Question 1

Why is pretendes translated as 'do you mean'? Doesn't pretender mean 'to pretend'?

Accepted Answer

No, pretender is a classic false friend! In Portuguese, it means 'to intend', 'to wish', or 'to aim'. If you actually want to say 'to pretend', you should use the verb fingir. The phrase pretendes dizer literally translates to 'do you intend to say', which is a standard way Portuguese expresses 'do you mean'.

Question 2

Could I say O que queres dizer com isso? instead?

Accepted Answer

Yes, absolutely. Querer dizer is the most common way to translate 'to mean'. Using pretender dizer (to intend to say) is just slightly more formal or emphatic, but both mean exactly the same thing in this context and are completely interchangeable.

Question 3

English uses the preposition 'by' in 'mean by that'. Why does Portuguese use com (with)?

Accepted Answer

In Portuguese, the conversational logic is that you are saying something with those words rather than by them. Therefore, the fixed structure is dizer algo com isso (to say something with that). Translating 'by' literally to por would sound completely unnatural here.

Question 4

Could I use aquilo instead of isso for 'that' at the end of the sentence?

Accepted Answer

Isso is the most natural choice here because it refers directly to something the person you are talking to has just said. In Portuguese, isso relates to the listener's 'space' or recent words. You would use aquilo only if you were both referring to a more distant statement or event that neither of you had just brought up.

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