Breakdown of Eu cá não acredito nesse mexerico.
eu
I
não
not / no
em
in / on / at
esse
that (esse, essa, esses, essas)
acreditar
to believe
o mexerico
the piece of gossip
cá
as for me (emphatic particle)
Questions & Answers about Eu cá não acredito nesse mexerico.
Why is cá used right after eu? Doesn't it mean "here"?
Literally, yes, cá means "here". But in this sentence, it is used for pragmatic focus. When placed right after a subject pronoun like eu, it adds emphasis, meaning "as for me", "personally", or "in my case". It strongly contrasts your personal stance with someone else's.
Could I say Eu lá não acredito instead to mean the same thing?
No, because cá anchors the statement in the speaker's personal sphere ("as for me"), whereas lá is used to create distance or dismissiveness. With eu, cá is the natural choice to emphasize your own personal opinion.
Why do we use nesse instead of just esse mexerico?
Because the verb acreditar (to believe) requires the preposition em. Whenever you believe "in" something or believe a piece of news or gossip, you must combine em with the demonstrative pronoun. Here, em + esse contracts into nesse.
Is mexerico the standard word for "gossip"? I thought it was fofoca.
Both are widely used! Fofoca is extremely common in Portugal today, but mexerico is a very traditional European Portuguese word specifically for rumors, petty talk, or whispering behind someone's back. Using mexerico makes your Portuguese sound very authentic.
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