pequeñas lecciones de portugués

7/27/2019 Pequeas Lecciones de Portugus

1/29

Pequeas Lecciones de Portugus

Reglas de converson Espaol - Portugus:

Also in English

Las pocas diferencias existentes entre el Portugus y el Espaol resultan de la evolucin separada

que las dos lenguas tuvieron a partir del latn vulgar. Muchas de estas diferencias siguen un patrn,

que puede ser utilizado para convertir muchas palabras de una lengua a otra. Estas reglas, que

pueden ser tiles en muchos casos, no debern ser consideradas universales. Slo sirven para un

conjunto reducido de palabras, y las excepciones abundan. Tenga esto presente!

Estas reglas estan hechas para aqullos que hablan el Espaol. Les ayudaran a convertir a su

versin portuguesa muchas palabras en espaol. La operacin inversa no es tan simple.

El Espaol "ue" pasa al Portugus "o":

nuevo - novo

puerta - porta

El Espaol "ie" pasa al Portugus "e":

fiesta - festa

miedo - medo

Muchas veces, palabras enpezando por "h" en Espaol, enpiezan por "f" en Portugus. Perohay muchas excepciones!

horno - fornohormiga - formiga

hierro - ferro (vea tambin la regla 2)

Las terminaciones "in", "on", y "an" en Espaol pasan al Portugus "o":
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/rules.html


2/29

televisin - televiso

razn - razo

capitn - capito

Los plurales "ones" y "anes" en Espaol pasan a "es" y "es" en Portugus:

televisiones - televises

razones - razes

capitanes - capites

La terminacin "able" en Espaol pasa a "vel" en Portugus:

rentable - rentvel

considerable - considervel

La terminacin "dad" en Espaol pasa a "dade" en Portugus:

igualdad - igualdade

nacionalidad - nacionalidade

Las palabras que enpiezan por "ll" en Espaol, muchas veces enpiezan por "ch" enPortugus:

llamar - chamar

llave - chave

Short Portuguese Lessons

Contents of lesson 1:

Introduction

Greetings

Simple Words

The Numbers
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Introductionhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Introductionhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Greetingshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Greetingshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Simple_Wordshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Simple_Wordshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Numbershttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Numbershttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Numbershttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Simple_Wordshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Greetingshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson1.html#Introduction


3/29

Introduction

Portuguese is one of the Romance languages, descendent from the vulgar Latin. It is though related

to languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan. It is very similar to Spanish,

and in fact, the small differences between the two languages allow mutual understanding with little

difficulty, easily overcome with some practice.

Structurally, and like its Romance sisters, Portuguese is a flexive language. The role of eachelement in the sentence is indicated by prepositions, and word order is important, eventhough not

as rigid as in English. The language phonetics vary in some extent between different parts of the

Portuguese-speaking world, but without limiting mutual understanding.

I confess that the grammar is far more complicated than in English, but not very different from

other Romance tongues. There are two genders: masculine and feminine, but no neutral. Adjectives

must agree with the nouns thay are describing, but this is easier to do in Portuguese than in many

other languages. Verbs are perhaps the most complicated thing, but anyone who has ever learned

French or Spanish won't find that very hard.

Greetings

The first thing to know when learning a language is to say hello! You'll also need to say goodbye,

and of course, to wish people a good day. These expressions are the most common in Portugal,

but there are many others.

Ol- Hello, Hi

Oi- Hello, Hi (used mainly in Brazil)

Bom dia- Good morningBoa tarde- Good afternoon

Boa noite- Good evening, Good night

Chau, Adeus- Goodbye

Simple Words

Being limited to saying hello is quite frustrating. To expand your vocabulary, here is a list of some

simple words. They might not be very useful, but we'll need them for lesson 2, when we will startmaking some short sentences.

Some Verbs:

Ser- To be (permanent form)

Estar- To be (transient form)

Ter- To have


4/29

Cantar- To singComer- To eat

Partir- To break, to leave

Some Nouns:

Mulher- Woman

Homem- Man

Rapariga- Girl

Rapaz- Boy

Gato- Cat

Co- Dog

Some Adjectives:

Bom / Boa- Good

Mau / M- Bad

Belo / Bela- Beautiful

Feio / Feia- Ugly

Novo / Nova- Young, New

Velho / Velha- Old

As you may have noticed, there are two forms for each adjective: the masculine and the feminine.

In portuguese, the adjective must agree with the noun in both gender and number. For those of youwho are getting scared and thinking that this is too complicated, just look at the above examples. In

most cases it is very straightforward to turn the masculine into feminine: just change the final oto

an a. Want to make it plural? Even more simple: just add an s.

The Numbers

There are people who collect numbers. Really, the first thing (and very often the only thing...) they

learn in a foreign language are the numbers. Why people like them so much? I don't know, but I

don't want to make anyone sad, so here are the numbers in Portuguese from 0 to 20:

0- Zero

1- Um

2- Dois

3- Trs

4- Quatro

5- Cinco

6- Seis


5/29

7- Sete8- Oito

9- Nove

10- Dez

11- Onze

12- Doze

13- Treze

14- Catorze (also "Quatorze" in Brazil)15- Quinze

16- Dezasseis (also "Dezesseis" in Brazil)

17- Dezassete (also "Dezessete" in Brazil)

18- Dezoito

19 - Dezanove

20 - Vinte

And that's all for lesson 1. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 2. There you willlearn how to conjugate some verbs, and well also start making some simple sentences.

Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see

included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!



The Personal Pronouns

The Verbs Ser/Estar (to be)

The Present Tense of regular verbs

Simple Sentences

The Personal Pronouns

Singular:

Eu- I

Tu/Voc- You (one person)

Ele/Ela- He/She

Plural:
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Personal_Pronounshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Personal_Pronounshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Verbs_Ser_Estarhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Verbs_Ser_Estarhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Present_Tensehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Present_Tensehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Simple_Sentenceshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Simple_Sentenceshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Simple_Sentenceshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Present_Tensehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Verbs_Ser_Estarhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson2.html#Personal_Pronouns


6/29

Ns- We

Vs/Vocs- You (many persons)

Eles/Elas- They

Notice that there are four different forms equivalent to the english "you". In the singular, Tuis used

to address a family member, a friend, or someone younger, while Vocis more formal. In the pluralis the same: Vsis the familiar treatment, and Vocsis formal. Both the formal treatments use the

third person when making verb patterns.

In Brazil, the familiar addressings Tuand Vsare not used, and Voc/Vocsare used in allsituations. In Portugal, the use of Vsis practically extinct in most of the country, being replaced

by Vocs, but it's still widely used in northern areas.

Perhaps you have noticed that there is no "it" in portuguese. Each verb form already tells which

person is doing the action, and so one doesn't have to put the person explicitly. For instance, the

english "it rains" is translated as "chove".

"They" is Elesif one is refering to a group of men, and Elasif refering to a group ofwomen. Elesis also used in mixed gender groups.

The verbs Ser/Estar (to be)

There are two different verbs in portuguese that can be translated to the english To Be. The verb

Ser is used to express a permanent characteristic of something. Estar is used for transient forms.

This will be better explained with some examples, so here is the present tense of both verbs, plus

some sentences using them:

Ser (to be)

Eu sou

Tu s

Ele/ela/voc

Ns somos

Vs sois

Eles/elas/vocs so

Estar (to be)

Eu estouTu ests

Ele/ela/voc est

Ns estamos

Vs estais

Eles/elas/vocs esto

Examples:


7/29

Eu sou Portugus- I am Portuguese (permanent form)Vs sois grandes- You are big (permanent form)

O cu est nublado- The sky is cloudy (transient form)

Eu estou sentado- I am sitting down (transient form)

The Present Tense of regular verbs

The infinitive of all Portuguese verbs ends with an vowel+r. There are different conjugationpatterns depending on the vowel before the r. In the list below you can find the patterns for the

present tense of verbs ending in ar, er, and ir. There are also a few verbs ending in or, but that's aspecial case which will be treated in some advanced lesson.

To make the verb patterns, you first need to extract the radical. That couldn't be more simple: just

take the vowel+r out of the word. In cantarthe radical is cant, in comerthe radical is com, and soon. Finnaly add the ending for the person you want to conjugate.

In this list you can find the present tense of the verbs cantar, comer, and partir, each of a different

conjugation. In bold you can find each one of the personal endings. for the sake of simplicity, I willomit theEla, Voc, Elas, and Vocspronouns, which are always equal to the Ele/Elesforms

Cantar (to sing)

Eu canto

Tu cantasEle canta

Ns cantamos

Vs cantais

Eles cantam

Comer (to eat)

Eu comoTu comes

Ele come

Ns comemosVs comeis

Eles comem

Partir (to break, to leave)

Eu partoTu partes

Ele parteNs partimosVs partis

Eles partem


8/29

All the regular verbs follow this pattern. Now, suppose you want to say "we run". In Portuguese,

the verb "to run" is correr, a verb that ends in er, and thus conjugated like comer. The radical of

the verb iscorr, and the ending corresponding to the first person in the plural is emos(see the listfor comer). So, "we run" is "ns corremos" in Portuguese. Easy, no?

Simple Sentences

Finally, here are some examples of sentences that use the verbs given above. Don't worry for now

about the adjectives and adverbs: that will be one of the subjects of next lesson.

O homem est sentado- The man is sitting down

O co novo- The dog is young

O gato velho- The cat is old

Eles esto aqui- They are here

Vs sois belos- You are beautiful

Ns cantamos bem- We sing well

Eles comem muito- They eat a lot

And that's all for lesson 2. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 3. There you will

learn how to form the masculine/feminine and the singular/plural. You will also learn how

adjectives must agree with nouns.





The Definite/Indefinite Articles

Making the Plural

Masculine/feminine

Adjectives

Examples

Exercises
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#articleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#articleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#pluralhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#pluralhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#masculine_femininehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#masculine_femininehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#adjectiveshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#adjectiveshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#adjectiveshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#masculine_femininehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#pluralhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson3.html#articles


9/29

The Definite/Indefinite Articles

The definite and indefinite articles have in portuguese four different forms each, because of the

different combinations between gender and number: An article, either being definite or indefinite,

must agree with its corresponding noun.

The Definite Articles (like the english the):

masculine feminine

Singular o a

Plural os as

The Indefinite Articles (like the english a and an):

masculine feminine

Singular um uma

Plural uns umas

Making the Plural

In Portuguese, like in English, things can be either singular (when there's only one), or plural (when

there are many). Given a word in the singular, the usual way to make its plural form is to add an s.

This rule can not be always directly applied, and often some modifcations on the word are

necessary. The following examples will give you an idea:

Singular form Plural form English (singular)

primo primos cousin

cebola cebolas onion

lente lentes lens

farol farois lighthouse

papel papeis paper

funil funis funnel

jardim jardins garden

motor motores motor

feliz felizes happy


10/29

As you can see, when a word ends in a vowel, the plural is made by simply adding an s. When theword ends with the letter m, the plural is made by changing the minto ns. When the word ends

with an l, see the vowel before it: if it is an i, change the linto an s, if it is another vowel , changethe linto is. If the word ends with a zor r, make the plural by adding es.You will see that most portuguese words end in vowels, and that the majority of consonants that

can end a word are the ones above (m, l, z, r). There are some words that in their singular formsend in n, x, or even s,but we'll deal with them as they appear.

I didn't mention the plural of words ending in o, because there are many things to say about them,and I will only explain them later. These words are very common, but for now I'll just say that their

plural is made by replacing the owith os, es, or es. The correct choice is the difficult part...

Masculine/feminine

As you know from lesson 1, there are two genders in portuguese: things can be masculine or

feminine, including inanimate objects, and abstract concepts. Usually, feminine words end in a, and

masculine words end in o. But this is just a general rule: it is in fact more complicated, and thereare the inevitable exceptions.

For many words it only makes sense to have one form. For instance, the word cadeira("chair") isfeminine, but it is nonsense to make a masculine form like cadeiro, not only because chairs don'thave genders, but also because the gender associated with the word is arbitrary. There are in fact

cases where the masculine and feminine forms mean different things.

Here are some examples of masculine/feminine words:

masculine form feminine form English

tio tia uncle/aunt

esperto esperta smart (not expert!)

azul azul blue

quente quente hot

professor professora teacher

pintor pintora painter

portugus portuguesa portuguese

ingls inglesa english

As you can see, when the masculine form ends in o, the feminine form ends in a. When it ends inan r, the feminine form is made by adding an a. To say that someone is from a given nationality,usually the masculine form ends in sand the feminine form in esa. In the other cases, the

masculine anf feminine forms are left unchanged. Again, words ending in owill be mentioned

later. Keep in mind that there are many exceptions to these rules! In some words, the masculine and


11/29

feminine forms are totally different, especially in the case of large domestic animals. (The same

thing happens in english.):

masculine form feminine form English

boi vaca ox/cow

cavalo gua horse/mare

rapaz rapariga boy/girl

Adjectives

In portuguese, unlike in english, adjectives must agree with the noun they are qualifying. This

means that if a noun is feminine and plural, the adjective must be also in the feminine and plural

form. The placing is also different: in english, adjectives come before the noun, in portuguese they

usually came after the noun. (They can also come before the noun, but the meaning of the sentence

is affected - this will be explained in some future lesson.)

Here's an example of the use of an adjective. Novomeans "new" or "young", and ursomeans

"bear" (in their masculine forms):

O urso novo- The new bear (masculine and singular)

A ursa nova- The new bear (feminine and singular)

Os ursos novos- The new bears (masculine and plural)

As ursas novas- The new bears (feminine and plural)

Examples

The following examples use all the grammar given so far: the conjugation of the present tense of

verbs ending in ar, er, ir, the articles, and the making of masculine/feminine, singular/plural.

Before you go on, be sure to have this part well understood. After the examples there are also

some exercises for you to practice.

Here's some vocabulary you might need:

cantar- to sing

beber- to drink

comer- to eat

correr- to run

gua- water

cano- song

ma- apple


12/29

mar- seavinho- wine

azul- blue

belo- beautiful

bonito- pretty

frio- cold

grande- bigmaluco- crazy

pequeno- small

quente- hotsaboroso- tasty

Here are the examples:

O rapaz novo come uma ma saborosa- The young boy eats a tasty apple

O homem velho canta uma cano- The old man sings a song

A rapariga bonita portuguesa- The pretty girl is portugueseOs cavalos felizes correm muito- The happy horses run a lot

Uma mulher bebe o vinho- A woman drinks the wine

O mar azul belo- The blue sea is beautiful

Vs sois malucos- You are crazy

Exercises

Translate the following sentences from Portuguese to English, and from English to Portuguese.

(You can see the answershere.)

O gato pequeno bebe a gua quente

Um urso feliz come a ma

A vaca maluca bebe o mar

Ns cantamos muito

The old cat is english

The cold water is good

The portuguese women drink the tasty wine

He is small

And that's all for lesson 3. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 4. There we'll look at

some prepositions, more vocabulary, and we'll start to make more complicated sentences.


http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ3.htmlhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ3.htmlhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ3.htmlhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ3.html


13/29



Some Prepositons

Contractions

Examples

Exercises

Some Prepositions

In classical Latin, the role of each member in the sentence was given by special case endings. In the

evolution of Latin, these endings were replaced by prepositions, and that's what we use inPortuguese.

For English speakers, this is not very different from what they are used to, eventhough there isn't a

one-to-one correspondence between english prepositions and their portuguese counterparts.

The following tables gives you a listing of some common prepositions, the ones we'll use for now:

English Portuguese

to a

from, of de

in em

Please keep in mind that these are just general translations. In many situations the prepositions used

in Portuguese differ from those used in English. Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language

knows that prepositions are one of the most difficult aspects to master...

Perhaps you have noticed that the preposition a(to) has the same form as the definite article for thefeminine singular. This is just a coincidence, because gramatically they are very different. Be

careful not to mistake them! (Just as in English one doesn't mistake to, too,and twoeventhough

they sound the same)

Contractions

In Portuguese, you will rarely see those prepositions above alone in a sentence. The use of

contractions is very common, and the usage of some of the non-contracted forms doesn't even

sound well.
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#prepositionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#prepositionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#contractionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#contractionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#contractionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson4.html#prepositions


14/29

In the table below you'll find the contractions of the prepositions with the articles. (there are other

elements that contract, but for now we'll stick to these)

Prepositions Definite Articles Indefinite Articles

o a um uma

a ao a um a uma

de do da de um (dum) de uma (duma)

em no na num numa

As you can see, some of the constructions are not contracted, some can be contracted (user's

choice), and others are always contracted.

I didn't indicate the plural forms because they follow the general rules shown in the previous

lesson.

The construction "to the" (feminine singular), in Portuguese is said a a, which is always contracted

to . The only use for the grave accent in Portuguese is to indicate a contraction, like in this case.

Examples

Once again, the following examples use all the grammar given so far: the conjugation of the present

tense of verbs ending in ar, er, ir, the articles, the making of masculine/feminine, singular/plural,

and at last the prepositions. We'll introduce some new vocabulary, and we'll also need two new

verbs: Ir(to go) and Vir(to come). Unfortunately, they are both irregular, and so you have to

memorise them. (The same thing happens in all languages: the most common verbs, which peopleuse daily, are usually irregular...)

Ir (to go)

Eu vou

Tu vais

Ele/ela/voc vai

Ns vamos

Vs ides

Eles/elas/vocs vo

Vir (to come)

Eu venho

Tu vens

Ele/ela/voc vem

Ns vimos

Vs vindes

Eles/elas/vocs vm


15/29

Here's some vocabulary you might need:

praia- beach

circo- circus

teatro- theater

montanha- mountain

floresta- forest

lago- lake

And also the colours:

azul- blue

verde- green

vermelho- red

amarelo- yellow

branco- white

preto- black

castanho- brown

cinzento- gray

roxo- purple

cor-de-rosa (rosa)- pink

cor-de-laranja (laranja)- orange

Here are the examples:

O rapaz vem da praia- The boy comes from the beach

Eles vo ao teatro- They go to the theatre

Ele come as maas vermelhas num circo- He eats the red apples in a circus

Eu venho de uma praia amarela- I come from a yellow beach

Vs ides ao lago- You go to the lake

O urso velho vive na montanha branca- The old bear lives in the white mountain

In some of the sentences above, an english speaker would use the present continous instead of the

simple present. In Portuguese there is also a construction equivalent to the present continous, butfor now we'll use only the simple present.

Don't forget that the colours, being adjectives, must agree with the noun!

Exercises

Translate the following sentences from Portuguese to English, and from English to Portuguese.

(You can see the answershere.)


16/29

Um gato feliz bebe a gua azul no lago

O boi castanho da montanha come na praia

Ns vamos ao lago

A woman from Portugal sings in the theatre

The big bear lives in a cold forest

The brown horse goes to the beach

And that's all for lesson 4. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 5. There we'll learn

how to make questions, and we'll see lots of more new vocabulary.



Short Portuguese LessonsContents of lesson 5:

Making questions

Some vocabulary about places and things

Examples

Exercises

Making questions

So far we've only seen affirmative sentences, used to express the knowledge of something, like

"Today it is raining". Also very important is to ask questions, and if you are following these lessons

because you intend to visit a portuguese-speaking country on holiday, it is extremely important to

be able to ask the basic questions, like "Where is the bathroom?", or "What time is it?".

Yes/no questions

Yes/no questions are very easy in Portuguese. Unlike English, there is no need to rearrange the

words in the sentence, or to use an auxiliary verb. A yes/no question is different from affirmative

sentences only because there is a question mark ("?") at the end of the written sentence, and an

entonation difference when spoken.

Just see the following example:
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#questionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#questionshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#vocabularyhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#vocabularyhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#vocabularyhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson5.html#questions


17/29

English Portuguese

The bear is brown. O urso castanho.

Is the bear brown? O urso castanho?

The woman eats the apple. A mulher come a ma.

Does the woman eat the apple? A mulher come a ma?

I think you should really enjoy this feature. It's one of the few things where Portuguese is simpler

than English...

Like I've said before, word order is much more flexible in Portuguese than in English. That means

that one can express finer shades of meaning by changing the order of words in a sentence. On the

other hand, people that are learning the language might have some trouble interpreting some

sentences. This is just a warning, because eventhough the sentences above are grammatically

correct, they are the only alternative. So don't be surprised if you encounter strange looking

sentences. (In examples like these, even in English could the sentence be reshaped)

Questions with an interrogative word

Making just yes/no questions is not very useful. They usually imply that one already has some

knowledge of something, which is not always the case. We'll see now how to make general

questions, but first, here is the correspondence between some very useful words in English and

Portuguese:

English Portuguese

What O que, O qu

Who Quem

Why Porqu

When Quando

Where Onde

How Como, Quo

How much Quanto

Which Qual

Usually, De onde(from where) is contracted to Donde, and A onde(to where) is contractedto Aonde. There is also the form Adondeequivalent to Onde, very common in the spokenlanguage, but rare in written form. Unlike yes/no questions, in these the subject-verb order is

usually reversed. This is not very apparent in Portuguese, because one rarely includes the subject in

a sentence. Here are some examples:


18/29

Onde ests? - Where are you? (singular and informal)Quem sois vs? - Who are you? (plural and informal)

Quem so vocs? - Who are you? (plural and formal)

O que isto? - What is this?

Don't forget what was said on the first lesson about forms of treatment. For Brasilians and many

Portuguese, vocsis the only treatment used in the plural, being vsvery rare and considered

archaic.

Some vocabulary about places and things

Here is a list of some common vocabulary about places and things. This is especially useful for

turists. You'll also need it for the examples and exercises. (some of this vocabulary was already

part of previous lessons)

Na cidade - In the City

rua- street

estrada- road

auto-estrada- highway

avenida- avenue

esquina- corner

edifcio, Prdio- building

casa- house

(o) parque- park

(a) estao- stationparagem- stop

carro- car

(o) txi- taxi

comboio(also tremin Brazil) - train

autocarro(also nibusin Brazil) - bus

No campo - In the Country

rio- river

ribeiro- stream

lago- lake

colina- hill

(o) monte- big hill (or small mountain...)

montanha- mountain

(a) rvore- tree


19/29

floresta- forest

(o) animal- animal

pssaro- bird

(o) peixe- fish

This is just a small list to give us something to start with. If you think there is some other thing that

should be included, please tell me so.

In some words there is an (o)(masculine) or (a)(feminine), indicating the gender of the word. Allthe others follow the rules seen in a previous lesson.

Examples

Here are examples of afirmative/interrogative sentences that use some of the vocabulary we've

seen in this lesson. If you have difficulties with anything, take a look at the previous lessons.

There's also some extra vocabulary you'll need:

nadar- to swim

chegar- to arrive (also "to reach" or "to be enough")

voar- to fly

peixe- fish

e- and

ou- or

mas- but

O pequeno animal corre na montanha?- Does the small animal run in the mountain?

Sim, ele corre na montanha.- Yes, it (he) runs in the mountain.

O pssaro azul nada no lago?- Does the blue bird swim in the lake?

No, ele voa.- No, it (he) flies.

Onde nadam os peixes?- Where do the fish swim?

Os peixes nadam no mar.- The fish swim in the sea.

Quem canta no teatro?- Who sings in the theatre?

Donde vm eles?- Where do they come from?

Quando chegais cidade?- When do you arrive in (to) the city?

Very often, especially in the spoken language, portuguese speakers add a few words to a questionto give it more strengh. One would rarely hear a sentence like "Quando chegais cidade?". One

usually adds " que"("is it that") after the interrogative particle. So, the sentence above wouldbe: "Quando que chegais cidade?", which roughly means "When is it that you arrive in thecity?". These somewhat redundant words are common in most questions, but aren't usually

translated literally to English.


20/29

Exercises

And here are the exercises. They include everything we've seen so far, including how to make

questions. Now, translate from Portuguese to English, and vice-versa. (The answers arehere.)

Quem so eles?Onde que nadam os peixes?

Eles nadam nos lagos, nos rios, e no mar.

O urso come peixes?Where is she from?

Does the big cat fly in the mountains?No, but it (he) runs in the streetsWhen does the train arrive?

And that's all for lesson 5. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 6. There we'll take a

look at the possessive and demonstrative pronouns.





The possessive pronouns and adjectives

The demonstrative pronouns and adjectives

Examples

Exercises

The possessive pronouns and adjectives

The possessive pronouns are fairly easy in Portuguese. In languages like English, and even in the

closely related Spanish, there is a difference between the adjective and the pronoun form, but no so

in Portuguese. For English speakers, the only thing to be aware is the usual dichotomy between

masculine/feminine and singular/plural forms, but for those who have reached this far in the

lessons, that shouldn't be a problem. The following table lists all the possessives: (Remember that

both pronouns and adjectives have the same form)

The possessives
http://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ5.htmlhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ5.htmlhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ5.htmlhttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#possessivehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#possessivehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#demonstrativehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#demonstrativehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#exerciseshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#exampleshttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#demonstrativehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/lesson6.html#possessivehttp://alfarrabio.di.uminho.pt/spl/answ5.html


21/29

Person Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Masculine Plural Feminine Plural

Eu meu minha meus minhas

Tu teu tua teus tuas

Ele/Ela/Voc seu sua seus suas

Ns nosso nossa nossos nossas

Vs vosso vossa vossos vossas

Eles/Elas/Vocs seu sua seus suas

The plural forms are only included for the sake of completeness, as they are very regular: take the

singular form, and just add an s. Perhaps you have noticed that Ele/Ela/Voc have the same form.

One important thing to remember is that the gender and number of the form depends on the object

being possessed, not on the possessor. In English, the forms his/her vary according to the gender of

the possessor, but in Portuguese they are equal, varying only according to the gender and number ofthe object.

In Portugal, the possessives usually have the defined article before them, while in Brazil this is not

common. But both forms are correct, and you can hear them both in any of the countries. So, the

sentence "My car is green" could be translated as "O meu carro verde" (more common in

Portugal), or as "Meu carro verde" (more common in Brazil). As I am Portuguese, I will use the

form that is more common in Portugal, but don't forget that they are both correct!

Perhaps you have noticed that being the 3rd person forms equal regardless if there is just one or

more owners, or if the owner is masculine or feminine, this might lead to ambiguities. Pay attention

on the following sentence:

"Pedro e Ins cantam a sua cano"

Which of the following translations is correct?

1 - Pedro and Ins sing his song

2 - Pedro and Ins sing her song

3 - Pedro and Ins sing their song

4 - Pedro and Ins sing your song (a formal "your")

Well, any of the above forms could be correct. There is not enough information to decide which,and for this reason, portuguese speakers rarely use these forms. Instead, the contraction of the

preposition "de" with the pronouns ele/ela/eles/elas is usually used. These forms are listed in the

table bellow:

Contraction Meaning

de + ele = dele his

de + ela = dela her


22/29

de + eles = deles their (masculine or mixed gender)

de + elas = delas their (feminine)

Each of the four sentences above can be now translated as follows:

1 - Pedro and Ins sing his song - Pedro e Ins cantam a cano dele

2 - Pedro and Ins sing her song - Pedro e Ins cantam a cano dela3 - Pedro and Ins sing their song - Pedro e Ins cantam a cano deles

4 - Pedro and Ins sing your song (formal) - Pedro e Ins cantam a sua cano

The choice of which form to use depends on the context. If there is a chance of ambiguity, then use

the form that doesn't lead to it. In most day-to-day conversations, the dele/dela/deles/delas are

usually used, but in written texts or in a more formal conversation, the

forms seu/sua/seus/suasforms are preferred.

The demonstrative pronouns and adjectives

The following table lists some demonstrative adjectives and pronouns in English and their

Portuguese counterparts. Notice that the demonstrative talchanges only according to number,

being invariant to gender. The other forms are regular, and follow the usual rules for forming the

feminine and plural. (some of the forms, like the plural of another, don't make much sense in

English, but are still valid in Portuguese)

EnglishMasculine

Singular

Feminine

Singular

Masculine

Plural

Feminine

PluralInvariable

this este esta estes estas isto

that esse essa esses essas isso

that

(yonder)aquele aquela aqueles aquelas aquilo

such tal tal tais tais

the same o mesmo a mesma os mesmos as mesmas

another outro outra outros outras

the other o outro a outra os outros as outras

the one o a os as o

Special attention must be given to esse, aquele. They both mean thatin English, but are used indifferent situations. The demonstrative esseis used to designate an object that is close to thereceiver, whileaqueleis used for an object that is far from both the speaker and the receiver. (More


23/29

or less like the archaic English yonder.)Please also notice that in Brazil it is common that a speaker will refer to an object close to him with

the esseforms, and not esteas one might expect.

ExamplesThe following examples cover both the possessives and the demonstratives. Some new vocabulary

will be introduced, so take a good luck at the translation if you have any doubts. In Portuguese,

the personal pronouns that function as subject (eu, tu, ele...) are not usually used in a sentence

because of their redundancy. I have included them in previous lessons because foreigners feel

more at ease using them, but from now on I'll slowly begin building sentences without them. This

means you should have a good knowledge of the verb forms in order to continue...

Este carro meu- This car is mine

So aquelas as vossas flores?- Are those your flowers?

Ela come a sobremesa dele- She eats his desert

Esta a minha escola- This is my school

Aquele no o mesmo pssaro- That (yonder) is not the same birdEssa rapariga minha prima- That girl is my cousin (That girl is a cousin of mine)

Essa rapariga a minha prima- That girl is my cousin (*)

No compreendo tal atitude- I don't understand such attitude

Queres comer outra ma?- Do you want to eat another apple?

Isto incrvel!- This is incredible! Essa uma boa ideia!- That is a good idea! (*)By putting thedefined article abefore the possessive pronoun, the meaning of this sentence changes slightly. The

cousin is "defined", meaning that it's not a random cousin, but a cousin that was mentioned earlier

in the conversation.

ExercisesAnd here are the exercises. They include everything we've seen so far, and you will need

vocabulary seen in previous lessons (and also the portuguese word for Always, which is Sempre).

Now, translate from Portuguese to English, and vice-versa. (The answers arehere.)

Esse peixe nada no meu lago.

Aquele co teu?

Vamos ao cinema no teu carro?A mesma jovem rapariga canta outra bela cano.

Those (yonder) old cats eat our fish.Fifteen brown horses run in my fields.

You always have the same ideas!How does your bird sing?

And that's all for lesson 6. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 7. There we'll take a

look at the Past and Future tenses.


24/29




Regular Verb Models

Cantar - Comer - Partir

The following Verb Models apply to all regular verbs. The verbs cantar, comer, partirare

examples for each of the 3 regular verb models. To get the forms for other regular verbs just

replace with the corresponding radical. This list includes only the simple tenses, being useful as a

reference to those who follow the lessons, or to people who have already a good knowledge of

the language. Speakers of related languages such as Spanish will find it very useful for

comparisons.

Modo Indicativo (Indicative Mode)

Presente (Present)

canto

cantas

canta

cantamos

cantais

cantam

como

comes

come

comemos

comeis

comem

parto

partes

parte

partimos

partis

partem

Pretrito Imperfeito (Imperfect)

cantava

cantavas

cantava

cantvamos

cantveis

cantavam

comia

comias

comia

comamos

comeis

comiam

partia

partias

partia

partamos

parteis

partiam

Pretrito Perfeito (Preterite)

cantei

cantaste

cantou

cantmos

cantastes

cantaram

comi

comeste

comeu

comemos

comestes

comeram

parti

partiste

partiu

partimos

partistes

partiram

Pretrito Mais-Que-Perfeito (Pluperfect)

cantara comera partira


25/29

cantaras

cantara

cantramos

cantreis

cantaram

comeras

comera

comramos

comreis

comeram

partiras

partira

partramos

partreis

partiram

Futuro do Presente (Future)

cantareicantars

cantar

cantaremos

cantareis

cantaro

comereicomers

comer

comeremos

comereis

comero

partireipartirs

partir

partiremos

partireis

partiro

Futuro do Pretrito (Condicional)

cantaria

cantarias

cantariacantaramos

cantareis

cantariam

comeria

comerias

comeriacomeramos

comereis

comeriam

partiria

partirias

partiriapartiramos

partireis

partiriam

Modo Conjuntivo (Subjunctive Mode)

Presente (Present)

cante

cantescante

cantemos

canteis

cantem

coma

comascoma

comamos

comais

comam

parta

partasparta

partamos

partais

partam


cantasse

cantasses

cantasse

cantssemoscantsseis

cantassem

comesse

comesses

comesse

comssemoscomsseis

comessem

partisse

partisses

partisse

partssemospartsseis

partissem

Futuro (Future)

cantar

cantares

cantar

cantarmos

comer

comeres

comer

comermos

partir

partires

partir

partirmos


26/29

cantardes

cantarem

comerdes

comerem

partirdes

partirem

Modo Imperativo (Imperative Mode)

canta (tu)

cante (voc)

cantemos (ns)

cantai (vs)

cantem (vocs)

come (tu)

coma (voc)

comamos (ns)

comei (vs)

comam (vocs)

parte (tu)

parta (voc)

partamos (ns)

parti (vs)

partam (vocs)

Formas Nominais (Noun forms)

Infinitivo Impessoal (Impersonal Infinitive)

cantar comer partir

Gerndio (Gerund)

cantando comendo partindo

Particpio Passado (Past Participle)

cantado comido partido

Infinitivo Pessoal (Personal Infinitive)

cantar

cantares

cantar

cantarmos

cantardes

cantarem

comer

comeres

comer

comermos

comerdes

comerem

partir

partires

partir

partirmos

partirdes

partirem


Auxiliary VerbsHaver - Ter - Ser

The following tables have all the forms for the Auxiliary verbs Haver, Ter, Ser. These verbs are

highly irregular, but very important. In modern Portuguese the verb Haveris only used in the third

person singular, and to form certain coumpound tenses. The lists include the forms for all persons

and tenses, but you'll probably never need most of them.

Modo Indicativo (Indicative Mode)


27/29

Presente (Present)

hei

hs

h

havemos

haveis

ho

tenho

tens

tem

temos

tendes

tm

sou

s

somos

sois

so


havia

havias

havia

havamos

haveis

haviam

tinha

tinhas

tinha

tnhamos

tnheis

tinham

era

eras

era

ramos

reis

eram

Pretrito Perfeito (Preterite)

houve

houveste

houve

houvemos

houvestes

houveram

tive

tiveste

teve

tivemos

tivestes

tiveram

fui

foste

foi

fomos

fostes

foram

Pretrito Mais-Que-Perfeito (Pluperfect)

houvera

houverashouvera

houvramos

houvreis

houveram

tivera

tiverastivera

tivramos

tivreis

tiveram

fora

forasfora

framos

freis

foram

Futuro do Presente (Future)

haverei

havers

haver

haveremoshavereis

havero

terei

ters

ter

teremostereis

tero

serei

sers

ser

seremossereis

sero

Futuro do Pretrito (Condicional)

haveria

haverias

haveria

haveramos

havereis

teria

terias

teria

teramos

tereis

seria

serias

seria

seramos

sereis


28/29

haveriam teriam seriam

Modo Conjuntivo (Subjunctive Mode)

Presente (Present)

haja

hajashaja

hajamos

hajais

hajam

tenha

tenhastenha

tenhamos

tenhais

tenham

seja

sejasseja

sejamos

sejais

sejam


houvesse

houvesses

houvesse

houvssemoshouvsseis

houvessem

tivesse

tivesses

tivesse

tivssemostivsseis

tivessem

fosse

fosses

fosse

fssemosfsseis

fossem

Futuro (Future)

houver

houveres

houver

houvermos

houverdes

houverem

tiver

tiveres

tiver

tivermos

tiverdes

tiverem

for

fores

for

formos

fordes

forem

Modo Imperativo (Imperative Mode)

h (tu)

haja (voc)

hajamos (ns)

havei (vs)

hajam (vocs)

tem (tu)

tenha (voc)

tenhamos (ns)

tende (vs)

tenham (vocs)

s (tu)

seja (voc)

sejamos (ns)

sede (vs)

sejam (vocs)

Formas Nominais (Noun forms)

Infinitivo Impessoal (Impersonal Infinitive)

haver ter ser

Gerndio (Gerund)

havendo tendo sendo


29/29

Particpio Passado (Past Participle)

havido tido sido

Infinitivo Pessoal (Personal Infinitive)

haver

haveres

haverhavermos

haverdes

haverem

ter

teres

tertermos

terdes

terem

ser

seres

sersermos

serdes

serem

pequeñas lecciones de portugués

Documents