ConjunçõesConjunctions are words that connect other words or phrases together. They indicate different types of relationships between parts of the sentence.
Unlike adjectives, Portuguese conjunctions do not change form according to a subject’s gender or quantity. They always stay the same (i.e. they are invariable).
Conjunctions are important because they help you link your thoughts together and increase the complexity of what you’re able to communicate to others.
Sometimes a conjunction is just one word, like those 3 essential Portuguese conjunctions you learned earlier:
eand
masbut
ouor
Eu vou ao cinema e ela vai ao teatroI go to the cinema and she goes to the theatre.
O limão é azedo, mas eu gostoThe lemon is sour, but I like it
Vocês querem ir ou querem ficar?Do you want to go or do you want to stay?
There are also conjunction phrases made up of multiple words, such as como se in the example below:
Ele fala como se nada tivesse acontecido.He talks as if nothing had happened
In this Unit, we’re going to focus on coordinating conjunctions, and then we’ll cover subordinating conjunctions in a later Unit. Understanding the difference is not very important for everyday communication, but in case you were wondering… Coordinating conjunctions link clauses (parts of the sentence) that have equal importance, while subordinating conjunctions link a dependent clause to an independent clause (when one clause is dependent on the other).
These broad categories can be broken down further into many different types of conjunctions:
- Copulative – Have an additive effect
- Adversative – Show contrast
- Disjunctive – Present a choice
- Explicative – Provide an explanation
- Conclusive – Show cause and effect
- Temporal – Related to time
- Causal – Related to reason or cause
- Final – Related to purpose
Some conjunctions can fall into multiple categories. It’s not necessary to memorize the category for each conjunction, unless it helps you understand the meaning better. For our purposes, these groups are just a convenient way to help you stay in a similar mindset as you look at the examples and practice in the Lessons.
Let’s Give it a Try!
We’ll introduce you to more conjunctions a few at a time as you work through this unit. Here are a few more examples, just to get you warmed up:
Come mais, se quiseresEat more, if you want
Não espero por ela porque ela demora muito tempoI won't wait for her because she takes a lot of time
Visto que choveu, não precisamos de regar as plantas.Since it rained, we don't need to water the plants.
I love the units, and find the topics are really helpful. This unit information, I found a bit difficult, it might be easier to understand if the words in the sentences were already familiar, such as those covered in the previous units. I would have found this more helpful also, if the information was still in the present tense at this stage.
Thank you for a great website
Thank you for your feedback, Laura 🙂 Good points regarding the familiarity of words and the tenses used. Unfortunately, regarding the latter, it’s not always possible to use simpler tenses or sentence structures. In this case, for example, certain conjuctions force sentences in a certain direction or are most often used in a certain way. We also try to strike a balance between keeping things familiar and offering enough novelty to continue pushing everyone forward. We’ll try to be aware of whether or not that balance is being kept!
I like the way you’ve done it. Not only does it make sense, but I think it helps to gradually introduce different verb types before we learn them “properly” — so that they’re not quite so scary when we get to that bit! 🙂
Thank you for this amazing site, not sure how I’d ever learn European Portuguese without it.
“I don’t wait for her” is the independent clause and “she’s always late” is the dependent clause?
In this case, that would be it, yes.
Actually, with this case, there is no dependent clause. They are both independent clauses (can stand on their own as sentences). So we would use an explicative coordinating conjunction: I don’t wait for her BECAUSE she is always late.
This whole series on conjunctions is really helpful with good guidance. Mas eu vou usar “mas” quando posivel……!!!!! Estou ociaso.
i want to learn Portuguese language and i don’t know anything apart from Portuguese alphabetsso please suggest me how to star learn Portuguese language…
Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?
Ohhh the memories: Conjunction Junction
Hi! I am happy with the course but I think it will be better if the grammar explanations were in Portuguese as well.
English is not my first language and even if I am able to understand everything, I am learning the English grammar names not the Portuguese ones.
For example, now i know how to say in English Coordinating Conjunctions and the types but in Portuguese….No idea?
In my opinion everything should be first just in Portuguese , and after that in English.
Please note that is just my opinion and I try to make it constructive.
Thank you
Ruth
Hi Ruth, thanks so much for the feedback! I completely understand. We decided to go with English explanations because there seems to be less content on grammar in English (since you can get Portuguese descriptions from a Portuguese grammar book) and for some beginners it is helpful to understand the concepts in English. I know it’s not ideal when your native language is not English though, so I’m sorry to make it harder on you in that respect.
If it helps, I just wanted to let you know that the Portuguese names for the types of conjunctions are included in the individual articles when you click on the link for each type. We just didn’t include all the translations in this introductory note to keep it less visually confusing.
Thank you so much for the pages explaining the grammer before we learn. For me, this is one of the things that makes you stand out from other apps.