Languagle #36: Portuguese
Quem tem boca vai a Roma
"Whoever has a mouth can get to Rome."
What it means
You can get anywhere if you are willing to ask. With a mouth to ask the way, you can even get to Rome. Used to encourage people not to be shy about asking.
How to say it
kaing taing BOH-ka vye a HOH-ma
This is how it sounds in Brazil, where an r at the start of a word is said like an h. In Portugal that r is rolled and the vowels are swallowed more. Quem and tem end in a nasal sound, as if you start to say 'ng' and stop.
Word by word
- Quem kaing: whoever
- tem taing: has
- boca BOH-ka: mouth
- vai vye: goes
- a Roma a HOH-ma: to Rome
Where it was found
Portuguese calls a proverb a provérbio. This one is from a list of Portuguese proverbs and sayings on Português Portugal.
Similar sayings
- English: It never hurts to ask
How to recognise Portuguese
Portuguese puts a tilde on vowels (ã, õ), and words ending in -ção and -ões are everywhere. It also uses ç and the letter pairs nh and lh, as in 'senhor' and 'trabalho'. Spanish uses ñ and ll for those sounds and never has ã. Catalan has ç too, but also l·l and words ending in -ció.
About the Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language with over 230 million native speakers, most of them in Brazil, and it is official in nine countries on four continents. It began in the medieval kingdom of Galicia and Portugal, and Galician remains its closest relative. Portuguese is known for its nasal vowels, marked with a tilde as in 'não' (no), and European and Brazilian Portuguese differ noticeably in pronunciation.
← #35 · All answers · #37 →