Are you familiar with the verbs and ? Even with a lot of practice, they are still easy to mix up! Don’t worry: in this unit you’ll learn more about when to use one versus the other. A Basic Distinction: Ser vs Estar Ser is typically used to describe permanent states or conditions. It refers […]
Ser vs. Estar: Two Ways of Being
Common Household Items
The average home is full of all kinds of objects, pieces of furniture, and appliances. In this unit, we’ll explore the most common objects you’ll find in each room of your house. The Living Room – Sala de Estar The room where you’ll likely spend lots of time relaxing with your family and friends is […]
Types of Homes and Rooms
If you plan to or a home in Portugal, here are some of the main types of housing you have to choose from: Types of Housing – A private bedroom for yourself in a house shared with other people. – A complete, unshared home, but in shared with others. You could also categorize this as apartment which […]
3rd Person Possessives: Seu and Sua
His, Hers, Yours, and Theirs There are just a few more Portuguese possessives to learn: Subject Possessive Pronoun/Determiner English Equivalent Ele, Ela, Você His, Her/Hers, Your/Yours (formal) Eles, Elas Their, Theirs See what happens there? The pronouns/determiners for the third-person singular (+ você) and the third-person plural are all the same! Gender and Number Agreement […]
The Verb “Ser”
is one of the most fundamental and important Portuguese verbs. It also happens to be an irregular verb, which helps explain why the conjugations below look quite different from the verb’s infinitive form. For now, we’ll focus on ser in the :
Conjunctions Related to Reasoning
Causal subordinating conjunctions (conjunções subordinativas causais) introduce the reason or cause for what was said in the independent clause. Examples:
Intro to Subordinating Conjunctions
As you may recall from the earlier Portuguese conjunctions unit, conjunctions are words that connect other words or phrases together. They help you link your thoughts together by showing different types of relationships between the parts of a sentence. You practiced with many different types of “coordinating” conjunctions, which serve different purposes, such as showing […]
Conjunctions Related to Purpose
Final subordinating conjunctions (conjunções subordinativas finais) describe the purpose of the event or action. Examples:
Conjunctions Related To Time
Temporal subordinating conjunctions (conjunções subordinativas temporais) tell us when the action or event described in the independent clause has occurred or is occurring.
Tu and Você in European Portuguese
As part of our Tu e Você unit, this guide will cover how to address people formally vs. informally in Portugal, with a special focus on the difference between tu and você in European Portuguese. Grammatically, it doesn’t take too long to learn the basics. The most challenging aspects for , however, tend to be […]
Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow
Here’s how we refer to the present day, the day before, and the next day: Now let’s put them into context: By combining the terms and with ontem and amanhã, you can also form expressions to refer to
Relationships of Time
Let’s explore some examples of the most common words used to talk about the order and relationships among different events in time. It’s important to be able to talk about now, later, earlier, before, and after in Portuguese. Current Time is the term we use to refer to the present. Past and Future We use […]
Seasons of the Year
The seasons of the year are called in Portuguese. Their names have Latin origins, which by now you may have noticed is very common in Portuguese. (Don’t you wish you had paid more attention to Latin in school? 😜 ) Just like English, the seasons of the year are not capitalized in Portuguese.
Portuguese Holidays
The Portuguese calendar has several holidays and holiday periods throughout the year. Holiday can have two meanings in Portuguese: – A public holiday, or day to celebrate something of specific cultural or religious importance at a local or national level. – A planned period of time off work or school. Férias are often scheduled around […]
Months of the Year
As you saw in previous lessons, the days of the week are very different from other languages. But as luck would have it, the names of in Portuguese are quite similar to other languages, since we all use the same Gregorian calendar. All the names share common roots in Roman culture.
Hours and Telling Time
Let’s learn how to tell time in Portuguese! That way you’ll know whether you are , , or . 🙂 If you don’t have a phone or watch with you, you could ask someone , or the more formal/polite: While many countries favour the 12-hour clock system, Portugal usually uses the 24-hour clock, especially in more […]
European Portuguese Greetings
Let’s start with the basics! One of the simplest Portuguese greetings is and one of the simplest ways to say goodbye is , or the slightly more formal . However, it’s also very common to say hello or goodbye with a more specific greeting based on what time of day it is. Portuguese Greetings Throughout […]
Days of the Week
In Portuguese, the naming of does not take inspiration from the planets and gods, as is the case for many other languages. Instead, they are simply numbered. The origin of the names of the days of the week in Portuguese The numbering of each weekday in Portuguese might have to do with ancient Easter celebrations, […]
Combining "A" With Demonstratives
As previously mentioned, the preposition can be combined with the articles o, a, os, and as to become ao, à, aos, and às. As far as demonstratives are concerned, a can only form contractions with aquele(s), aquela(s), and aquilo. A + Variable Demonstratives a + aquele = a + aqueles = a + aquela = […]
The Preposition "A"
A is a very important and versatile Portuguese preposition. It can correspond to many different English words, depending on the context. For example: – i.e. “From here to a week” – Within the time frame from now until a week from now More often than not, it means “to”, but it’s important not to get […]
Combining "Em" with Demonstratives
The preposition can be combined with variable and invariable demonstratives to form a number of very useful contractions. Remember that all the same rules for demonstratives remain valid when they appear in the following contractions. Em + Variable Demonstratives Relative Position Demonstrative Contraction Near the speaker: Near the listener: Away from both: These contractions can be used […]
Combining "De" with Demonstratives
You learned in The Preposition “De” (from the first Prepositions unit) that de has several different meanings and can be joined together (contracted) with: articles (do, da, dos, das), and pronouns (dele, dela, deles, delas) De + Variable Demonstratives Another very common combination is with demonstratives. Let’s look at the contractions formed by combining with variable demonstratives: […]
Digging Deeper into Prepositions
You have learned that prepositions are usually small, but important, words that usually come before a noun to show how it relates to other elements in the sentence. An important part of mastering European Portuguese is not only learning the meaning of each of these prepositions, but also the nuances of when each one should […]
Invariable Demonstrative Pronouns
In the previous lessons of this unit, you learned about variable demonstratives, which change depending on the gender and number of the objects(s) they describe. Here’s some good news for you: invariable demonstrative pronouns are much easier to learn, because as you can see below, there are only 3 of them. You still have to consider the […]