Adverbs

Pedals turning, waves crashing, eyes closing.

Learn Portuguese adverbs in context through this conversation at a book store.

Damiana and Joel use objects around the office to show you the various demonstratives (this/that/these/those) and a few common adverbs of place (here/there). Learn which word to use when the object is near the speaker, near the listener, or far from both.

Explore how the word “já” is used in this dialogue between a mother and father discussing their children returning to school.

Detective Esteves updates Clara on the investigation. Pay special attention to how past participles are used throughout the dialogue.

Notice the many different uses of the word “assim” throughout this couple’s argument. Will they work out their issues? Assim espero!

Yes/No Questions in Portuguese There are a number of different ways to form questions in Portuguese. We’ll start with those for which the answers are either affirmative or negative. These are the easiest Portuguese questions to ask because very few changes have to be made to turn a statement into a question. 1. Add a […]

Marina confronts her neighbour to accuse him of stealing her cat… again.

, sometimes called adverbs of mode, tell us how an action happened or the way in which it was carried out. Easy, right? Adverbs of manner can sometimes be mistaken for adjectives, but one thing that distinguishing an adverb of manner (or any adverb) is that they are always invariable. In other respects, Portuguese adverbs […]

In this learning note, we’ll explore 3 tricky Portuguese words that can take on very different meanings depending on their placement in a sentence or the type of word they modify: We’ve mentioned these words before, but let’s take a closer look to get more comfortable with their different uses. The Many Lives of Bastante […]

One of the most common adverbs of time is , which at its core means in this moment. Like all other adverbs of time, já is always invariable. It is one of the most frequently used adverbs, and possibly one of the most confusing for non-native speakers! The meaning of já in Portuguese varies quite […]

Portuguese has several to indicate the relative position of a person or object. These are particularly useful to learn:  . In short, cá and aqui both mean here. Aí, lá, ali, and acolá mean there. Below we’ll explore the finer differences between each of these words.