False Friend Verbs (English and Spanish vs Portuguese) | Portuguese (Portugal) Grammar

A false friend is a word that looks like one you already know and means something else. They are the landmines of language learning: because the word looks safe, you trust it, and then you say something embarrassing. Portuguese is rich in false friends for both English and Spanish speakers. An English speaker who says estou constipado thinks they have said I'm constipated; they have actually said I have a cold. A Spanish speaker who says vou borrar isto thinks they are going to erase something; in Portuguese they are going to smudge it.

This page catalogs the verbs most likely to catch you out. It is organized in two parts: false friends for English speakers, then false friends for Spanish speakers learning Portuguese. For each verb you will find what it looks like it means, what it actually means, the correct Portuguese verb for the English or Spanish concept you were reaching for, and a natural example.

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False friends do not go away once you learn them intellectually — they reappear under pressure. When you are speaking fast, anxious, or sleepy, your brain reaches for the most available word and picks the one that sounds familiar. The fix is practice with the right form, not understanding of the wrong one.

Part 1 — False friends for English speakers

assistir — to attend (or to watch); NOT to assist

Assistir is probably the single most common English-Portuguese false friend in verbs. It means to attend (an event) or to watch (a program, film, match). It does not mean to help. To assist in the English sense, you want ajudar or auxiliar.

Note also that assistir in European Portuguese usually takes the preposition a: assisti ao concerto. Dropping the a (as Brazilian Portuguese does) will sound off to a Portuguese ear in most contexts.

Assisti ao concerto ontem à noite. Foi espantoso.

I attended the concert last night. It was amazing.

Podes ajudar-me com as malas, por favor?

Can you assist me with the bags, please?

pretender — to intend, to plan to; NOT to pretend

Pretender is used constantly in Portuguese for neutral, formal, and polite expressions of intention. It does not carry any sense of faking or playacting. To pretend, you want fingir or fazer de conta.

Pretendo mudar-me para Coimbra no próximo ano.

I intend to move to Coimbra next year.

A criança fingiu que estava a dormir.

The child pretended to be sleeping.

realizar — to carry out, to perform, to hold; sometimes to realize (understand)

Dangerous because it has two real meanings. The primary Portuguese sense of realizar is to carry out, to perform, to hold (an event). It is used constantly in news and formal contexts: realizar uma reunião (to hold a meeting), realizar um projeto (to carry out a project), realizar um sonho (to fulfill a dream).

A secondary sense — to realize = to suddenly understand — exists, but it is much more common to use aperceber-se or dar-se conta. Using realizar for "I realized" is not wrong, but it sounds slightly foreign in everyday EP speech.

A conferência realiza-se no Porto em maio.

The conference will be held in Porto in May.

Só me apercebi disso muito mais tarde.

I only realized that much later.

constipar-se — to catch a cold; NOT to become constipated

One of the classic traps. Estou constipado means I have a cold, not that you need laxatives. For intestinal trouble, the Portuguese word is prisão de ventre (literally prison of the belly), or verbally estar com prisão de ventre.

Apanhei frio no aeroporto e constipei-me.

I got cold at the airport and caught a cold.

Tenho prisão de ventre há três dias.

I've been constipated for three days.

embaraçar / estar embaraçada — to embarrass; to be pregnant (archaic sense)

Embaraçar means to embarrass or to hinder. The adjective embaraçado/a normally means embarrassed. However, there is an older sense — now archaic or regional in Portugal — in which embaraçada meant pregnant (still common in some Brazilian varieties). Modern European Portuguese uses grávida for pregnant without ambiguity.

Fiquei tão embaraçada quando tropecei na sala cheia.

I was so embarrassed when I tripped in the full room.

A minha irmã está grávida de cinco meses.

My sister is five months pregnant.

A visual false friend rather than a semantic one — English speakers sometimes associate empurrar with empower or with impart because of the shared "em-" prefix, but it simply means to push. To pull is puxar. Remember this pair: you will see them on every door in Portugal.

Empurra a porta, não a puxes.

Push the door, don't pull it.

Ele empurrou-me para o lado para passar.

He pushed me aside to get by.

atender — to answer (a call), to serve (a customer); rarely "to attend" in the English sense

English attend maps onto Portuguese assistir (see above). Portuguese atender means to answer (a phone, the door) or to serve (a customer, a patient). Do not use atender to mean going to a meeting or lecture.

Por favor atende o telefone, estou ocupado.

Please answer the phone, I'm busy.

O médico atendeu-me com muita simpatia.

The doctor saw me very kindly.

ignorar — to not know, to be unaware of; rarely "to ignore" (deliberately)

Tricky. In formal or literary Portuguese, ignorar very often means to not know, to be unaware of, which is a meaning English ignore has largely lost. In modern colloquial Portuguese, it also carries the English sense of deliberately snubbing someone, so context disambiguates. When the sense matters, desconhecer is unambiguous for "not to know."

Desconheço os motivos da sua decisão.

I don't know the reasons for his decision.

Ele ignorou-me na festa toda a noite.

He ignored me at the party all night long.

suportar — to bear, to tolerate; NOT to support (emotionally)

Another high-frequency trap. Suportar means to bear, to put up with, to endure — and crucially, it often carries a negative charge. Não suporto esse ruído means "I can't stand that noise." For to support in the emotional or financial sense, use apoiar.

Não suporto filmes de terror, saio sempre a meio.

I can't stand horror films, I always leave halfway through.

A minha família apoiou-me em tudo.

My family supported me in everything.

assumir — to take on (a role, responsibility); rarely "to assume" (suppose)

Assumir in Portuguese is stronger than English assume. It means to take on, to accept, to shoulder — a role, a responsibility, a public stance. The English sense of assumir = "to suppose" is rare; use supor or presumir instead.

Ela assumiu a direção da empresa aos trinta anos.

She took on leadership of the company at thirty.

Presumo que já tenhas comido.

I assume you've already eaten.

recordar — to remember (transitive); NOT "to record" (audio/video)

Recordar is a higher-register synonym of lembrar-se and means to remember, to recall. It has nothing to do with making recordings. To record audio or video is gravar.

Recordo ainda o dia em que nos conhecemos.

I still remember the day we met.

Gravei a entrevista no meu telemóvel.

I recorded the interview on my phone.

parar — to stop; NOT "to prepare"

Visual trap for English speakers who confuse it with prepare. Parar means to stop. To prepare is preparar. Short, easy to confuse, easy to fix.

O autocarro parou no sítio errado.

The bus stopped at the wrong spot.

Vou preparar o jantar agora.

I'll prepare dinner now.

fabricar — to manufacture; NOT "to fabricate (lie)"

Fabricar is neutral and industrial. It means to manufacture, to make. To fabricate lies or evidence, use inventar or forjar.

Esta fábrica fabrica peças para automóveis.

This factory manufactures automobile parts.

Ele inventou a história toda para se livrar da culpa.

He fabricated the whole story to get out of trouble.

quitar — to pay off (a debt); NOT "to quit"

Quitar is a legal or financial term for to settle, to pay off. To quit a job is despedir-se (to resign) or demitir-se. To quit doing something is deixar de + infinitive.

Finalmente quitei a hipoteca este ano.

I finally paid off the mortgage this year.

Ele deixou de fumar há dez anos.

He quit smoking ten years ago.

Quick reference — English false friends

Portuguese verb	Looks like	Actually means	For the English sense, use
assistir	to assist	to attend, to watch	ajudar (to help)
pretender	to pretend	to intend	fingir, fazer de conta
realizar	to realize	to carry out; (also) to realize	aperceber-se (to realize)
constipar-se	to be constipated	to catch a cold	prisão de ventre
embaraçada	embarrassed	embarrassed (pregnant in BP)	grávida (pregnant)
empurrar	to empower	to push	dar poder a
atender	to attend	to answer, to serve	assistir a
ignorar	to ignore	to not know; (also) to ignore	desconhecer (to not know)
suportar	to support	to bear, to tolerate	apoiar (to support)
assumir	to assume	to take on	supor, presumir
recordar	to record	to remember	gravar (to record)
parar	to prepare	to stop	preparar
fabricar	to fabricate (lie)	to manufacture	inventar, forjar
quitar	to quit	to pay off	despedir-se, deixar de

Part 2 — False friends for Spanish speakers

Spanish and Portuguese share so much vocabulary that Spanish-speaking learners are often surprised by how many common verbs diverge in meaning. These are the traps you will hit daily.

acordar — to wake up (PT) vs. to agree (ES)

In Portuguese, acordar is intransitive and means to wake up. In Spanish, acordar is the formal verb for to agree. The Portuguese word for to agree is concordar or estar de acordo.

Acordei às sete da manhã com o barulho do lixo.

I woke up at seven with the noise of the garbage truck.

Concordo contigo em tudo.

I agree with you on everything.

brincar — to play (PT) vs. to jump (ES)

Brincar in Portuguese means to play (children playing, joking around) or to joke. In Spanish brincar means to jump. The Portuguese word for to jump is saltar or pular.

Os miúdos estão a brincar no jardim.

The kids are playing in the garden.

Saltei sobre a poça para não molhar os sapatos.

I jumped over the puddle to avoid getting my shoes wet.

pegar — to pick up (PT) vs. to hit or to stick (ES)

Massive false friend. In Spanish pegar can mean to hit (someone) or to stick (with glue). In European Portuguese pegar em means to pick up an object; bare pegar means to catch fire, to start (of an engine), or to catch (a disease). To hit someone in Portuguese is bater em or dar um murro em. To stick with glue is colar.

Pega nas chaves que estão em cima da mesa.

Pick up the keys that are on the table.

O carro não pega nos dias frios.

The car won't start on cold days.

borrar — to smudge, to blot (PT) vs. to erase (ES)

In Spanish borrar means to erase. In Portuguese borrar means to smudge, to blot, to stain. It can also vulgarly mean to soil oneself. To erase in Portuguese is apagar.

A chuva borrou toda a tinta do cartaz.

The rain smudged all the ink on the poster.

Apaga o quadro antes da próxima aula.

Erase the board before the next class.

escritório — office (PT) vs. desk (ES, some regions)

Strictly a noun, but worth flagging since it catches speakers constantly. In European Portuguese escritório is an office (the room or workplace). A desk is secretária. Watch out — secretária also means female secretary, so context clarifies.

Trabalho num escritório no centro de Lisboa.

I work in an office in the center of Lisbon.

Deixei o portátil em cima da secretária.

I left the laptop on the desk.

polvo — octopus (PT) vs. dust (ES)

Another nominal trap, included because Spanish speakers at Portuguese restaurants regularly misunderstand menus. Polvo in Portuguese is octopus — a beloved ingredient (try polvo à lagareiro). Dust in Portuguese is pó.

Comi polvo grelhado ontem à noite, estava fantástico.

I had grilled octopus last night, it was fantastic.

Há muito pó em cima da estante.

There's a lot of dust on the shelf.

apagar — also means to erase (PT), where Spanish uses borrar

Only a partial false friend. Both Spanish and Portuguese apagar mean to extinguish and to turn off (apagar a luz, apagar o fogo) — no trap there. The Portuguese extension worth learning is the "erase / delete" sense: you apagar the blackboard, a message, a file, a photo. In Spanish that job belongs to borrar, and it is easy to reach for Portuguese borrar by mistake — but in Portuguese borrar means to smudge (see the borrar entry above).

Apaga a luz antes de sair.

Turn off the light before leaving.

Apaguei aquela mensagem por engano.

I deleted that message by mistake.

lograr — to manage to (PT, formal) vs. to achieve (ES, common)

Spanish lograr is everyday; Portuguese lograr is formal to literary, and often carries a negative connotation of to succeed in doing something unexpected, sometimes even to deceive. The everyday Portuguese word for to manage / to succeed is conseguir.

Consegui resolver o problema em dez minutos.

I managed to solve the problem in ten minutes.

Ele logrou enganar toda a gente durante anos.

He managed to deceive everyone for years.

latir — to bark, of a dog (PT) vs. to beat, of a heart (ES)

A straight reversal. In Spanish, latir is the everyday word for the beating of a heart (el corazón late). In Portuguese, latir means to bark — what dogs do. A heart in Portuguese bate (o coração bate), never late. Spanish speakers who carry the heart meaning over will produce sentences that sound comical to Portuguese ears.

O meu coração batia tão depressa que achei que ia desmaiar.

My heart was beating so fast I thought I'd faint.

O cão do vizinho late a noite toda.

The neighbor's dog barks all night.

embaraçar — see Part 1 above

Listed here as well because Spanish embarazar means to make pregnant, and Spanish speakers sometimes carry that over to Portuguese. In Portugal, embaraçar means to embarrass or to entangle, and grávida is the unambiguous word for pregnant.

exquisito / esquisito — strange, odd (PT) vs. exquisite (ES)

Noun-adjective trap but mentioned because it appears in verbal contexts all the time: ficar esquisito (to feel weird / to come out strange). In Portuguese esquisito is negative — it means strange, picky, odd. In Spanish exquisito is positive. The Portuguese word for exquisite is requintado or primoroso.

Este bolo ficou esquisito, acho que me esqueci do açúcar.

This cake came out strange, I think I forgot the sugar.

O restaurante serve uma cozinha requintada.

The restaurant serves exquisite cuisine.

Quick reference — Spanish false friends

Portuguese verb	Means in ES	Means in PT	For the Spanish sense, use in PT
acordar	to agree	to wake up	concordar, estar de acordo
brincar	to jump	to play, to joke	saltar, pular
pegar	to hit, to glue	to pick up; to catch fire/start	bater em; colar
borrar	to erase	to smudge, to blot	apagar
polvo (noun)	dust	octopus	pó
escritório (noun)	desk (some regions)	office	secretária (desk)
apagar	to extinguish, to turn off	also to erase	borrar means "to smudge" in PT — use apagar for erase
lograr	to achieve (common)	to succeed / to deceive (formal)	conseguir
exquisito / esquisito	exquisite (positive)	strange, picky (negative)	requintado, primoroso

Common mistakes

❌ Vou assistir-te com esse problema.

Incorrect — assistir does not mean to help.

✅ Vou ajudar-te com esse problema.

I'll help you with that problem.

❌ Estou constipado, preciso de medicamento.

Grammatically correct but you have said 'I have a cold, I need medicine' — which is true, but probably not what you meant if you were trying to say 'I am constipated.'

✅ Tenho prisão de ventre, preciso de medicamento.

I'm constipated, I need medicine.

❌ Pretendi não ouvir quando ele disse aquilo.

Incorrect for 'I pretended not to hear.'

✅ Fingi não ouvir quando ele disse aquilo.

I pretended not to hear when he said that.

❌ Não suporto o meu filho nos estudos.

Backwards — you've said 'I can't stand my son in his studies.'

✅ Apoio o meu filho nos estudos.

I support my son in his studies.

❌ Ele pegou a bolsa e saiu.

Sounds Brazilian and slightly off in European Portuguese.

✅ Ele pegou na bolsa e saiu.

He picked up the bag and left.

❌ Borra o quadro antes da aula.

Incorrect in Portuguese — you've said 'smudge the board.'

✅ Apaga o quadro antes da aula.

Erase the board before class.

Key takeaways

Assistir a = to attend or watch, not to assist. Use ajudar for to help.
Pretender = to intend, not to pretend. Use fingir for to pretend.
Constipado = with a cold, not constipated. Use prisão de ventre for constipated.
Suportar tilts negative (to tolerate), while English support tilts positive. Use apoiar for to support emotionally or politically.
Spanish speakers: acordar = to wake up (not agree), brincar = to play (not jump), borrar = to smudge (not erase), pegar em = to pick up (not hit or glue).
When a word feels familiar, pause and verify. Familiarity is the enemy of accuracy in vocabulary you have not yet used out loud.