por aí

Portuguese

Alternative forms

  • por ahi, por ahy, per ahi, per ahy (all obsolete)

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /puɾ aˈi/, /poɾ aˈi/

  • Rhymes: -i
  • Hyphenation: por‧a‧í

Adverb

por aí

  1. out there, over there, that way
    Não vás por aí. É perigoso.
    Don't go over there. It is dangerous.
  2. around (in a place different than where the speaker currently is; otherwise, use por aqui.)
    Não, tenho a certeza de que o teria visto se estivesse por aí.
    No, I'm sure I would have seen him if he had been around.
    • 1880, Maria Amalia Vaz de Carvalho, “A perceptora [The perceptress]”, in Contos e phantasias [Short stories and fantasies]‎[1], 2nd edition, Lisbon: Parceria Antonio Maria Pereira, published 1905, page 207:
      Conhecia as linguas modernas, mas não como as conhecem as meninas que por ahi conversam com os diplomatas, resumindo n’isso todas as suas ambições de estudo.
      She knew the modern languages, but not like the girls who chat around with diplomats, and have that as their only learning ambition, know them.
  3. (idiomatic) roughly, thereabout, thereabouts (i.e. approximately)
    A velocidade da luz é de 300.000 quilómetros por segundo, certo? Sim, por aí.
    The speed of light is 300,000 kilometres per second, right? Yes, thereabout.
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.