What does “a gente” mean in Portuguese?

In spoken Brazilian Portuguese, a gente is the normal way to say “we.” It replaces nós in most conversations, but it takes a singular verb, like ele or ela: a gente fala, not a gente falamos. So nós vamos and a gente vai mean the same thing, and the second one is what you will hear at the table, on the bus and in most videos.

Literally a gente is “the people,” which is why the verb stays singular. It also works as an object: eles entendem a gente, “they understand us.” The clip has both in one joke about Americans: a gente nunca entende o que eles falam, né? Mas eles entendem o que a gente fala (“we never understand what they say, but they understand what we say”). Nós is still correct and appears in writing, speeches and news.