In Brazil, almost everyone says "Obrigado, viu?" (? to indicate rising intonation).
I asked some Brazilians about what "viu" is supposed to mean and most said it's just something you say, although some suggested that it is the past tense of ver, as in "Thanks, did you see that?". Thinking about it, I think it's more likely to be a contraction of the past tense of ouvir, as in (ou)viu. So I'd like to ask: What's the "viu" in "Obrigado, viu?" really and what is it supposed to mean?
In this context it's an interjection showing some kind of sympathy, and/or asking for confirmation that the other person heard and understood.
For instance (the confirmation case):
Preciso que você termine isso hoje, viu?
I need that you finish this today, understood?
And the sympathy case (yours):
Obrigado, viu?
I thank you, okay?
"Viu" in such a context as "obrigado, viu?" is just a filler and means nothing at all. There are other words we use in such phrases and they are fillers as well. See the following:
In my personal opinion, "obrigado, viu?" sounds a little more grateful than a simple "obrigado" and I often use it.
In other contexts, just like the one mentioned in another answer ("Eu preciso que esse relatório esteja pronto amanhã, viu?), it's used to emphasize an order or request and means "understood?"
The president of a certain Latin American country has become notorious for being caught saying "tem que manter isso, viu?" in relation to bribery.
In the spoken language a filler is a word or sound filling a pause. In Portuguese there is a long list of words often used as fillers. e.g.
This is very common in Brazilian Portuguese, and so is it's equivalent in English.
"Thanks a lot, unh?
" or huh? where the unh (a kind of grunted assent) emphasizes what precedes it. It is an interjection. We have the same exact thing in English, I am just not sure how to write it unambiguously, but I am sitting here typing and saying it to myself.
That unh can be called conversation grunts, even though in Portuguese the viu comes from ouvir and could also be translated as: "you hear?" or "ya hear?"
And viu, can have lexical meaning depending on context:
"Não vou fazer isso, viu?"
"I won't do that, see"?
viu, get it, see what I mean, unh, etc.
Sounds like "viu" in Brazilian Portuguese is used in a similar fashion to "eh" in Canadian English....it can soften a comment by asking the person to weigh in on a subject, to indicate you don't understand something,or don't believe something is true.
