This clip caught my attention. It’s a soft news piece. Except for the intro it’s spoken clearly and not too fast. The vocabulary is really core also. Once you get past the intro it’s perfect for training your ear (intermediate-advanced level). We use a lot of video (quase 100%) in our course, but we generally…

Here is another soft-news clip from a Rio de Janeiro channel. Once you get past the intro it’s great for training your ear (intermediate-advanced level). Learning Portuguese by watching video is a the most efficient way to study. We use a lot of video (quase 100%) in our course, but we avoid anything that ‘s…

We use a lot of video (quase 100%) in our course, but we avoid anything that ‘s from a TV or the movies. The vast majority are just too fast and full of irrelevant vocabulary. If you do want to try a Brazilian movie, make sure you watch like this. But this clip caught my…

Why does it seem so hard to express say something so simple as each other? In english we include these two words all the time to mean you and I or, them. It’s not that complicated. We say things like: We’ll see each other later on. We love each other very much. * You can…

You’re already using “ao” to say at the or, to the, but it has another entirely different meaning when used together with a verb in the infinitive. When I first started hearing people say this I didn’t even notice t since it’s just an “ow” before of a verb. I though it was some weird slang….

Those of you that are already comfortable with the differences between SER & ESTAR are ready for this: ESTAR-the definitive reference. I wanted to do a review of all its uses (ie, verb tenses) in all it’s GLORY. *In order of importance (use) the present > eu estou (conversational= tô) > você está (conversation =…

TO WISH FOR / THAT / TO in Portuguese I though something was wrong with my dictionary when I couldn’t find the Portuguese verb to wish for. Such a basic thing. It’s as if there were no verb for to want. Maybe wishing is an innately american thing. Or perhaps Brazilians are just content and…

In the previous post we talked about this verb tense also. But, since many people commented that they want to see more examples of this particular example, we are doing some more! And BTW, only language professors need to know these categories of verb tenses. You only need to know that this is one of…

Advanced Portuguese Subjunctive The thing about using if in Portuguese, is that it usually brings up the subjunctive. The subjunctive mood scares people. In English we have it so easy. We can say for example, if you want to go with me… and it can mean if you want to go now, or in the…

Speak in the present perfect. You use it all the time to say for example, “I’ve been working” “We’ve been traveling” or, “What have been doing?” It’s all about the been! To use this verb tense (the present perfect indicative) all you need to do is connect ter with any past participle of a verb….

My wife just asked me to translate this from English to Portuguese. ‘What?’, I said. Turns out, ‘Juweet’ = ‘did you eat?’ Oh. And we say it all the time. True. It reminded me of the many, many confusing Portuguese language-transformations /convolutions that I hear everyday. If you’re trying to get to an advanced portuguese…

To make a conversation flow we use conjunctions. You do it all_the_time. Conclusivas: Indicam relação de conclusão. > pois (posposta ao verbo), logo, portanto, então, por isso, por conseguinte, por isto, assim, etc. Exemplos: >>  Ele bebeu bem mais do que poderia; logo, ficou embriagado. > Aditivas > Adversativas > Alternativas > Explicativas

The previous posts in this series about conjuctions: > Conclusivas > Aditivas > Adversativas > Alternativas Explicativas: Expressam a relação de explicação, razão ou motivo. > que, porque, porquanto, pois (before the verb). Exemplos: >> Ele não entra porque está sem tempo. >> Eu resolvi limpar a janela que fica suja quando chove. >> Ele vai à praia pois está de férias….

Spectacular Conjunctions, part 3 Alternativas: Como o seu nome indica, expressam uma relação de alternância, seja por incompatibilidade dos termos ligados ou por equivalência dos mesmos. > ou… ou, ou, ora… ora, já… já, quer… quer, etc. Exemplos: >> Ou ela, ou eu.>>> It’s either me or her.  >> Você vai ter que comer tudo, quer você…

Fabulous Conjunctions, part 2 In this second post we present for your learning pleasure, the adversativas — the glue that bonds us. Adversativas: Indicam uma relação de oposição bem como de contraste ou compensação entre as unidades ligadas. >>Adversativas show a relationship of opposition and contrast. Também pode gerar um sentido de consequência a algo…