Cognate Verbs with English (Different Constructions) | Portuguese (Brazil) Grammar

Because Portuguese and English share thousands of Latin-derived words, you can guess the meaning of importante, necessário, or decidir and be right. But a dangerous subset of these cognates has drifted in meaning over the centuries: they look like an English word and mean something different. These are false friends (falsos amigos), and verbs produce some of the most embarrassing ones. Tell a Brazilian Eu pretendo não estar doente thinking you said "I'll pretend I'm not sick," and you've actually announced "I intend not to be sick." This page collects the highest-frequency false-friend verbs and drills them as a group, because the only reliable cure is recognizing them as a class.

The reason these traps exist is that English borrowed many of these words from Latin or French at a different time, or kept an older meaning while Portuguese evolved a newer one (or vice versa). There's no logical shortcut — you have to learn each pairing. But there are only a handful that matter, so the memorization is bounded.

Pretender — to intend, NOT to pretend

This is the single most common false friend for English learners of Portuguese, and the one that causes the most confusion. Pretender means to intend / to plan to. It has nothing to do with faking or making believe.

O que você pretende fazer depois da faculdade?

What do you intend to do after college?

Eles pretendem se mudar para o interior no ano que vem.

They plan to move to the countryside next year.

To say pretend (to fake), Brazilian Portuguese uses fingir:

Ela fingiu que não me viu na rua.

She pretended she didn't see me on the street.

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Memory hook: a pretender to a throne is someone who intends to claim it — that older English sense survives in "pretender" the noun, and it's exactly what Portuguese pretender the verb means. Keep that aristocratic image and you'll never confuse it with fingir (to fake).

Realizar — to carry out / make happen, mostly NOT to realize

Realizar primarily means to carry out, to accomplish, to make (a dream/event) happen. It overlaps with English "realize" only in the rarer "make real" sense, not in the everyday "suddenly understand" sense.

A empresa vai realizar um evento enorme no fim do ano.

The company is going to hold a huge event at the end of the year.

Finalmente realizei o sonho de morar perto do mar.

I finally made my dream of living near the sea come true.

For "realize" in the sense of suddenly understanding something, use perceber or dar-se conta (de):

Só percebi que tinha esquecido a carteira quando cheguei no caixa.

I only realized I'd forgotten my wallet when I got to the register.

Ela se deu conta de que estava no ônibus errado.

She realized she was on the wrong bus.

Assistir — to watch / attend, NOT to assist

Assistir means to watch (TV, a movie, a game) or to attend (a class, an event). It does not mean "to assist / help." Note that in the "watch" sense, BR commonly uses assistir a with the preposition — assistir ao jogo — though in casual speech the a is often dropped (assistir o jogo).

A gente assistiu ao jogo do Brasil no bar.

We watched the Brazil game at the bar.

Eu assisto a uma série nova toda sexta.

I watch a new show every Friday.

For assist / help, use ajudar:

Você pode me ajudar a carregar essas sacolas?

Can you help me carry these bags?

Esperar — to wait, to hope, AND to expect

Esperar is not a false friend so much as a triple friend: it covers wait, hope, and expect, and context tells you which. English uses three separate verbs; Portuguese uses one. This is the mirror image of the false-friend problem — instead of one form with a misleading meaning, you have one form with three legitimate meanings to disambiguate.

Estou esperando o ônibus há vinte minutos.

I've been waiting for the bus for twenty minutes. (wait)

Espero que você melhore logo.

I hope you get better soon. (hope — note the subjunctive)

A gente espera muita gente na festa de sábado.

We're expecting a lot of people at Saturday's party. (expect)

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The grammar disambiguates esperar: when it means hope, it typically triggers the subjunctive in the next clause (Espero que você venha). When it means wait, it takes a direct object or por (esperar o ônibus / esperar por você). When it means expect, it takes a noun object (esperar visitas).

Discutir — often to argue, not just to discuss

Discutir can mean "discuss," but in everyday Brazilian usage it very often means to argue / to quarrel. To neutrally "discuss" a topic, conversar sobre or debater is safer.

Eles discutiram feio por causa de dinheiro.

They had a nasty argument over money.

Vamos conversar sobre isso com calma depois.

Let's discuss this calmly later.

Aplicar and applying for a job

Aplicar means "to apply" in the sense of applying a substance, a rule, or a method (aplicar a tinta, aplicar a lei). It is not used for applying for a job or a program. For that, BR uses candidatar-se (a) or the colloquial se inscrever (em / para).

O médico aplicou a vacina no meu braço.

The doctor applied (administered) the vaccine in my arm.

Vou me candidatar àquela vaga de analista.

I'm going to apply for that analyst position.

Você já se inscreveu no concurso?

Have you applied for the public-service exam yet?

Quick-reference table

BR verb	Looks like	Actually means	The English word is...
pretender	pretend	intend, plan to	fingir
realizar	realize	carry out, accomplish	perceber, dar-se conta
assistir	assist	watch, attend	ajudar
esperar	—	wait / hope / expect (all three)	(context-dependent)
discutir	discuss	argue, quarrel (often)	conversar sobre, debater
aplicar	apply (for a job)	apply (a substance/rule)	candidatar-se, se inscrever

Common Mistakes

❌ Vou pretender que estou dormindo.

Incorrect — this says 'I'll intend that I'm sleeping.' Use fingir for 'pretend.'

✅ Vou fingir que estou dormindo.

I'm going to pretend I'm asleep.

❌ Eu realizei que tinha esquecido as chaves.

Incorrect — realizar isn't 'suddenly understand.' Use perceber.

✅ Eu percebi que tinha esquecido as chaves.

I realized I'd forgotten the keys.

❌ Você pode me assistir com a mudança?

Incorrect — assistir means 'watch,' not 'help.' Use ajudar.

✅ Você pode me ajudar com a mudança?

Can you help me with the move?

❌ Eu vou aplicar para essa vaga de emprego.

Incorrect — aplicar isn't used for job applications. Use candidatar-se.

✅ Eu vou me candidatar a essa vaga de emprego.

I'm going to apply for that job opening.

❌ Precisamos discutir o projeto — said neutrally, this can imply a fight.

Risky — discutir often means 'argue.' Use conversar sobre for a neutral discussion.

✅ Precisamos conversar sobre o projeto.

We need to discuss the project.

Key Takeaways

pretender = intend (not pretend → fingir); realizar = carry out/accomplish (not "suddenly understand" → perceber / dar-se conta); assistir = watch/attend (not assist → ajudar).
esperar legitimately means wait, hope, and expect — the surrounding grammar (subjunctive for "hope," por/object for "wait") tells you which.
discutir frequently means "argue"; use conversar sobre for a neutral discussion.
For applying to a job or program, use candidatar-se (a) or se inscrever, never aplicar.
Learn these as a class — they're the false friends Brazilians hear English speakers stumble over most.

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