Tiago’s mother goes away for a few days and calls her son to make sure he’s taking care of things at home. Need more practice with clitic pronouns? You’ll notice there are many examples of how to merge clitic pronouns throughout the dialogue.
Ao Telefone Com a Mãe
On The Phone With Mom
Memórias De Ontem
Memories Of Yesterday
Sofia and André talk about everything they did yesterday with their friends. Notice how different forms of the past tense are used throughout the dialogue.
Um Namoro Incompreensível
An Incomprehensible Romance
Lucas tries to understand why Helena is so in love with her new boyfriend. Take note of how clitic pronouns are used throughout the dialogue in different types of statements and questions, including those with reflexive verbs and indirect/direct objects.
Óculos Graduados
Eyeglasses
A woman goes shopping for new eyeglasses. Follow along to learn some new vocabulary you could use in this situation.
Matilde Vai Às Compras
Matilde Goes Shopping
Matilde picks out some bed linens and towels with some help from the shopkeeper.
Basic Portuguese Grammar
This Learning Note was designed to serve as a very condensed overview of basic Portuguese grammar. We hope this will help give you a “big picture” view of the language before you dive into the details. You’ll notice there are many links throughout, in case you want to explore a particular topic, or bookmark it […]
Perfeitos Desconhecidos
Perfect Strangers
It was love at first sight for these two perfect strangers.
Auxiliary Verbs
Let’s talk about an important topic: Portuguese auxiliary verbs! In a verb phrase (locução verbal), an auxiliary verb comes before the main verb. Essentially, its job is to “help” the main verb. Most Common Portuguese Auxiliary Verbs Here are a few of the most common , which you will probably recognize: Here are just a […]
Trocas E Devoluções
Exchanges And Returns
A woman visits a clothing shop to exchange a blouse she received as a gift.
Os Carvalhos do Vizinho
The Neighbor's Oaks
Practice that tricky “lh” sound as Carlos tells Sara about his daily troubles. Try listening line by line and repeating the words containing ‘lh’ out loud.
Uma Bicicleta Quase Nova
An Almost New Bicycle
Sílvia picks up her bicycle from the repair shop.
Passa-se Cá um Briol
It's Very Cold in Here
Rodrigo complains to Adelaide about how cold their home is. Familiarize yourself with a number of reflexive verbs throughout the dialogue.
Verb Phrases & Clitic Pronouns
In our unit on clitic object pronouns in Portuguese, we discussed where to place clitics within a sentence. More specifically, we talked about whether the clitic goes before the verb, after the verb, or in the middle of the verb. When auxiliary verbs get involved, there are now 2 verbs, so the rules change a […]
Introduction to Tonic Pronouns
Personal pronouns can be classified according to how they are used within a sentence. There are clitic pronouns (), which are unstressed, and tonic pronouns (), which are stressed. This learning note will serve as an introduction to tonic pronouns in Portuguese, however, let’s first see an overview of all the personal pronouns in order […]
Clitic Pronouns: Nos & Vos
In this lesson we’ll explore two more clitic object pronouns in Portuguese, nos and vos. A quick reminder: With 1st person plural verbs that end in s, such as vamos, the s is dropped before adding the pronoun nos. For example: vamos + nos = vamo-nos, as in Nos Nos corresponds to us or to/for us, […]
Reflexive Pronouns
Portuguese reflexive verbs are formed by adding the reflexive pronouns me, te, se, or nos. When the direct object or indirect object represents the same person or thing as the subject of the verb, it’s expressed by a reflexive pronoun. In other words, we use reflexive pronouns when the action is something one does to […]
Clitic Pronouns: Me & Te
In this lesson we’ll explore the first two clitic object pronouns in Portuguese, me and te. A few quick reminders: No hyphens are required if they’re proclitics (placed before the verb) 2 hyphens are required if they’re mesoclitic (placed between two parts of verb) 1 hyphen is required if they’re enclitics (placed after the verb) […]
Merging Clitic Object Pronouns
In Portuguese, when we use a verb that asks for both a direct and indirect object (and the objects are known, i.e. we’re aware of what/who they are), we can create a contraction by combining the third person direct object pronoun with the indirect object pronoun. Sounds complicated, we know. Let’s see a practical example… […]
Clitic Pronouns: 3rd Person
In this lesson we’ll explore 3rd-person clitic object pronouns in Portuguese. We saved these for last because they are a little bit more complicated. Unlike the others we’ve practiced so far in the Clitic Pronouns unit, there are different forms depending on whether it’s a direct or indirect object pronoun. (Visit the introduction learning note […]
Clitic Pronouns: Direct & Indirect Objects
are one of the trickiest subjects to learn and master in Portuguese. But don’t despair — we’re here to help! Throughout these lessons you’ll learn how to use clitic object pronouns correctly, but first you should understand more about the difference between direct and indirect objects. The objects of a sentence can be represented in various […]
Object Pronouns in Portuguese
In this lesson, we’ll have a look at direct and indirect object pronouns in Portuguese. These fall into the category of , along with reflexive pronouns, which we will cover separately, but which follow many of the same rules. Keep in mind that we are focusing on how to use object pronouns in European Portuguese, as […]
The Imperative
When someone yells or a doctor says , there’s one thing they’re doing in common: using the mood! There are 2 types of imperatives in Portuguese: the affirmative and the negative, shown below respectively. In these examples, the speaker is talking to multiple people, i.e. using the vocês (you – plural) form. Regular Verbs in […]
As Manhãs do Tiago
Tiago's Mornings
Tiago makes his father’s life difficult as he gets ready for school in the morning. Hugo finally finds a way of motivating him to cooperate.