Grammar gets you understood. Idioms get you sounding like you belong. Here are seven that show up constantly in everyday Portuguese, and make no sense translated word for word.
1. Pagar o pato
Literally "to pay the duck." It means to take the blame for something you didn't do — to be the fall guy. Nobody seems entirely sure why a duck is involved, which is part of the charm.
2. Engolir sapos
Literally "to swallow frogs." Used for biting your tongue and tolerating something unpleasant — a difficult boss, an awkward family comment — rather than reacting.
3. Estar com a pulga atrás da orelha
Literally "to have a flea behind the ear." The Portuguese equivalent of feeling suspicious, uneasy, or like something's off — the sense that's usually rendered in English as "something doesn't smell right."
4. Enfiar o pé na jaca
A Brazilian favourite: literally "to stick your foot in the jackfruit." It means to lose control, typically by overindulging — drinking too much, eating too much, or generally letting loose more than intended.
5. Não é hoje que a porca torce o rabo
Literally "it's not today the sow twists her tail." Used when someone insists they won't give up or be beaten this time — a stubborn declaration that today's the day things go differently.
6. Comer mosca
Literally "to eat a fly" — European Portuguese for missing the point entirely, being distracted, or failing to notice something obvious happening right in front of you.
7. Quem não tem cão, caça com gato
Literally "who has no dog, hunts with a cat." The Portuguese version of "make do with what you've got" — resourcefulness dressed up as a hunting proverb.
Why bother learning these?
Idioms are usually the last thing textbooks cover and the first thing native speakers actually say. Dropping even one correctly into conversation does more for how natural you sound than another week of verb conjugation drills — which is exactly why our Advanced (B1) and Expert I (B2) courses build idiomatic expression in deliberately, rather than leaving it to chance.
Curious where the difference between "swallowing frogs" and other regional quirks comes from? See our piece on Brazilian vs. European Portuguese.