Grammar: Articles - Administration
Grammar: Articles
Portuguese has both kinds of articles: artigo definido (definite article) and artigo indefinido (indefinite article).The article agrees with the noun in gender and number.
Definite Articles:
o – masculine singular o carro (the car); o menino (the boy)
a – feminine singular a casa (the house); a menina (the girl)
os – masculine plural os carros (the cars) ; os meninos (the boys)
as – feminine plural as casas (the houses) ; as meninas (the girls)
Indefinite Articles:
um – masculine singular um carro (a car); um menino (a boy)
uma – feminine singular uma casa (a house; uma menina (a girl)
uns – masculine plural uns carros (some cars); uns meninos
umas – feminine plural umas casas (some houses); umas meninas
Dialogue:
– Eu preciso ir, André.
– Certo...Então, até logo!
– Tchau! Audio
Pronunciation key (for rules for the pronunciation key, see Lesson 05):
– êw priSIzu ih, ãDRÉ.
– SEHtu…~eTÃW, aTÉ Lógu!
– tchiAW!
Literal translation:
– I need to go, André.
– Ok…Then, until soon! *Italian greeting
– Ciao*!
Proper translation:
– I need to go, André.
– Ok…Goodbye, then! (or “so long, then”)
– Bye!
Saying goodbye (either formal or informal, informal only)
Tchau (Portuguese form of Italian “ciao”; used only when saying goodbye, not when meeting someone; the most used, together with “até logo”)
Até logo (“until soon”, very common in all situations; in a less formal speech, the “a” is not pronounced, and “até logo” is pronounced as if it were only one word: “telogo”)
Até mais tarde (“until later”, less used than its reduced form “até mais”)
Até mais (literally “until more”, but in fact the reduced form of “até mais tarde”)
Até breve (a less used synonym of “até logo”)
Até a próxima (literally “until the next”, but meaning “until the next time”; the word vez, that means “time” in this case, is assumed)
Adeus (melancholic form of “goodbye”, hardly used)
Boa Noite (used both when arriving and when leaving, since there’s no “good evening equivalent)
Gender of Nouns
Unlike English, Portuguese nouns have genders, i.e. they can be either masculine or feminine. This concept is easily understood when talking about people: man is masculine, woman is feminine, father is masculine, mother is feminine etc. But how to apply this to objects? How can a table be feminine and a sofa masculine, a computer masculine and a printer feminine? Well, by giving a table the feminine gender it doesn’t mean you consider the table physically or psychologically close to a woman…It’s just a grammar device. Gender seems to be illogical, specially when you know that the same object can have different genders in different languages. So, it’s better to learn the gender of every new word learned.
Portuguese nouns can be masculine or feminine (some languages have also the neuter gender). There’s no “rule” to determine the gender of a noun, but some tips can be observed:
– Words ending in o are usually masculine and words ending in a are usually feminine – o carro, o livro, o relógio, o corpo (the car, the book, the clock, the body) are masculine; a mesa, a porta, a casa, a janela (the table, the door, the house, the window) are feminine.
– Words ending in -ção when it corresponds to the English “-tion” are usually feminine, as you can notice: a emoção, a condição, a animação, a atração and so on.
– Words ending in –dade are usually feminine: a verdade, a felicidade, a idade (the truth, the happiness, the age).
– Words ending in –agem are usually feminine: a viagem, a passagem (the trip; the passage or the ticket).
Exercise
Try to “guess” the gender of the nouns below, by adding the correct article. (Pass the mouse forward the noun and check the answer, i.e. the article used with the word, and its translation).
__casa a, house __príncipe o, prince __espelho o, mirror
__gelo o, ice __princesa a, princess __televisão a, television
__poeta o, poet __carta a, letter (mail) __pessoa a, person
__poetisa a, poetess __medo o, fear __rádio o, radio
__vaca a, cow __boi o, ox __touro o, bull
__cavalo o, horse __égua a, mare __ovelha a, sheep
__cabra a, female goat __bode o, male goat __carneiro o, ram
__coração o, heart __pele a, skin __besouro o, beetle
__cabeça a, head __olho o, eye __braço o, arm
__orelha a, ext. ear __pé o, foot __nariz o, nose
__ouvido o, int. ear __clonagem a, cloning __mão a, hand
__vítima a, victim __sensação a, feeling __amizade a, friendship
__testemunha a, witness __povo o, people __ar o, air
__lápis o, pencil __caneta a, pen __abelha a, bee
__borboleta a, butterfly __perna a, leg __boca a, mouth
__razão a, reason __beleza a, beauty __dinheiro o, money
Some Portuguese nouns have one form for the masculine and one for the feminine: o menino (the boy), a menina (the girl); o homem (the man), a mulher (the woman). Others use the same form for the masculine and for the feminine, and the article makes the difference: o artista, a artista (the artist), o/a cliente (the client. And others have only one form that is used regardless the gender: a vítima (the victim), a criança (the child), a pessoa (the person), o indivíduo (the individual).
Dialogue:
– Por favor, onde é a farmácia?
– É logo ali na esquina.
– Obrigado.
Phonetic Transcription:
– puhfaVÔh, Õdji é a fahMAsya?
– é ló gwalí, naysK~Ina.
– briGAdu.
Literal Translation:
– Please, where is the drugstore?
– It’s right there, at the corner.
– Thanks.
Proper Translation
– Excuse me, where is the drugstore?
– Right there, at the corner.
– Thanks.
Saying (and answering) “thanks”.
The Portuguese translation for “thanks” (Spanish “gracias”, Italian “grazie”) is “graças”. So, “Thanksgiving Day” is the “Dia de Ação de Graças”. However, this word is not used when simple saying “thanks” or “thank you”. In this case, the word used is obrigado when said by a man and obrigada when said by a woman (many Brazilian women don’t know this, and wrongly use obrigado). The first “o” is hardly pronounced, only in very formal situations people really say obrigado and obrigada. Thus, you will say (and listen to) brigado and brigada in most times.
The word graças is used in sentences like “Graças a você, estamos vivos.” (Thanks to you, we are alive). Its singular, graça, means “grace”, and is used in the expression de graça (free, for free, can also be replaced by the adjective grátis). It does make sens: something we don’t have to pay for is a “grace”. The verb to thank is translated as agradecer. See how far we have gone by just explaining how to say “thank you”!
The verb “to be” – Part I
The English verb “to be” can be translated as ser or estar, both irregular. The verb ser is used basically for permanent conditions, qualities, and estar, for transitory conditions, for states. Ser is also used for the passive voice, and estar, for the continuous tense. This lesson, we’re going to study the verb ser. Let’s see how it is conjugated in the presente do indicativo (simple present):
Eu sou êw sôw (If you’re not sure about the phonetical
Tu és tu és transcription, review Lesson 05)
Ele/Ela é êli/éla é
Nós somos nóys Sõmus
Vós sois vóys sôys
Eles/ Elas são êlis/élas sãw Subject Pronouns: A Detailed View
Examples:
· Eu sou brasileiro. êw sôw braziLÊYru I am Brazilian
(nationality/birthplace doesn’t change everytime)
· Ele é feliz. êli é fêLIS He is happy.
(meaning “He is a happy person.”)
· Vocês são muito bonitas. vôSÊYS sãw M~UYtu b~uNItas You are very beautiful.
(notice that “bonitas” is feminine; this may be said to women)
· É verdade? é véhDAdji? Is it a truth (true)?
· É bom aprender. é bõ aPR~Edêh It’s good to learn.
· Quem é você?* k~ey é vôSÊ? Who are you?
* When asking “How are you?”, “Where are you”, the verb used is not ser, because you’re asking about a determined moment, not a permanent condition.
Exercise:
Complete with ser in the present form. Pass the mouse to check the answer and translation.
1. Quem _____ eles? (são, Who are they?)
2. Nós _______ estudantes. (somos; We are students.)
3. Eu ____ grato a vocês por tudo. (sou; I’m thankful to you/I thank you for everything.)
4. Ele ___ meu irmão. (é; He is my brother.)
5. Ela ___ ótima, não ___? (é, é; She is great, isn’t she?)
6. “Vós ____ deuses”… (sois; “You are gods”, biblical excerpt)
7. Seu pai ___ medico? (é; Is your father a doctor? Notice the article is not used in Portuguese in this case)
8. ______ nós que vamos pagar a conta. (Somos; It’s we who are going to pay the Bill.)
9. Alguém aperta a campainha…[Someone rings the door Bell...
–– Quem ___? é; Who is (out there)?
–– ____ eu! Sou; It’s me!]
10. Você ____ americano? (é, Are you American?)
Now, you can practice with your own affirmative, negative and interrogative sentences, using the vocabulary given in the previous lessons…
Did I say “interrogative” and “negative”?! Yes!!! They’re much more easy than in English!
For negative sentences:
Simply add “não” (not, no) before the verb:
– Eu sou brasileiro. (Affirmative)
I am Brazilian
– Eu não sou brasileiro. (Negative)
I am not Brazilian.
For interrogative sentences:
Just change the “.” for an “?” (and, obviously, give the sentence an interrogative tone when talking):
– Eu sou brasileiro?
Am I Brazilian?
In this lesson you will learn how to answer to the phone in Portuguese from the more formal to the more familiar ways.
|Dialogue A (at work) |Phonetic Transcription |
|– Escritório de Advocacia J S, boa tarde… |–iskriTÓriu djadjivókaSÍA Jóta Ési, bôa TAHdji... |
|– Boa tarde. Dr. João, por favor. |– Bôa TAHdji. DôwTÔH juÃW, puh faVÔH. |
|– Um momento... |– ~u móM~ENtu |
| | |
|Literal Translation |Proper Translation |
|– J S Advocacy Office, good afternoon… |– J S Advocacy Office, good afternoon… |
|– Good afternoon. Dr. João, please. |– Good afternoon. Could you please call Dr. João? |
|– One moment… |– Wait a moment… |
The person who called could also have said “Gostaria de falar com o Dr. João.” (I’d like to talk to Dr. João, “góstaRIa dji faLAH cõw douTOH juÃW”). However, the basic “model” is exactly this one: everytime you call a commercial telephone in Brazil you will hear the firm’s name plus greetings (depending on the day time, “bom dia”, “boa tarde” or “boa noite”). You’d rarely call a firm and have the person in the other line answering “Alô”, which is the common way to answer to the phone at home. Let’s go to the home examples:
|Dialogue B (at home, formal) |Phonetic Transcription |
|– Alô! |–aLÔ... |
|– Alô. Gostaria de falar com Teresa, ela está? |– aLÔ. Gostaria dji faLAH cõ teRÊza, Éla isTÁ? |
|– Não, ela saiu. Quer deixar recado? |–nãw, Éla saIW. Ké deyxahéKAdu? |
|– Sim, diga a ela que Ana ligou. |– s~i, DJIga a Éla ki Ãna liGÕW. |
|– Certo, vou dizer. |SÉHtu, vôw djiZÊH. |
| | |
|Literal Translation |Proper Translation |
|– Hello! |– Hello! |
|– Hello. I’d like to talk to Teresa, is she? |– Hello. I’d like to talk to Teresa, is she (there, at |
| |home)? |
|– No, she left. Want to let message? |– No, she left. Do you want to let a message? |
|–Yes, tell her that Ana called. |– Yes, tell her Ana has called (her). |
|– Right, (I) go to say. |– Ok, I will. |
More about answering the phone in the Lesson 11. Now, let’s have some grammar…
The verb “to be” – Part II
In the previous lesson, we talked about the first verb used for “to be” in Portuguese: the verb ser. Now, we’re going to explain the usage of the other verb: estar.
Estar is basically used for transitory conditions, while ser is used for permanent ones. Estar is also an irregular verb, as it doesn’t follow the patterns of the conjugation it belongs to (the first one, -ar verbs). Bellow you see the conjugation pattern for estar (presente do indicativo). The transcription indicates how it is pronounced in its “complete” form and in its widely spread short form.
| |Estar (1st Conjugation, irregular) |
|Eu |estou (isTÔW, to) |
|Tu |estás (istás, tá) |
|Ele |está (istá, tá) |
|Nós |estamos (isTÃmus; TÂmus orTÃmu) |
|Vós |estais (estais; vós isn’t widely used) |
|Eles |estão (isTÃW; tãw) |
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