imperative for Puxar), my brain read “Push,” and my nose paid the price.

Example in Context

“Puxa a porta para entrar.” → “Pull the door to come in.”

How to say “Push”

When you actually need to use force to push something away, use Empurrar.

• Empurra a porta para sair. → “Push the door to go out.”

Why does the sign say “Puxe”?

You will rarely see the infinitive verb Puxar on a door. You will usually see the command form, Puxe. If you are curious why the word changes like that, I wrote a quick explanation on finally understanding door signs.

Memory Trick

Puxar sounds like “Push”… so you must do the opposite.

/ee-ven-too-al-mint-uh/

🚫 English speakers think: Eventually (in the end, sooner or later)
✅ Actually means: Possibly, maybe, if the occasion arises

This is a dangerous word for making plans. If you tell a friend “Vou eventualmente à tua festa,” you think you’re promising to arrive late (“I’ll get there eventually”). They think you’re being non-committal (“I might go to your party”).

Example in Context

“Podemos encontrar-nos eventualmente para um café.” → “We might meet up for coffee sometime.”

How to say “Eventually”

If you mean “in the end” or “finally,” use finalmente.

• Finalmente chegámos a casa. → “We eventually (finally) got home.”

Related False Friend

This word is the linguistic cousin of Atualmente. Both look exactly like English time-based adverbs, and both will make your sentences mean something completely different than you intended.

Another fun one is when you’re trying to say “to pretend”. Hint: it’s not pretender

Memory Trick

Think of an Event. Eventualmente implies “depending on the event” (contingency), not “it’s just a matter of time.”