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What does “estrear” mean in Portuguese?

Estrear is the verb Portuguese keeps for firsts. A film or a series estreia (premieres), but so does a pair of shoes: estreei o tênis hoje means “I wore my new trainers for the first time today.” English needs a whole phrase for that idea; Portuguese has one word, and the noun estreia is the premiere or debut itself.

You can estrear a car, a jacket, a kitchen or a job; a footballer estreia for a new club, a channel estreia a series. Two traps: the infinitive is estrear, never estreiar, and the third person is ele estreia. Brazil writes tênis, Portugal ténis — same shoes, same verb.