The words for “goodbye” in Portuguese are “tchau” or “adeus,” but what’s the difference between these two words?
When do you use tchau and when do you use adeus?
My friend Emerson from Sao Paulo, who happens to be a professional English teacher and is fluent in both English and Portuguese, explained to me the difference between these two words.
He told me that the word “tchau” is used to say goodbye to someone when you expect to see them around again soon. But the word adeus is used when it’s like a sort of “goodbye” forever, or for a very long time.
So, if you’re seeing someone off to an airplane heading for another country, and they perhaps will not come back again, I guess you will say, “adeus.”
And when you’re telling someone goodbye after a long chat or a social gathering, you may say, “tchau.”
That’s all for now. Tchau.
Yep, that´s correct. Let me just add some cool info: “Adeus” is such a strong word that we, Brazilians, hardly use (I, personally, never do). Thinking about that example of the airport, even though we know it´d take a long time to see the person who´s leaving (or, maybe, never see them at all again), we´d avoid using “adeus”. We can use it in humorous way, though, depending on the situation (i.e. we know that we´ll see the other person anytime soon, like when we´re leaving the office, for example, knowing that everyone will be back the following day) or… Read more »