The entire Portuguese culture reduced to 5 expressions

In today's lecture, I would like to introduce the five expressions that can explain the entire Portuguese culture.

With these five expressions, you can comprehend and engage in all kinds of day-to-day social interactions. Many Portuguese people are not aware of the power and scope of these expressions, although they do admit their common use.

1. "Pois."

This is a lifesaver. It is somewhere around "right!", "right?", "well..." and "well?". It is neither of them and it is all of them. (It can also be used as "because".)

But besides its meaning, it has one power that no other expression in any language has: Lets the conversation flow no matter what. Here's how:

When you are a foreigner and you are talking about a sophisticated subject or interacting with a child or an elderly, sometimes you don't understand what is being said. In such cases, unless it is important, it is generally considered kind to just nod, smile or say something like "yeah", "right", etc. None of this works if the speaker poses a Yes/No question. You cannot nod, you cannot smile, you cannot say "yes" until understanding the question. But you can always say "Pois.", and the speaker will continue with his/her story.

It's like a void affirmation.

In my first few years in Portugal, I was very reluctant to engage in conversations with strangers because of my lack of language skills. Then I discovered the power of pois. I still had extremely limited vocabulary, a messy and improvised grammar, and extremely narrow experience in listening, but I had pois! I managed having full conversations with the locals in the south, in the interior, in the north, in cities, in villages, everywhere... Yes, I admit that I understood maybe a third of what that alentejana old lady told me, but she doesn't know that! And I did understand the essential: her children living abroad and visiting only very seldom. I didn't catch their profession, their ages, etc. but who cares: it was just a chitchat in a pastelaria where we had a coffee in passing. I didn't have to constantly stop her speech to ask for repetition. It was a pleasant moment for both of us.

But this is just the beginning. Here is an opposite situation:

(Me in Social Security office asking for a document)

Me: So, I need this number to enroll to my university.

Lady in the counter: Well but you need to bring us your income proof first.

Me: My income will be a scholarship. I will take care of that right after enrolling to the university.

Lady in the counter: Okay but we need the income document to give you the Social Security number.

Me: ??

Lady in the counter: ...

Me: But I cannot get the scholarship without enrolling to a university, and I cannot enroll without this number. So I need the number to get my income.

Lady in the counter: Pois.

If this looks surreal, you can confirm with your Portuguese friends... even better if you talk to immigrants in Portugal. 

Please read the above dialogue carefully: this is a void denial.

So the same word can work for answering anything, to the extent that you can evade a Yes/No question by simply affirming the speaker's point, as well as not answering anything, to the extent that you can evade a direct, objective question. The same word is for void affirmation and for void denial.

Pois is so void that it fits everywhere and resolves everything.

I told my Portuguese friends about this multi-functionality and they all responded: Pois!

When I started this "personal project" of reducing the Portuguese culture into five expression, the real challenge was: what in the Portuguese culture is not covered by pois? What social situation may not be explained by pois? So my problem was not to get enough expressions to cover all the situations, but to look for situations that are not covered by pois. I found a few, but I should admit: most of Portuguese social life, around 50% of all the essentials, is just understanding and using pois. The rest is all optional.

Next time, I will tell you the second expression.