In this lesson, weāll be looking at advĆ©rbios de lugaradverbs of place . These adverbs tell us where something happens or where something is, so theyāre pretty essential for building up your Portuguese sentences.
Placing Adverbs of Place
Portuguese adverbs of place are quite versatile as they can be placed before or after the verb theyāre modifying. Unlike other adverbs, adverbs of place donāt modify adjectives or other adverbs; they only modify verbs. Sounds simple, right? Letās see a few of them in action:
Onde
OndeWhere
Onde estĆ” a minha camisola?Whereās my jumper?
EstĆ” onde a deixaste.Itās where you left it.
Longe
LongeFar
A minha casa fica longe da praia.My house is far from the beach.
Braga Ć© longe de Lisboa.Braga is far from Lisbon.
Perto
PertoClose, near
Estamos perto.Weāre close.
Ela disse para a encontrarmos perto do banco.She told us to meet her near the bank.
Adiante
AdianteAhead, forward
O castelo fica adiante.The castle lies ahead.
NĆ³s jĆ” vamos, ele vai adiante.Weāll go in a minute, heāll go ahead (of us) .
Antes*
AntesBefore, in front
O museu fica logo antes da padaria.The museum is just before the bakery.
Ela Ć© a que estĆ” antes do JoĆ£o na fotografia.Sheās the one in front of JoĆ£o in the picture.
Depois*
DepoisAfter
A cĆ¢mara municipal fica depois do posto de correios.The town hall is (located) after the post office.
*Just like before and afterĀ in English, antes and depois do double duty as adverbs of time.
Comments
Iām trying not to let my brain explode when you include things like āEla Ć© a que estĆ” antes do JoĆ£o na fotografiaā (Ć© a que estĆ”!??!) because I have a suspicion youāre trying to familiarise us with that sort of construction by introducing it sneakily now and then! Hopefully you are right and eventually it will seem quite naturalā¦
Haha, guilty! We can be sneaky like thatā¦ It may help a little bit to break it up like this:
Ela Ć© ā She is
a que ā the one that
estĆ” ā is
antes do JoĆ£o ā in front of JoĆ£o
na fotografia. ā in the picture
the above is great thanks.
As for my comprehension, I have grown into translating while reading to a direct English word counterpart. So, to my mind: -She is the that is before of the JoĆ£o in the photo.- Im finding its preferable for me to leave it this way than to rely on the translations too much. I donāt know why? Perhaps this quirk of mine will help me transfer to thinking in Portuguese in the futureā¦ā¦
I absolutely do it this way, too, and I find that I almost always land on the meaning of what is being said. I do it a lot with āficarā, which I direct-translate as āstay.ā If I read āA casa dela fica perto da praiaā as āThe house of her stays near the beachā I know exactly what is being conveyed and I donāt waste time turning it into āher house is close to the beach.ā
Good tipš
Thank you, Molly!
I suppose itās like saying āEla Ć© a PESSOA que estĆ” antes do JoĆ£o na fotografiaā ā only with āpessoa =ā taken out. It surprises me, though, because in English youād have to substitute with another noun like āoneā ā¦ Iāll get my head around it eventually!!
No problem! Yes, or even better, itās basically like saying āShe is the FEMALE that is in front of JoĆ£oā. You could think of the āaā in āa queā as just standing in for a female person/noun. And, if we were talking about a male, it would be āo queā with āoā standing in for a male person/noun.
How do you get āWeāll go in a minute, ā out of āNĆ³s jĆ” vamos, ele vai adianteā?
Is it just a colloquial saying?
This is a more natural translation, rather than a direct one š But āNĆ³s jĆ” vamosā does mean āWeāll go soon/in a bit/in a minuteā. Itās one of the idiomatic uses of the word ājĆ”ā (which usually just means āalreadyā).
Perhaps the same way that people in South Wales say, āIāll be there now in a minuteā
Is there any real difference between āse calharā and ātalvezā?
No, not really š They can generally be used as synonyms, as long as you structure the rest of the sentence accordingly.
For example:
ā Se calhar vou Ć praia. = Talvez vĆ” Ć praia. (Maybe Iāll go to the beach) -> Note the different verb tenses.
I remember being told that it is easier to use se calhar, since when you use talvez you have to use the subjunctive.
Precisely!
Why is it encontrarmos and not encontrarnos? Is is something to do with an āmā after an ārā instead of an ānā?
OlĆ”, PatrĆcia. There is encontrarmos, which is a future subjunctive and personal infinitive verb form, and thereās encontrar-nos, which is the standard infinitive (impersonal) + the clitic pronoun nos (āusā). So, both forms exist, but with different uses š
Ok. Are you saying that in the sentence āEla disse para a encontrarmos perto do bancoā, āencontrarmosā is being used in the personal infinitive verb form rather than in the standard infinitive? Could you use either in this sentence? Sorry if I am being thick!
Yes, āencontrarmosā is in the personal infinitive here. It is more correct to use the personal infinitive here instead of the impersonal because there are two different subjects: Ela (her) and the implicit nĆ³s (we). āEla disse para (nĆ³s) a encontrarmos perto do barcoā
Now I understand. Thanks. This is an excellent website and I love the fact that we can ask questions when we do not understand something.
Thanks! This adverb lesson is definitely going to help me improve a lot!
One question.. Which Iāve been discussing about with a Portuguese friend of mine. In one of the lessons the words āse calharā are used. For maybe. So my question is when to use āse calharā and when to use ātalvezā??
OlĆ”, Jonathan! Another commenter posted a similar question here, and what I told him was that they can generally be used as synonyms, as long as you structure the rest of the sentence accordingly.
For example:
ā Se calhar vou Ć praia. = Talvez vĆ” Ć praia. (Maybe Iāll go to the beach) -> Note the different verb tenses.
Ok thanks a lot for the reply.
I donāt know exactly how to use this difference though for talvez
So se calhar seems to have the normal present verb tense here. So talvez is then always used in a different tense? Talvez vou a praia is not correct? How would I apply talvez in different sentences?
Youāre welcome. Yes, āse calharā usually asks for the indicative mood (simple present, simple pastā¦), while ātalvezā asks for the subjunctive mood`(present subjunctive, imperfect subjunctive ā not the future, though). Thatās why āTalvez vou Ć praiaā is incorrect ā the verb is in the present indicative instead of the present subjunctive.
ā Se calhar, tu sabes isto. [present indicative] = Talvez tu saibas isto. [present subjunctive] (Maybe you know this)
ā Se calhar, ela trabalhava muito. [imperfect indicative] = Talvez ela trabalhasse muito. [imperfect subjunctive] (Maybe she worked a lot)
Ok itās clear thanks!
Itās also clear that I need more verb mood practice.
Iāll stick mostly to se calhar to avoid mistakes for now. And throw in a talvez every now and then to try, while I work on the subjunctive mood.
OlĆ”!
About this sentence:
O museu fica logo antes da padaria.
couldnāt it mean āthe museum is in front of the bakeryā as well as āthe museum is before the bakeryā? (before, in the meaning: on the same side of the street but closer to me)
Then what would the difference be with āO museu fica logo adiante da padaria.ā ?
I guess Iām a bit confused about adiante / antes because Iām French and both look like the French ādevantā or āen faceāā¦
OlĆ”, Matthieu! In French, āantesā means āavantā, not ādevantā. It can translate as āin frontā in English, but more in the context of a line up, not quite something face to face. So, only your second option would apply (The museum is before the bakery ā closer to you). āAdiante da padariaā means that the museum is further ahead, after the bakery.
Obrigado!
OlĆ” Joseph.
Se calher/ talvez = maybe/ perhaps. With both using the subjunctive after talvez? I tend to use perhaps over maybe in english. Is there a subtle difference in translation to portuguese of the two words?
OlĆ”, David. Yes, you can put it like that š No translation subtleties to consider.
After reading all questions and answers, I got the answers to my questions. Thank you all!!
In the sentence āEstĆ” onde a deixasteā, is āonde aā used instead of āaondeā, or is there a difference in meaning between the two? Cheers š
āOnde aā and āaondeā are NOT interchangeable!
The word āaā in the sentence āEstĆ” onde a deixasteā refers to āitā (Itās where you left it) ā my jumper (a minha camisola), in this case.
It is a clitic pronoun which replaces the direct object in this sentence.
In this case, we assumed that the object being mentioned is feminine, which is why we have āā¦a deixasteā. If the object were masculine, we would have āā¦o deixasteā.
As for the adverb āaondeā ā which results from the contraction of the preposition āaā and the adverb āondeā ā itās used when referring to movement (to a particular place).
Hi
what is the difference and when should i use se calhar and talvez ?
thank you
āSe calharā and ātalvezā is like āperhapsā and āmaybeā. In general they mean the same; both give a sense of hypothesis, of an hypothetical condition. Itās not clear to say when to use one or the other. Itās a question of mastering the language and understanding whatās best within context. Anyway, itās safe to say that you can use any of them to give the same idea.
Theyāre just not entirely interchangeable, since sentences are written in different ways wether you use one or the other.
Examples:
Se calhar nĆ£o estĆ” ninguĆ©m em casa (Perhaps thereās no one home)
Talvez nĆ£o esteja ninguĆ©m em casa (Maybe thereās no one home)
When using āse calharā, this is the first part of a conditional structure, where SE is a conditional subordinating conjunction and CALHAR is the future subjunctive (futuro do conjuntivo) of the verb calhar. The second part has no particular rule.
When using ātalvezā the whole structure of possibility has to be constructed using the present subjunctive (presente do conjuntivo).
Just use whichever you feel like, making sure the whole sentence makes sense!
I like these comments very much. It gives more and more insights and understanding of the use of words, et cetera. Thank you all.
Quick question about the post office. The phrase above is āA cĆ¢mara municipal fica depois do posto de correiosā, but there is another flashcard for āEla leva a carta aos correiosā. Is the word āpostoā optional for a post office, or is there a subtle difference between the two sentences?
OlĆ”! Thereās no difference between the two, other than āposto de correiosā being the full term and ācorreiosā being the usual abbreviated term that people use in daily life š So, indeed, you generally donāt need to use āpostoā ā you can consider it optional.
Muito obrigado Joseph