What does “me superei” mean in Portuguese?

Superar means “to overcome” or “to beat.” Use it on yourself, superar-se, and it means doing better than you normally do. Hoje eu me superei is “today I outdid myself.” People say it proudly after a great meal or a personal best. They also say it as a joke after a big mess-up.

In an ordinary sentence like this one, Brazilians usually say eu me superei, while in Portugal you’d normally hear superei-me. The noun superação (“overcoming”) is popular in Brazil: uma história de superação is a story about someone beating the odds. Here a dad announces mano, hoje eu me superei in a silly moment with his daughter.