Brazilian Portuguese | Expressions with the word “CARA”

Oi gente! Tudo bem? Today, we are going to learn some expressions with the word CARA. There are so many expressions and we will learn their meanings and some examples with each of them! Ready?

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1. Cara de pau (lit: wood face)

It means someone that is inconvenient, or doesn’t have a good sense of common etiquette or consideration for other people. It can be translated to English as “to have the/some nerve” or “jerk”.

→ Ele é muito cara de pau de vir na minha festa depois de tudo que ele fez. (He has some nerve to come to my party after everything he did.)

→ Não acredito que você namorou aquele cara de pau que te traiu. (I don’t believe you dated that jerk that cheated on you.)

2. Cara a cara (lit: face to face)

This expression means talking to someone in person, face to face. 

→ A gente precisa resolver isso cara a cara. (We need to solve this face to face).

→ Eles tiveram uma conversa cara a cara. (They had a face to face conversation).

3. Cara de poucos amigos (lit: few-friends face)

It is used to indicate that someone is angry, or in a bad mood.

→ Carlos tá com cara de poucos amigos. (Carlos looks like he is angry).

→ Célia e Joaquim brigaram, aí agora ela tá com essa cara de poucos amigos. (Celia and Joaquim had a fight, so now she looks like she is in a bad mood.)

→ Você sabe por que a Carol tá com aquela cara de poucos amigos? (Do you know why Carol looks like she is angry?)

4) Cara feia (lit: ugly face)

This expression is used to refer to the look someone has when he or she is angry or in a bad mood.

→ Cara feia pra mim é fome. (Ugly face for me is hunger).

→ Que que aconteceu que você tá com essa cara feia? (What happened that you have that ugly face?)

→ Que cara feia é essa? (What ugly face is that?)

5) Fechar a cara (to close your face) or estar com a cara fechada (lit: to be with the face closed)

It is used to indicate that someone was or is very serious or in a bad mood.

→ Eu tava rindo, mas ela fechou a cara. (I was laughing, but she was very serious).

→ Toda vez que eu chego aqui ele tá com a cara fechada. (Everytime I come here he is in a bad mood.)

6) Encher a cara (lit: to fill up your face)

This expression means drinking too much alcohol until you are drunk.

→ Otávio encheu a cara no casamento do Matheus. (Otávio drank until he was drunk in Matheus’ wedding).

→ Meus amigos enchem a cara todo fim de semana. (My friends drink until they are drunk every weekend).

→ Hoje eu vou encher a cara. (Today I’m going to drink until I am drunk).

7) Dar com a cara na porta (lit: give with the face at the door)

When someone goes to a place and finds it closed. Or when you go to someone’s house and the person is not at home.

→ Fui na loja, mas dei com a cara na porta. (I went to the store but it was closed.)

→ Se você for me visitar hoje, você vai dar com a cara na porta. (If you come to visit me today, you won’t find me at home).

8) Não ir com a cara de (lit: not going with the face of)

It means not liking something or someone very much. 

→ Sara não vai com a cara da Isabela. (Sara doesn’t like Isabela very much).

→ Eu nunca fui com a cara daquele cara. (I never liked that guy very much.)

9) Quebrar a cara (lit: break one’s face)

This expression means not achieving what you wanted or being disappointed.

→ Fui confiar nele e quebrei a cara. (I trusted him and I was disappointed.)

→ Ele apostou todo dinheiro que tinha naquele jogo e quebrou a cara depois do resultado. (He bet all the money he had on that game and was disappointed after the result).

It can also be used to threaten another person when used in the literal sense of hitting someone in the face.

→ Eu vou quebrar a cara daquela garota se ela continuar dando em cima do meu namorado. (I will hit that girl in the face if she keeps flirting with my boyfriend) 

→ Foi uma briga feia. O Tiago quebrou a cara do Marcos. (It was an ugly fight. Tiago hit Marcos in the face)

10) Ser a cara de (lit: be the face of)

This expression means being very similar to someone. The correspondent in English is “to look like someone”.

→ Eu acho que a Emma vai ser a cara do pai dela. (I think Emma is going to look like her father).

→ Todo mundo diz que meu irmão é a cara do meu pai. (Everybody says that my brother looks like my father.)

Practice time!!!

Now that you know these ten new expressions with the word CARA, let’s practice a little bit? Leave a comment below with a your own sentence for each expression above! Good luck!