Thanks for nothing

A sneak peek at the new Eat Rio site! Coming soon soonish…

Afternoon all! Well, the new website is coming along nicely, but I’ve pretty much given up on the idea that it could be ready in time for carnival. In the meantime we’ll all just have to make do with the current, somewhat ‘busy’, layout.

Normally at this time of year I have just one thing on my mind: Carnival. The official start of carnival is just 2 weeks away, but there are already plenty of pre-carnival events going on such as technical rehearsals at the Sambodrome on weekends and various blocos dotted around town. With carnival come turistas, most of them estrangeiros and as most of these foreign tourists don’t speak Portuguese, they have a bit of a challenge on their hands.

Não falo inglês

It comes as a surprise to many of Rio’s 2.8 million annual visitors that so few people here speak English. I think every respectful visitor makes an effort to learn at least a few key phrases, but all the same, many international travellers have come to expect waiters, policemen, taxi drivers and hotel staff (etc) to speak at least a little English – often not the case in Rio. The scarcity of English speakers in key tourist-contact roles is doubly surprising when you think that this is not a new tourists destination – tourists have been flocking to Rio since the middle of the 20th century.

Airline posters from the 1950s and 60s.

Luckily, most visitors find that a smile and some miming skills go a long way. And if you get stuck for ideas when you’re on the bus, some English-speaking fellow passenger usually appears to lend a hand.

But let’s get back to those basic phrases that most people try to pick up before their trip. Probably one of the most basic things you might want to do is express gratitude, but even a simple thank you can trip up the newcomer.

Obrigado/a – I am obliged

I often have people on my food tours who tell me they have mastered their ‘thank yous’ in Portuguese. “I’ve been saying obrigado to the men and obrigada to the women” they proudly tell me. I then gently explain that that’s not quite right. When we say obrigado, we are literally saying that we are obliged to the person we are thanking. As we are describing ourselves, the final vowel changes depending on whether we are male or female. Unless you go through some kind of gender reassignment process you will only ever need to use one – obrigado if you’re male, obrigada if you’re female.

If you want to say it like a local, feel free to drop the initial ‘O’ – if you listen carefully you’ll notice that most locals simply say ‘brigado (or ‘brigada). This can then become a ‘big‘ thank you by changing the ending: ‘brigadão! Or you can get cutesy by making it a little thank you: brigadinho.

In Rio, even the tablecloths thank you.

Valeu – It was worth it

If you’re looking for a quicker, more informal way of thanking someone (a ‘cheers’ or a ‘thanks’ as opposed to boring old ‘thank you’), you could opt for valeu (sounds like ‘val-AYE-oh’, where AYE is the letter A). This is probably not the kind of thanks you’d give at the end of a successful job interview, but more to thank someone for passing you something, or lighting your cigarette.

Valeu is the third person, past perfect conjugation of the verb valer – to be worth something.  I had always assumed that the use of this word had evolved from an archaic way of telling someone that they had been valued, but Mrs Eat Rio has just poopooed that idea (and simultaneously explained the meanings of 2 other verbs, valorizar and valorar). Her view is that it’s more likely to have come from a phrase meaning something like “your favour was worth it” (valeu a pena). Whatever the origins, it’s a nice quick way of saying thanks to someone.

Gabriel Medina won the 2014 ASP World Tour – the first Brazilian to do so. This was one of the many tributes, thanking him.

De nada / Por nada – It was nothing

The standard response when someone thanks you is to say with a cheerful lilt, de nada! (sounds like ‘je nada’) – it was nothing. A less common variation on this is to say por nada – for nothing. Although de nada is the standard, you have other options:

Que isso? / Imagina! – What’s this? / Imagine!

Que isso is a very useful phrase that can be used in all manner of different ways, and one of them is say “don’t mention it” when someone thanks you. I particularly enjoy being on the receiving end of a que isso in this context because it is often said with an intonation which seems to convey genuine astonishment that someone has given thanks for such an infinitesimally small favour.

Paulistas (people from São Paulo) like to use a similar approach by responding to thanks with imagina! Their incredulity at being thanked for their tiny deed is such that they actually exclaim “imagine!”, as in “just imagine that – someone thanking me for this insignificant action”.

Remember Imagina na Copa? I never seem to hear that phrase anymore. Strange… ;)

And with that I will say valeu (it also works as an informal goodbye). Next week I hope to return with something sweet and delicious for your delectation. Have a great weekend!