MACHUCAR in Portuguese : injured in Brazil

machucar

Sometimes, Brazilian Portuguese hurts so bad!

There are several ways to talk about being hurt, injured or wounded. The most confusing thing I get questions about is the difference between MACHUCAR and MAGOAR. These two are the most important, most used verbs to say to hurt.

MACHUCAR is used to talk about a physical injury.

Eu sempre me machuco jogando futebol.
Ela está machucada e não quer sair.

Use MAGOAR to talk about emotional and psychological hurt.

Essas palavras podem magoar mesmo!
Meu coração está muito magoado porque ela me traiu.

When talking about other injuries you will run into the verbs FERIR, ALEIJAR and LESAR

But which to use and when? Let's look at some examples...

FERIR is mostly used equally for physical injuries, especially accidents.

A casa pegou fogo mas ninguém foi ferido.

*Be careful not confuse with furar or ferrar!
ALEIJAR is almost always a grave injury and translates as to maim, mutilate.

Ele ficou aleijado num ataque de terror.

LESAR is used when talking about a specific body part that is injured.

Meu braço está lesado com artrite.
Ela tem uma lesão no quadril e não consegue andar.