Verb Lessons: How to Say “To Find Out” in Portuguese

How do you say “to find out” or “i found out that…” in Brazilian Portuguese? This one admittedly took me a while to figure out. From what i could ascertain, there are two ways to express “finding out” something in Portuguese:

1. ficar sabendo (de/que…) – literally: “to become knowing about…” really means, ” to find out. For example:

“eu fiquei sabendo que você não presta” – “i found out that you are useless.”

*Keep in mind you may also see “chegar a saber” – literally means: “to arrive to know,” which can mean to find out about something but it can also be used to convey a sense of something you came to know, or knew at one moment in time. For example: “eu já cheguei a saber, mas entretanto me esqueci” – “i already came to know (or knew) that, but i forgot.”

2. descobrir – This is the Portuguese verb meaning “to discover.” But if you say: “eu descobri que…” it is like saying: “i found out that…”