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Porque Não Vieste à Festa?

Why Didn't You Come To The Party?

João is irritated that Ana keeps skipping out on their plans. Practice differentiating between the verbs ver and vir throughout the dialogue.

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  • 00:00:03João: Ana, és tu?
  • 00:00:05Ana: Olá, João! Tudo bem? Não te via há algum tempo!
  • 00:00:09João: Sim, ninguém te vê há algum tempo também. Porque não vieste à festa?
  • 00:00:14Ana: Desculpa não ter ido… Vi um filme ontem à noite. Tenho visto muitos filmes, ultimamente.
  • 00:00:20João: Viste um filme? Em vez de vir à minha festa?
  • 00:00:24Ana: É um filme muito bom. A minha irmã veio vê-lo comigo. Rimo-nos o tempo todo.
  • 00:00:29João: Ótimo…
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o filmemovie, film a irmãsister o mêsthe month ninguémnobody prometerto promise próximoclose, near, next masc. sexta-feiraFriday UltimamenteLately verto see, to look, to watch viagemtrip, journey virto come
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Nem pensar!No way! Em vez deInstead of Há algum tempoFor some time, In a while Tudo bem?How's it going?, What's up?, All is well?, How are you? pedir desculpaapologize
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Cais do Sodré
Estação de São Bento
Jantar em Casa do José
Viver Para Dar aos Outros
Vasco da Gama
Rita E Raquel Vão Ao Cinema
Memórias De Ontem
O Miguel Faz A Vontade À Gisela
Tratado de Tordesilhas
Conversa no Jardim

Comments

  • this sentence in present tense!?
    ninguém te vê há algum tempo também.
    why not
    niguem te viste há algum tempo também

    • Olá, Franz. That sentence and the one before sound natural for us in both the present tense and in the imperfect tense.
      The imperfect tense (e.g. “não te via…”) clearly pushes the action towards the past. Since they are seeing each other again now, the imperfect is the best choice in this context, as the state of ‘not seeing each other’ is now over.
      But the present tense is also a common and idiomatic choice, even when the idea is the same. Ideally, the present tense would only be used when the state of ‘not seeing each other’ was still current (for example, while talking over the phone and saying for how long they’ve been apart).

      “Ninguém te viste” is grammatically incorrect. “Viste” is a second-person singular conjugation (for the pronoun “tu”), which doesn’t match with the subject of the sentence (“ninguém”, which requires a third-person singular conjugation).

  • what about this
    instead
    ninguém te vê há algum tempo também
    this
    ninguém te viu há algum tempo também
    ninguém te via há algum tempo também

    • As I wrote in another comment, the imperfect (“ninguém te via…”) would also be fine to use. The simple past (“ninguém te viu…”) is not compatible with that phrasing. You’d have to rephrase the sentence to make it sound natural, e.g. “Ninguém te viu durante algum tempo”.

    • “Ninguém te viu…” would translate to “nobody saw you”, rather than “nobody has seen you”, which is the intended meaning here. Same implication as in English.

      “Nobody has seen you for a long time!” – up until this very moment. e.g. “where are you? We have not seen you for ages!” or, “Are you at the party yet? We haven’t seen you!” – the party is happening now.
      c.f.
      “Nobody saw you for a long time!” – during a particular period in the past, which by implication was finished before this moment. E.g. “remember when you were studying for your exam last year? Nobody saw you for a long time!” Or, “Did you go to the party? Nobody saw you there!” – the party is finished.

      The difference is because Portuguese doesn’t make use of the present perfect the way we do in English. Portuguese often makes use of the present indicative in this situation when the action isn’t complete.

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