Latest Posts » Brazilian Portuguese, by Semantica

Mesmo in Portuguese

May 26, 2023May 27, 2023 By James Hall

One of the first things you’ll notice when you come to Brazil is the word mesmo floating around here and there, apparently with no… concrete meaning. Well, it’s not one of those words that can mean almost anything depending on the situation – mesmo in Portuguese has just a few common usages. Let’s review: Isn’t…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Muito or Muita?

May 8, 2023May 13, 2023 By James Hall

Even I struggle to get this straight. The thing that makes this tricky: In Portuguese, we’re constantly reminding you to get your gender straight. And I’m not talking about your sexual preference here não! It’s a constant struggle to keep word gender correct, certo? Muito or Muita? Minha cerveja está gelada. Meu vinho está gelado….

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

alguma coisa – something in Portuguese

April 4, 2023April 10, 2023 By James Hall

In English, it’s pretty simple: something or nothing. The Portuguese options are (surprise) numerous and confusing. Let’s break-these-down and make them more user-friendly. You’ve… learned alguma coisa, right? And that’s clear: alguma (some) coisa (thing) = something. But you rarely hear Brazilians say that. There are other options they favor – most depend on what…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

Brazilian Gringos (parte 1)

February 13, 2023February 24, 2023 By James Hall

“Gringo” is not a bad word in Brazil. It’s used as a kind word for any foreigner. DO NOT be offended when someone calls… you a gringo! In these next two dialogs we’ll learn some very useful new vocabulário. Whenever you’re getting new vocab in a story with rich context, it’s supremely memorable! Article: Contextual…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

FALTAR in Portuguese

February 8, 2023February 13, 2023 By James Hall

The verb FALTAR in Portuguese is used to describe a lack or shortage of something. It’s very commonly used with expressions “a falta” and… “em falta”. a falta, em falta Using Faltar It is pronounced as “fawlt-AH”, similar to the English word “halt”. It is often used to describe current or past shortages, with the…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

What did you say? in Portuguese

February 6, 2023March 4, 2023 By James Hall

The first word that really tripped my up was, what. A learner’s goal is to get people -on the street, in a store, wherever… and whenever — to repeat themselves. The more the better! The more you hear something spoken IN-CONTEXT (about something, some moment you are IN), the faster you’ll be speaking it yourself….

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Best way to say, one another in Portuguese (10 examples)

January 9, 2023February 7, 2023 By James Hall

Somehow, saying one another in Portuguese or, to each other just seems too tricky in Portuguese. Let’s take a closer look at this much-overlooked… phrase to see what it is exactly that’s tripping us up. Hint: it’s the ao that’s the problem 😵. Let’s break it down. In English we say things like, We’ll see…

(4) Advanced Portuguese

Tomar in Portuguese

December 27, 2022February 25, 2023 By James Hall

The Portuguese verb TOMAR can be confusing. The problems comes from the fact that it can take the meaning of to take or to… drink or to consume. It’s almost the same thing as beber. In general, Brazilians use tomar when talking about taking something that will become part of their being – that will…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

mais in Portuguese

June 20, 2022February 23, 2023 By James Hall

Mais (more) finds its way into many expressions, always playing 1 of 2 possible roles. It’s not simply to say most or, more. It’s always… used to (1) compare one thing to another; or (2) to say simply most or, more. Examples of mais to express most can be found in this other post. Using mais…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Quem é? & Qual é?

May 17, 2022May 5, 2023 By James Hall

Pay attention to the way that Brazilians use who, and which. They use these two a bit differently than we do. Quem é? Who is… it? That’s what you say before opening the door or when a stranger calls on the telephone. But quem also means whom. In Portuguese there is just, quem. ➜ Who’s is…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Present tense irregular verbs

April 13, 2022May 24, 2022 By James Hall

The Portuguese present indicative (“the present”) gets boring fast. To liven things up a bit, let’s take a look at the most common Present… Tense irregular verbs. ☞ Regular present tense verbs are here: ar-verbs, er-verbs, ir-verbs There are some patterns to these irregular conjugations, but not many. I think the best way to learn…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Portuguese verb TER

April 12, 2022June 27, 2022 By James Hall

Portuguese verb TER is the one you’re going to use more than any other. TER To have. But it can also be used as: is there / are there any. PRONOUNCED: TER: the Present Tense to have ter I have eu t enho you/he/she have(has) você/ele/ela t em Portuguese verb TER is among the Brazilian…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Dar para

December 9, 2021February 25, 2023 By James Hall

Dar para This is an extension of our post about the many uses of the verb DAR. DAR + para = A beautiful pair. There’s something deeply satisfying about using DAR together with para to say things like, Is he a good kisser? Is that restaurant decent? Is it fixable? ~ you just need to…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

Saying “about” in Portuguese

October 4, 2021February 25, 2023 By James Hall

As usual, there are just too many options! Detesto opções! ~ o Chatão (annoying person) Trying to say “about” in Portuguese can quickly turn… into a grande confusão that has your reaching for your phone. As usual, the problem is the huge number of options. And como sempre (as always) the solution is: Relaxar… Respirar……

(4) Advanced Portuguese, (1) Portuguese Learning Tips

Pode ser

August 18, 2021February 25, 2023 By James Hall

Pode ser : maybe, could be, possible You hear this quite a lot in Brazil! You’re literally saying: to be able to be. Pode… ser! And that seems a bit strange – at first. I’m sure that learning to say “maybe” feels strange to english learners as well. » Maybe. Could be. Possibly. » Maybe…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

antes & depois in Portuguese

June 4, 2021December 10, 2021 By James Hall

I’ve been writing about how de hooks-up with certain verbs to change meaning or say specific things. Coisa linda, não é? Now, let’s look… at what de does when coupled with with the words antes & depois. I’m going to avoid the grammar-talk and not even use the word adverb again EXCEPT for this excerpt…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

CONSEGUIR in Portuguese

May 16, 2021November 8, 2021 By James Hall

Are you getting sick of my posts that just deal with a verb? It’s not for lack of other subjects, it’s just that VERBS… ARE KEY to building sentences and, fluency. Verbs are also handled very differently in Portuguese than in English. We use phrasal-verbs extensively: get-over, get-going, get-ahead, get-away and on, and on, and…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Pode deixar

May 5, 2021February 26, 2023 By James Hall

This was going to be an intermediate level post, but this phrase is so popular that it’s important for everyone to know how to… use it. Right away! Pode deixar is one of those phrases that finds it’s way into just about every conversation here. Pode deixar: PODER (to be able to,can) + DEIXAR (to…

(2) Beginning Portuguese, (3) Intermediate Portuguese

The future with IR

April 8, 2021May 4, 2022 By James Hall

The Present Tense of IR can be used to talk about the future! The fastest and easiest way to start talking about the future… is with the verb IR. Forming the future with IR is just a matter of knowing its conjugation in the present tense. That sounds confusing. But it’s not a big deal…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Portuguese Preposition de

April 5, 2021February 26, 2023 By James Hall

The Portuguese preposition de shows up everywhere. As you know, I DISLIKE digging into linguistics unless it’s necessary to move forward / to understand… something. *I don’t actually dislike studying the nature, structure, and variation of language, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, sociolinguistics, and pragmatics (!!!). It’s that it doesn’t really help you get…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

Onde in Portuguese: ONDE, AONDE, DE ONDE, PARA ONDE

March 23, 2021September 27, 2021 By James Hall

In English we toss around phrases like nowhere to go, where from?, where to? In Portuguese it’s a little different. For the most part,… onde does all the heavy lifting. However, it’s important to use it with the right prepositions and verbs to get the meaning you want. in Portuguese is used in several different…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

The Portuguese Imperative

March 4, 2021January 26, 2023 By James Hall

Use I find the Portuguese Imperative pretty confusing! The Imperative is a mood, not a verb tense, btw. Verb tenses are the individual conjugations… within a mood: eu falo, você fala, nós falamos ETC. A mood has tenses. The Portugues Imperative is a MOOD. Mood indicates the attitude of the speaker toward a subject. In…

(4) Advanced Portuguese

I can hardly wait.

March 3, 2021September 28, 2021 By James Hall

This always gave me a real hard time. In English it seems so simple to say for example, I can’t wait to see you… or, I can hardly wait to see you.. I’d heard people saying, mal posso esperar para… But this didn’t make much sense. I was understanding this as, bad can wait for……

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

Portuguese verb DAR – 7 ways to use it

February 2, 2021September 15, 2022 By Raquel Semantica

Portuguese verb DAR: um bicho de 7 cabeças. A 7-headed animal. Bicho (slang) = animal. É mesmo. I get daily requests to explain the… Portuguese verb DAR is one of those verbs like FICAR or DEIXAR that can change their meaning depending on the context. These verbs were a great pain to learn because I…

(4) Advanced Portuguese

tudo vs. todo

January 26, 2021September 15, 2022 By James Hall

Todo mundo (everyone) gets confused about these. Tudo in Portuguese sounds so much like todo & toda that it’s tough to keep them straight… ~ even though these are three of the most-used words in the language. TUDO = all, everything for GENERAL things. TODO & TODA = all, everything for SPECIFIC things (things that…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

ESTAR – the definitive reference

January 10, 2021April 5, 2022 By James Hall

If you’re already pretty comfortable with the differences between ESTAR & SER, then this is for you. It’s incredibly useful to have a one-stop… reference for all the different flavors of ESTAR. I always wanted one when I was learning everything but never found anything! ESTAR in all it’s glory *Ordered by importance (use). Complete…

(4) Advanced Portuguese

Precisar + de : Portuguese verb PRECISAR

December 23, 2020September 15, 2022 By James Hall

(PRECISO DE VOCÊ COMIGO = I NEED YOU WITH ME) The verb is a lot like GOSTAR in that it usually gets followed by… a de — BUT, unlike gostar, not all the time. The de is there because you are literally saying I need of something. When do you ned to add the “de”?…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

Você tem certeza?

December 9, 2020December 13, 2021 By James Hall

Are you sure? That’s for sure. You’re right! Isn’t that so? Brazilians are positive people 😉 They will frequently affirm confirm and encourage an… idea or thought. And they do so in specific ways. Brazilians use several key phrases but most affirmations are based on just two words: CERTEZA: Você tem certeza? Are you sure?…

(2) Beginning Portuguese

lá, ali, aí – saying THERE in Portuguese

November 17, 2020February 15, 2023 By James Hall

I didn’t learn how to use the 3 ways of saying there in Portuguese until I’d been in Brazil for several years. That changed… suddenly when talking on the phone I said, Como vai lá? Silence followed. It was as if I had said, Como vai lá em Londres?. Oh! Você quer dizer, Como vai…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

Lá in Portuguese

November 3, 2020October 5, 2021 By James Hall

Brazilians use the word lá to express much more than just the literal, there, that place over there. Lá in Portuguese is actually used… in many different expressions in everyday speech. Later, we’ll look at the other ways (the other words!) also used to say there besides lá! » ali and aí — these ALSO…

(3) Intermediate Portuguese

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