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Who’s that girl?

Posted By jhall_3rd on December 4th, 2011

Which one? — The one over there in the red dress…. She’s the one I met the other day. Oh, you mean the one wearing glasses?

In English we always refer to someone by saying “that one” etc. In portuguese, you can skip all that and just say:

“Aquela – de vestido vermelho… é ela que conheci outro dia. Ah, quer dizer a de óculos?”

Vamos praticar: …

Who? That guy over there with curly hair and and a mustache?

> No – that other one wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans.

>> Quem? Aquele lá com cabelo cacheado e bigode? Não – o outro usando uma camisa azul e calça jeans.

Não deixe de nos acompanhar também pelo facebook.

Posted in Brazilian Culture, How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab, Portuguese slang and expressions

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Vamos sair

Posted By jhall_3rd on October 25th, 2011

It’s Friday and you want to ask someone what they’re doing later:

O que você vai fazer hoje a noite?

You could have also just said real casually:

E, mais tarde, você vai fazer o que?

Let’s go out together tonight!

Vamos sair juntos hoje a noite!

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab

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10 advanced vocab words you need to know now!

Posted By jhall_3rd on October 9th, 2011

espatifar-se

crash-land, fall-flat

> Eu me espatifei na lama ao cair da arvore.
comparecer

to attend (a formal affair like a court appearance)

> O convidamos para jantar, mas ele não compareceu!
gemer

to moan, groan.

> Ela estava gemendo tanto que deu para toda vinzinhaça no prédio ouvir!
deparar-se

to meet-up with, run into.

> Eu me deparei com Raquel hoje no shopping.
cicatrizar

to heal

> Assim que meu braço cicatrizar eu volto a jogar tenis.
sequestrar

to kidnap

> Ele foi sequestrado pelos ladrões.
apoiar

to support

> Eu apoio os direitos humanos.
estornar

to refund

> Estou pedindo para ele estornar meu pagamento.
somar

to add-up

> Somando todos os gastos, o orçamento vai chegar até um milhão de reais.
efetuar

to accomplish, make, realize

> Finalmente eles conseguiram efetuar a matrícula em arquitetura.

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab, Series 1

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How Portuguese is really spoken.

Posted By jhall_3rd on October 7th, 2011

In Brazilian Portuguese, the word “estou” is very often shortened to just tô, and “está” becomes tá.”

It’s pretty confusing at first. Just as you get comfortable conjugating ester, you learn that it’s commonly voiced as:

estou >> tô

está >> tá

estamos >> tamos

estão >> tão

Get used to it.

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab, Portuguese slang and expressions

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SER vs. ESTAR (Brazilian portuguese)

Posted By jhall_3rd on October 4th, 2011

Just as a quick reminder*, the difference between see & estar is this:

Ser is for intrinsic, somewhat permanent caracteristics, whereas estar is for temporary passing things.

Meu nome é Raquel.
My name is (permanently/always) Raquel.

Eu sou brasileira.
I am (permanently/always) Brazilian.

Ele é casado.
He is is (somewhat permanently) married.

Eles estão atrasados.

They are (temporarily) late. Hopefully, there will eventually arrive.

A Veronica está na academia.
Veronica is (temporarily) at the gym. or Veronica is at the gym (right now).

The difference between the two is sometimes jokingly used by Brazilians:

Joana: Nossa Maria! Você está bonita!
Wow Maria! You are beautiful!

Maria: Eu não ESTOU bonita, eu SOU bonita.
I am not (temporarily) beautiful, I am (permanently/always) beautiful.

Got that?

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab

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Get loaded on Brazilian Portuguese

Posted By jhall_3rd on June 7th, 2011

CARGO & CARGA –

These are so easily confused, but are important to get straight since they’re both used when talking about jobs and work. When you’re interviewing for a job you really want to get these right.

CARGO is ones’ role, position or responsibility in a job.

> Trabalhei no cargo de braço direito do presidente da empresa.

> Qual cargo da loja voce queria ter?

CARGA means literally, load. It can be any kind of load but often is used when talking about one’s workload (number of hours).

> Qual é a carga horária maxima de trabalho semanal??

> Senado aprovou carga horária maior nas escolas sem analisar custo.

Carga can also refer to freight or, cargo.

> PF apreende carga de cocaína pura enviada via postal e prende três homens.

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Portuguese grammar and vocab

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Ser vs. Ficar

Posted By jhall_3rd on May 15th, 2011

There’s a lot to say about the use of ser vs. ficar.

In many instances, they are completely interchangeable. Take for example talking about a place – a fixed location.

Onde é/fica a casa dela? = “Where is her house?”
Onde é/fica o cinema?

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab, Series 1

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Maybe you will learn Brazilian Portuguese…

Posted By jhall_3rd on April 1st, 2011

Just maybe.

You already know that you can say “maybe” with TALVEZ. Did you know you can use DE REPENTE also?

Sim!

Though de repente technically means “suddenly,” it’s also used in every day speech to mean perhaps or, maybe!

The big plus is that you don’t need to use it with only the subjunctive mood, as talvez requires.

> Quem sabe, talvez seja melhor viajar na segunda-feira.

With de repente you can use any voice:

> De repente levaria menos tempo andar na praia.

You can use the conditional:

> De repente levaria menos tempo levar o ônibus.

or, the subjunctive:

> De repente seja porque ela já tem emprego.

De repente você está prendendo!

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab

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Supposedly Speaking Portuguese

Posted By jhall_3rd on February 2nd, 2011

Using the verb SUPOR or DEVER to express “supposed to” etc just sounds so awkward doesn’t it? — especially in conversation. But you can convey the same thing by saying “era para fazer” like this:

> No primeiro encontro que era para fazer uma apresentação do projeto, o diretor começou a falar sobre os detalhes do sistema.

> No dia em que era para fazer a pintura do exterior, choveu muito.

> Hoje era para fazer decisões, não para discurtir mais!

Posted in How to learn better/faster., Learn Portuguese, Portuguese grammar and vocab

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Self-Help, Brazilian Portuguese-style.

Posted By jhall_3rd on December 18th, 2010

In a world of self-realization it’s important to know how to express that you’ve learned or dome something on your own! I always struggled with the right way to say this in Portuguese, usually saying something like, “eu aprendi sozinho…” or, “eu mesmo…” But really, there is a better way! Just realize this: “auto” implies “self” (autonomously) in these contexts:

> O auto-aprendizado da sinuca, para que tenha sucesso, ..

> Eu sou auto-aprendizado a partir da Internet.

> Muitas pessoas recorrem à auto-hipnose para se curarem de males físicos ou psicológicos …

> Estou com uma baixa auto-estima acentuada e com problemas sérios de …