And of course, to say this in Portuguese it’s alwyas the verb ACREDITAR. So, here we go:
1> You’re not going to believe it
2> No o que?
1> Eu bebi. E não bebi pouco!
2> Mas você não bebe!
From Series 2:
And, what about you, what have you been up to?
In english, the ‘been or present perfect‘ is a way of signaling that you’re talking about the past, about something that is ongoing.
In Portuguese, if you say for example. ‘Eu trabalhei’ it means that you worked and that it’s done. To talk about some action that is ongoing you combine the verb TER + verb (past participle). So to say ‘I’ve been working’ it’s eu TENHO trabalhADO.
And to ask, ‘What have you thinking’ it’s o que você TEM pensADO?
Simple!
‘Iv’e been eating a lot’ >> eu TENHO comIDO muito’
How about an irregular verb like, FAZER?
‘What have you been doing?’ >> o que você TEM feito?
You need to know the past participles of verbs! This conjugation is called the Present Perfect Indicative and it’s really, really useful so: learn it now!
More examples:
‘What have you been thinking?’ >> o que você tem pensado?’
‘We’ve been watching movies a lot lately’ >> nos temos assistido muitos filmes atualmente.
‘They’ve been going out every day’ >> eles têm saido todos os dias.
Perfect for new learners. Through a series of 36 video dialogs we go from “de onde você é?” to basic conversation. This is the way to get up-to-speed quickly, without books and enjoy the journey all at the same time! Series 1, Brazilian Portuguese. Grammar, vocabulary quiz and reference included.
Learn brazilian Portuguese now!
Semantica Portuguese 1, promo
The other day a friend of mine was here in Rio and he was tipping like an American — the waiter, the receptionist, the cab driver, the bellhop… everyone!
The truth is, they don’t expect tips. In restaurants, a 10% gratuity is automatically added to the bill — and when it’s not, you will see a little notice somewhere on the table asking for a tip.
And that doesn’t make it wrong at all — mas não é obrigatório como é nos Estados Unidos.
Let’s learn the vocabulary of paying and tipping and change:
Tip > gorjeta >> O garçom não estava esperando uma gorjeta mas, dei uns cinco reais para ele ficar feliz.
Change (literally, smaller denominations of currency) > dinheiro trocado >> (see dialog below)
customer: Posso pagar com cinquenta reais?
attendant: Não senhor estou sem dinheiro trocado.
customer: Ok. Então vou pagar com o cartão de crédito.
Change (from a purchase) > troco >> Ele já te deu seu troco das compra?
Slang terms for MONEY: conto, grana, verba, dindin, capital, gaita, bufunfa and the list goes on, and on.
Are they calling you a ‘nota dez’ or simply a ‘um-sete-um’ -?
You better know. Brazilians love to use numbers with hidden meanings. Let’s look at the most common;
zero = brand, spanking, new.
> Ele ganhou um carro zero para trabalho.
10= really, really good.
> Ela é linda, inteligente e simpatica — Ela é NOTA dez!
22= maluco. No Tarô há a carta do ARCANO 22 – O LOUCO.
> Ela deu uma de 22 e começou a gritar igual um macaco.
24= gay (veado). This comes from the betting game “jogo do bicho” which is played with numbered cards, each with the image of an animal. No. 24 is the deer or, veado. Not totally sure why deer = gay, but it does.
> Olha, eu vi ele saindo de uma boate gay no centro então, acho que ele deve ser ’24.’
171= rip-off, con (estelionato). Comes from the código penal in which 171 is that which deals with cons and fraud.
> Aquele home é maior 171, vive dando golpe.
0800= grátis, de graça. 800 is the toll-free prefix!
> Antes das 10 horas a entrada na boate é 0800.
mil= really, really great. Just like ‘dez’ only more so.
One of the toughest things to get used to in this language is how you ‘ask’ for things. I mean, in a polite way — like when you’re requesting something from a store clerk. We dare used to saying for example, ‘I would like…’ / ‘May I have…’ / ‘Could you please give me a …’ — BUT, all of that is pretty much out the window here. It’s not that Brazilians are any less polite, but the words that they use, if taken literally can sound pretty abrasive. Here’s how for example, a typical request goes:
Me dá um quilo de mussarela / porção de batata fritas / melancia / beijo, por favor. *note the ‘por favor‘ — that’s important.
Quero 5 pães franceses / um litro de gasolina / um hamburger
Vou querer um açaí com granola / fazer uma viajem para Buenos Aires.
In Portuguese there are several ways to talk about the future, each with varying shades of meaning. The present subjunctive is used to show that some idea or action is hypothetical.
For example, ‘I hope that she can come out tonight‘ is hypothetical. So is, ‘Do you want me to speak to her?’
“HYPOTHETICAL” situations include those that express desire, emotion, improbability, give commands, and to express opinion.
TRIGGERS: espero que; caso que; é importante que; é possivel que; é necessário que; get the idea?
Some examples:
Do you want me drive? > Você quer que eu diriga?
I hope that she wears jeans. > Eu espero que els use calça jeans.
It’s really important that we do it today. > É muito importante que nós o façamos hoje.
There is a pattern to the conjugation and rather than explain it, just see if you can get it by example:
-ar present subjunctive regular verbs
| that I speak | que eu fal | e |
| that he speaks | que ele fal | e |
| that we speak | que nós fal | emos |
| that they speak | que eles fal | em |
-er and -ir present subjunctive regular verbs
| that I eat | que eu com | a |
| that he eats | que ele com | a |
| that we eat | que nós com | amos |
| that they eat | que eles com | am |
When Brazilians want to say that something unexpected came up, they do it like this:
Which just seems strange for two reasons: 1) The verb is at the very start of the phrase; and 2) where is the ‘came up’ part?
(from Semantica Series 2: Advanced Dialogs)
A beginner would try and say this more literally and likely end up with: ‘Alguma coisa imprevista aconteceu’. And this wouldn’t be wrong, but it wouldn’t be the way it’s actually said here in Brazil.
Let’s break it down:
1) Brazilians often place the action verb at the beginning of a sentence:
> Acabou que ele não foi à festa porque estava chovendo.
> Fez muito sol ontem.
> Conseguiram vender o apartamento.
2) PREVER is the verb ‘to predict’. PREVISTO/A is of course, unpredictable.
A few variations on this sentence are:
> O imprevsito aconteceu. (the unexpected happened)
> Acontece o imprevisto. (the unexpected happens >> ‘shit happens’ 
Surely one of the most powerful verbs. Nothing happens without it. Why then you ask, does it have to be so uniquely tricky? It doesn’t have to be. Let’s de-construct power in it’s most common usages and get to the bottom of all this confusion!
You already know the simple present tense like this:
Can you go? >> você pode ir?
Yes, I can go >> Eu posso ir, sim.
This is fine but in everyday conversation people will say it like this:
>> Não, eu não vou poder ir.
This is just like saying “I’m not going to be able to go.” — the meaning is the same, but it’s a different approach.
Now let’s try saying, “Eu não vou poder” — This time without the final verb so it just means, “I’m not going to be able to.” This is really useful to use in lots of situations and is very easy to remember.
ex, “Você vai jogar tênis amanhã com a gente?” >> Não vou poder, não.
In the past tense, the ‘o’ changes to a ‘u’ except for the você/ele/ela form. Like this:
Eu ia assistir o jogo mas, eu não pUde / … nós não pUdemos/ …eles não pUderam
Ela ia jogar comigo mas a não pÔde.
Lastly let’s do the conditional case: the could rather than the can. This is simply the infinitive+IA:
Mas tarde, poderíamos passar no bar para um drink. (don’t forget the accent!)
O hotel é bom mas, poderia melhorar.
Tudo poderia ser diferente.
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All-levels! Chuani is an experienced teacher, so just get online with her and she’ll guide you in the best way to get you going more quickly. You don’t need to be familiar with the Semantica Series
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