Lá in Portuguese

lá in Portuguese

Brazilians use the word to express much more than just the literal, there, that place over there. Lá in Portuguese is actually used in many different expressions in everyday speech. Later, we'll look at the other ways (the other words!) also used to say there besides lá! » ali and aí -- these ALSO mean "there" but are used in different ways. Right now, we're just going to talk about lá in Portuguese.

Lá can express location

fica lá = stay there

You stay there while I look for a bank. » Você fica lá enquanto eu procuro um banco.

lá vem ela = here she comes (there she comes)

Here she comes with her new boyfriend. » Lá vem ela com o novo namorado.

lá em casa = at home

My bicycle's at home. » Minha bicicleta está lá em casa.

On this example it would be fine to just say simply "em casa" : Minha bicicleta está em casa. The is included to add emphasis: it's THERE at home.

Lá also gets used to say things like, inside, outside, upstairs & downstairs.

up there (lit: there above) » em cima.
down there (lit: there below) » em baixo.
inside there (lit: there inside) » dentro.
outside there (lit: there outside) » fora.

Lá can express an emotion

Just as we say things like. "there you go again" and "there is something wrong", Brazilians use Lá in Portuguese to convey an emotion or feeling. These are the most common sentences that I hear all the time:
sei lá = whatever

Whatever. I don't care. » Sei lá. Eu não ligo.

vai lá = go on, go ahead

Go ahead. I'm not going to get in your way. » Vai lá. Não vou atrapalhar você.

deixa para lá = let it be, leave it alone, forget about it

Leave it alone. I'll do it later. » Deixa para lá. Vou fazer mas tarde.

até lá = until then, until later

Until then. We'll be in touch. » Ate lá. A gente se fala.

Notice here that people mostly say até logo when saying until then. But if it's some event at some specific location like a meeting or an outing, people will often say até lá » Ok, I'll see you at the festival » Até lá então.

The bottom line is: don't be thrown off when you hear lots of lá, lá, lá this & lá that added to sentences. Do not try to interpret these literally. You always want to try and understand the overall meaning of phrases that use lá in Portuguese.

And what, so you suppose "de lá e de cá" means?

There are many ways to use Lá in Portuguese!

From the video learning course, INTENSIVO.