Ficar de Olho: Keep an Eye on Something in Portuguese
Ficar de olho means to keep an eye on or watch something. Learn the pattern ficar de olho em and how it changes with the subject.
Real Life Portuguese · 4 min read · Updated October 14, 2026
The short answer
Ficar de olho means to keep an eye on, watch, or pay attention to something. It can describe watching an object for a short time, monitoring a message or schedule, or keeping track of a situation. The usual pattern is ficar de olho em.
Use ficar de olho for attention or monitoring
The expression is informal and does not automatically imply suspicion. The context tells you whether someone is watching a bag, checking for an update, or noticing a change.
Você pode ficar de olho na minha mochila?
Can you keep an eye on my backpack?
Vou ficar de olho no horário do ônibus.
I’ll keep an eye on the bus schedule.
Fique de olho nas mensagens do grupo.
Keep an eye on the group messages.
Conjugate ficar and contract em with the noun
Conjugate ficar to match the subject and tense: fico de olho (I keep an eye out), ficou de olho (he or she kept watch), and vamos ficar de olho (we will keep an eye on it). The phrase de olho remains the same.
The preposition em contracts with a definite article: em + a becomes na, em + o becomes no, and em + as/os becomes nas/nos. That is why you say ficar de olho na porta but ficar de olho em uma porta.
Ela ficou de olho nos preços durante a semana.
She watched the prices during the week.
Fico de olho em uma vaga nova.
I keep an eye out for a new opening.
A gente vai ficar de olho na previsão do tempo.
We’ll keep an eye on the weather forecast.
Put it into practice
Use ficar de olho em for watching or monitoring something; conjugate ficar and contract em with a definite article when needed.
Quick practice
Which Portuguese example matches “Keep an eye on the group messages”?
Choose an answer to check yourself.
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