Língua da Gente — O Bibo Fugiu Mesmo

🎧 Listen to the podcast episode

First listen: Who is Bibo? What happened to him? How do the two speakers feel about it — are their reactions the same or different?

Língua da Gente · Episode 37

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💬 The Conversation

Read along while listening again. Notice the highlighted verbs — some are in the past, one expresses a future event. Pay attention to the emotional words too.

A

O Bibo fugiu mesmo.

Bibo really ran away.

B

Não culpo ele. Também ninguém brincava mais com ele.

I don't blame him. Nobody even played with him anymore.

A

Mesmo assim, Marquinhos vai ficar chateado, não é?

Still, Marquinhos is going to be upset, right?

B

Chateado ou aliviado? O Bibo só dava trabalho.

Upset or relieved? Bibo just caused a lot of work.

📖 Fugir — to run away / to escape

A says "O Bibo fugiu mesmo." — fugir is an irregular -ir verb. The key forms to know at this level are the present and the preterite.

Pronoun	Presente	Pretérito perfeito
eu	fujo	fugi
você / ele / ela	foge	fugiu
nós	fugimos	fugimos
eles / vocês	fogem	fugiram

The word mesmo after the verb adds emphasis — it's like "really" or "actually": "Fugiu mesmo." = He really did run away. / He actually ran away. You can also hear mesmo used for "even" (mesmo assim = even so / still) and "same" (o mesmo = the same one).

💡 Mesmo — three jobs in one word Mesmo is one of those ultra-versatile Brazilian words: (1) emphasis — Fugiu mesmo. (He really ran away.); (2) even so / still — Mesmo assim, vai ficar chateado. (Even so, he's going to be upset.); (3) same — O mesmo problema. (The same problem.) Context always makes the meaning clear.

📖 O imperfeito — Habitual past actions

B uses two imperfect forms: "ninguém brincava mais" and "só dava trabalho." The pretérito imperfeito describes what used to happen — ongoing or repeated actions in the past, in contrast to the preterite which describes completed events.

Verb	Imperfeito (ele/ela)	Meaning here
brincar (to play)	brincava	used to play / would play (habitually)
dar (to give / to cause)	dava	used to cause / kept causing (habitually)

Só dava trabalho — literally "only gave work" — is a set phrase meaning "was always causing trouble / was nothing but work." Dar trabalho = to be a burden / to cause a lot of effort.

🔊 Ninguém… mais — negative concord B says "ninguém brincava mais com ele" — literally "nobody played more with him" = nobody played with him anymore. In Portuguese, two (or more) negatives strengthen each other rather than cancelling out — unlike in English. This is called concordância negativa. You already saw it in Episode 33: "já não tem mais nada" (there's nothing left). Both ninguém (nobody) and mais (anymore) are negative in this context, and together they make the negation stronger, not positive.

📖 Vai ficar + adjective — Talking about future emotional states

A predicts: "Marquinhos vai ficar chateado." — vai ficar (is going to be / is going to feel) is used with adjectives to describe an emotional or physical state in the near future. Ficar + adjective is extremely common in Brazilian Portuguese for expressing how someone feels or becomes.

Portuguese	English	Notes
chateado/a	upset / annoyed / bothered	Very common — milder than com raiva (angry)
aliviado/a	relieved	From alívio (relief)
feliz	happy	Invariable — same for masc. and fem.
triste	sad	Invariable — same for masc. and fem.
surpreso/a	surprised	Agrees in gender: surpreso (m.) / surpresa (f.)
preocupado/a	worried	From preocupar (to worry)

Ficar + adjective describes a change of state or emotional reaction — like English "to get" or "to feel": Ela ficou chateada. (She got upset.) Vai ficar aliviado. (He's going to be relieved.)

1 What does it mean? — Expression Quiz

Choose the correct meaning for each expression from the dialogue.

O Bibo fugiu mesmo.

✅ Correct! Fugiu is the preterite of fugir (he/she/it ran away). Mesmo here = really / indeed. Together: Bibo actually ran away — it really happened.

Não culpo ele.

✅ Correct! Culpar = to blame. Culpo = I blame (1st person present). Ele used as direct object (informal) = him. So: I don't blame him.

Ninguém brincava mais com ele.

✅ Correct! Ninguém = nobody. Brincava = imperfect of brincar (used to play). Mais with negation = anymore. Together: nobody played with him anymore (in the past, habitually).

O Bibo só dava trabalho.

✅ Correct! Só = only / just. Dava = imperfect of dar (used to give). Dar trabalho = to be a burden / to cause trouble. So: Bibo was nothing but trouble.

2 Complete the Dialogue

Fill in the blanks with the missing words.
Word bank: fugiu · culpo · brincava · chateado · aliviado

— O Bibo mesmo.

— Não ele. Também ninguém mais com ele.

— Mesmo assim, Marquinhos vai ficar , não é?

— ou chateado? O Bibo só dava trabalho.

3 Vai ficar… — How will they feel?

Choose the adjective that best completes each sentence about an emotional reaction.

O João perdeu a carteira. Ele vai ficar muito ___.

A Marina terminou o exame difícil. Ela vai ficar ___.

Ninguém apareceu na festa do Marquinhos. Ele vai ficar ___.

A família vai viajar e o cachorro vai para o canil. A mãe vai ficar ___.

4 Your Turn — O que aconteceu?

Write in Portuguese.
Think of something that happened to someone you know (or make it up). Write 4–5 sentences using the past tense. Include at least one imperfect (brincava, dava, era…), one preterite (fugiu, foi, ficou…), and one vai ficar + adjective.