A1 — Iniciante I ← My Materials

Eu Vou Vomitar!

Episódio 27 Língua da Gente Falar sobre saúde e planos imediatos
Orlando R. Kelm · COERLL / University of Texas at Austin · CC BY 4.0

Step 1 — Listen

🎧 Listen to the podcast episode
First listen: How is speaker B feeling? What does A ask? What is B about to do?
Língua da Gente · Episode 27
Can't play? Open in Apple Podcasts →

Step 2 — Read the Dialogue

💬 The Conversation
Listen again while reading. Notice the very informal question forms A uses — and the near-future structure in B's final line.
A
Que que é, rapaz?
What's up, man?
B
Eu não estou me sentindo bem.
I'm not feeling well.
A
Que que houve?
What happened?
B
Eu vou vomitar.
I'm going to throw up.

Step 3 — Language Focus

📖 Ir + infinitivo — "Going to…"

B says "Eu vou vomitar" — I'm going to throw up. This structure — ir + infinitive — is the most common way to talk about the near future in Brazilian Portuguese. It works exactly like "going to" in English.

Subject Ir Example Meaning
Eu vou Eu vou vomitar. I'm going to throw up.
Você / Ele / Ela vai Ele vai ao médico. He's going to the doctor.
A gente vai A gente vai descansar. We're going to rest.
Vocês / Eles / Elas vão Eles vão sair cedo. They're going to leave early.

To make it negative: não + ir + infinitive. → "Eu não vou comer nada." — I'm not going to eat anything.

📖 Key Expressions from the Dialogue
Portuguese English Notes
Que que é? What's up? / What is it? Very informal contraction of O que é que é? Common in everyday speech — signals concern or curiosity.
Rapaz Man / Buddy / Dude Literally "young man". Used informally to address a male friend. Similar to cara (more common in SP) or mano.
Eu não estou me sentindo bem. I'm not feeling well. Key health expression. Sentir-se = to feel (reflexive). Me sentindo = feeling (gerund form with reflexive pronoun).
Que que houve? What happened? Informal contraction of O que foi que houve?. Houve = past tense of haver (to happen/occur). A very natural follow-up question.
Eu vou vomitar. I'm going to throw up. Ir + infinitivo = going to. Vomitar is the standard word; colloquially Brazilians also say passar mal (to feel sick).
🔊 Phonology Note — "Que que é?" — speech reduction The full form O que é que é? gets compressed into Que que é? in casual speech — four words become three, and the "o" at the start disappears entirely. Similarly, O que foi que houve? → Que que houve?. This kind of rapid reduction is very characteristic of informal Brazilian Portuguese and happens constantly in everyday conversation. You'll hear it, but you may not be ready for it the first time!
🇧🇷 Culture Note — "Rapaz" and informal address Brazilians use a rich set of informal terms to address friends. Rapaz (literally "young man/boy") is common in many regions. In São Paulo you'll often hear cara (literally "face"). In Rio and elsewhere, mano/mana (from irmão/irmã, brother/sister) is popular. All of these function like "man", "dude", or "mate" in English — they signal closeness and informality.

Step 4 — Practice

1 What does it mean? — Expression Quiz
Each expression comes from the dialogue. Choose the correct English meaning.
Que que é, rapaz?
Não estou me sentindo bem.
Que que houve?
Eu vou vomitar.
2 Complete the Dialogue
Fill in the blanks. Type the missing word or form.
Word bank: sentindo · houve · rapaz · vomitar · bem
— Que que é, ?
— Eu não estou me .
— Que que ?
— Eu vou .
3 Ir + infinitivo — Choose the correct form
Choose the correct form of ir to complete each sentence.
Eu _____ vomitar.
Ela _____ ao médico.
Eles _____ descansar.
A gente _____ sair mais tarde.
4 Your Turn — Plans and how you feel
Write in Portuguese.
Use ir + infinitivo to write about your plans for today or this week. Also write a sentence about how you are feeling using estou me sentindo…
Enviar respostas para a professora