Take a look at this post from the Fluent in 3 Months blog in which Holly Keenan finishes up month 3 of her learning Portuguese challenge (with a little help from Practice Portuguese!): How I Learned Portuguese in 3 Months: Mission Complete! You can also see how she did in Month 2 and Month 1. […]
Can You Learn Portuguese in 3 Months?
A Rota da Cortiça
The Cork Route
In this episode, we learn about one of Portugal’s most important symbols and main exports: cork! We explore tons of new vocabulary, and later, for your benefit, Rui humbles Joel by tearing apart his pronunciation skills!
A Mãe Está Doente e o Pai Cuida da Família
Mother Is Sick and Father Takes Care of the Family
Today, our fictional Portuguese family is subjected to some of the grammar you’ll find around the B2 Intermediate level, including the “conjuntivo” verb mood. Since the mother is sick, the father has to improvise with preparing dinner himself, all while taking care of the kids. Will it be as easy as he thinks, or will it all go “por água abaixo”?
Resolver Um Problema Ao Telefone: Alô?!
Solving a Problem on the Phone: Hello?!
Update: April 10, 2018 – As a gift to us and all Practice Portuguese fans, our friend Wayne has turned this episode into a fully-animated cartoon. The video is free for everyone to watch, plus our supporting Members get access to a special version with subtitles for improving comprehension.
Telephone and Internet service companies are notoriously painful to deal with, and Portugal is no exception! In this dialogue, a pushy representative from “VOZ” calls in an attempt to recapture a former client. Have you had the pleasure of dealing with one of these services in Portuguese yet?
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 […]
Animated: Pizza Na Hora Está a Contratar!
Animated: Pizza on Time is Now Hiring!
Animator Wayne is back at it again, in this third episode of our Pizza Na Hora series (previously audio-only).
Márcio o Brasileiro calls in once again to everyone’s favourite Portuguese pizzeria, but this time to ask the owner for a job. Will they be able to overcome their cultural differences and work together? Watch to find out!
Supermix Interview (with Tatiana, Rui & Joel)
When we launched Diálogo 24 Um Café Em Lisboa (with our special guest, Tatiana from Brazil), it understandably created some controversy with our audience, who normally looks to us for European Portuguese content!
While most members loved exploring the differences between the two dialects, a few members were worried that we were losing our European Portuguese focus. (We’re not!)
To discuss why we occasionally expose our audience to Brazilian content and much more, Tatiana invited Rui & Joel to her radio program, Supermix (based in Italy), for a special interview. We also talk about other aspects of Practice Portuguese that you might have been curious about too! (Note: Some of Tatiana’s audio had to be re-recorded because of technical issues, so some editing was necessary. However, we’ve tried to retain the authenticity of the live interview as much as possible!)
Como Falam Os Algarvios? (Conversa com Eliana)
How Do Algarvians Speak? (Conversation with Eliana)
After our very challenging Diálogo, dedicated to the Algarvian dialect, we decided to record a follow-up discussion with Eliana, (who voiced the Algarvian characters).
She will help us understand a bit better some of the difficult terms and expressions that came up in that episode, and how they’re typically used in the region.
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 […]
Certificado de Residência (Como Pedir… Em Algarvio!)
Residence Certificate (How to ask for one...in the dialect of the Algarve)
In what might possibly be our most ambitious Diálogo to date, we explore some of the delightful bureaucracy that surrounds obtaining a residency permit in Portugal. With Michael (our special guest estrangeiro) moving to Algarve, we get a chance to explore some of the vocabulary and pronunciation quirks that set this region apart from the rest of Portugal!
A special “obrigado” to our friends who helped us put this episode together:
• Michael Reeve – provided his guidance, ideas and voice talent (from afpop.com, an organization that provides support to foreign residents and visitors throughout Portugal)
• Rui Coimbra Sénior – O pai do Rui!
• Eliana Silva – talented voice actress who not only brought the female characters of Algarve to life, but also helped us make sure the script was as authentic as possible
You’ll definitely find some of this Algarvian dialect challenging, but we’ll go over a lot of this episode’s content in a discussion between Eliana, Rui & Joel, to be released soon!
Note: This episode’s mention of afpop is not a paid endorsement, but just a friendly collaboration!
Update August 1, 2017: As promised, we posted a follow-up episode to explore this dialogue in more detail. Once you’re done listening to this episode, make sure to have a listen to our follow-up discussion!
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 :
Lavar a Loiça Com a Avó Odete
Washing the Dishes with Grandma Odete
Avó Odete is back! She teaches us lots of new vocabulary while chatting, singing, and washing the dishes, (with Rui’s “help” 🙈). Rui even attempts to get her saying “asneiras” (bad words!) Watch now to see if he succeeds!
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 […]