Filed under: Tips & Guides
When you step into your first capoeira class, you will be bombarded by many foreign words. Don’t worry. You don’t need to be fluent in Brazilian Portuguese to play capoeira, but it would help you to know a few basic words you may hear while training.
This post would not have been possible without the great Portuguese for Capoeiristas tutorial. I am just giving you basic words and phrases. Go there to learn more about pronunciation, sentence structure, grammar, usage, AKA to learn how to speak the language.
Also, check out the Capoeira Terms page for a wider selection of capoeira related words. And the Movements page so that you can remember the names of moves (this always seems to be hard for people).
Body Parts
mao: hand
braco: arm
cabeca: head
cotovelo: elbow
perna: leg
pe: foot
joelho: knee
Numbers (One – Ten)
um: one
dois: two
tres: three
quatro: four
cinco: five
seis: six
sete: seven (pronounced “setch”)
oito: eight (pronounced “oy-toh”)
nove: nine (pronounced noh-vay)
dez: ten
Pronouns
eu: I
voce: you
ele/ela: he/she
nos: we
Questions
quando: when
onde: where
o que: what
por que: why
quem: who
como: how
Instruments
berimbau: the main instrument of capoeira
atabaque: the capoeira drum
pandeiro: the capoeira tambourine
Miscellaneous
de novo: again
mais uma vez: one more time
assim: like this
pior: worse
melhor: better
pouco: few/little
muito: many/very
esquerda: left
direita: right
para tras: backwards
para frente: forward
mais: more
menos: less
rapido: fast
devegar: slow
roda: circle/wheel, this is the circle of people in which the capoeira game is played
jogo: game, jogar capoeira is to play capoeira
volta ao mundo: around the world, this is when capoeiristas circle the roda, usually to catch their breath or take a break in the game
mestre: a master of capoeira
esquiva: dodge
movimento: movement
comprar de jogo: buy the game, this is when you enter the jogo by “cutting out” a player, it’s sometimes considered disrespectful to buy from mestres and other instructors
This is part of of my guide beginner’s guide to capoeira. If you like what you read here, head over to Capoeira For Beginners for the entire series!
2 Comments so far
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The Capoeira Blog 
Nice work Faisca, should help many. Since most things who fall in each class on the list.
Comment by Maritaca August 17, 2007 @ 2:18 amI tried to give a good overview of common words that one might hear the mestre say. Even if you don’t understand the entire language, sometimes catching a word here or there can help you understand what someone is saying.
Comment by faisca August 17, 2007 @ 10:30 am