As previously mentioned, the allows us to talk about the conditions that must be met in order for a potential future action to occur, (i.e. “If this goes well, I will do that” or “When we get home, I will do that”). This tense appears in subordinate adverbial clauses (i.e. clauses which function like an […]
Future Subjunctive
Imperfect Subjunctive
Another tense that makes up part of the conjuntivo is the . You learned about the pretérito imperfeito do indicativo, which references past events that were ongoing. In the conjuntivo, however, the imperfect refers to: past or future wishes and desires; something purely hypothetical in the past or future: i.e. imagining “what could have been” […]
Present Subjunctive
Presente do Conjuntivo As one of the tenses that makes up part of the conjuntivo (subjunctive) mood, the lets you talk about something that may or may not happen, but that is within the realm of possibility. This includes hopes, fears, doubts, and other hypotheticals. It tends to be paired with the presente do indicativo, […]
The Subjunctive Mood in Portuguese (Conjuntivo)
Conjuntivo: What is it? What in English is called the subjunctive mood, in European Portuguese is named . While the mood refers to actions that are certain or real, the conjuntivo, in contrast, indicates something possible, desired, hypothetical, or even unreal. It conveys the idea of uncertainty, doubt, or hope. It is often found in […]
Using Prepositions in Portuguese Questions
We’ll cover prepositions in more detail in later units, but for now, let’s go over a few prepositional phrases that come up frequently within Portuguese questions. You’ll notice that the preposition always comes right before the question word: Para Por
Using “é que” in European Portuguese Questions
You may have come across é que in a variety of Portuguese questions and wondered why these extra words are added. The pair of words is technically optional (the meaning stays the same with or without it), but including é que in Portuguese questions is so common that you should typically default to including it. […]
Asking Questions in Portuguese
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 […]
Saying No
The Basics: No & Not This is how to say no in Portuguese: The simplest way to make a sentence negative in Portuguese is just to place the word before the verb. This is the Portuguese equivalent of adding “no” or “not” to a sentence in English. Examples: Não is also used at the beginning […]
Reflexivity with Tonic Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns tell you that an action is done to oneself (i.e. the object is the same as the subject). In English, we use words like myself, herself, and ourselves to express this idea. If you want to read more about Portuguese reflexive pronouns, we also cover them here. In order to make it easier […]
The Pronouns Si & Consigo
Grammatically speaking, the pronouns si and consigo belong to the 3rd person subjects: ele(s)/ela(s). This is because they were initially only used as reflexive pronouns*, which are pronouns that refer to the same subject or thing as the verb. For example: The sentence above is still correct and wouldn’t be confusing because the context makes […]
Using Tonic Pronouns with Prepositions
In this Learning Note, we’ll explore each tonic pronoun and see some examples of how it is used along with different prepositions. As you will see, certain prepositions change the form of the pronoun, especially . Summary Before we explain each pronoun in detail, here’s a quick overview. This chart shows each individual tonic pronoun […]
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 […]
Past Participles & Auxiliary Verbs
In this lesson we’re going to tackle past participles in Portuguese, i.e. So what is a past participle? A past participle is a verb form that can… function as an adjective – combine with the past tense of ser to use passive voice – combine with other auxiliary verbs (such as ter) to form different […]
Double Past Participles
In this lesson, we’ll have a look at . ‘Double’ here means that some verbs can take the form of either a regular or an irregular participle, depending on the auxiliary verb being used with them. Remember those verbs we marked off with an asterisk in the Irregular Participles learning note? They were , , […]
Irregular Past Participles
In this lesson, we’ll have a look at in Portuguese, i.e. past participles which behave in a unique and unpredictable way, instead of following the typical rules. Let’s see an example: If you are fresh off the previous lesson, perhaps you expected the past participle of to follow the rule for -IR verbs, and be […]
Regular Past Participles
In Portuguese, there are three types of past participles: , , and In this lesson, we’ll have a look at regular past participles, that is to say, past participles which behave in a predictable way. These participles depend on the verb’s ending, i.e. they have a specific ending depending on whether they’re the past participle […]
Irregular Verbs in the Simple Past
You’ve learned about irregular verbs and how to conjugate some of them in the present tense. If they’re irregular in the present, they’re usually irregular in other tenses too. There are no consistent rules to follow for this category, so the only way to learn the different conjugations is to study each one and practice, […]
Segredos da Pronúncia Nativa
Secrets of Native Pronunciation
In this episode, we once again analyze record audio clips from our brave listeners! We listen to the Shorty, “À Busca de Doces“, and explore how to make your Portuguese sound more native with pronunciation subtleties and word choice. We also clarify some other challenging concepts, such as the differences between “aí, ali, & lá”.
The Gender of Portuguese Words
Unlike English, most Portuguese words have a gender: ♂ masculine or ♀ feminine. Sometimes you’ll notice patterns, such as the -o ending in many masculine words and the -a ending in many feminine words. There are many, many exceptions, however, so you can’t always rely on that rule. You can start by using the patterns […]
Interjections
Interjections are words with an emotive function. They are used to express emotions, sensations, and moods. They can be just simple vowel sounds, like and , but most are either a free word or a phrase, in which case we call them . The same can have different meanings depending on the context in which […]
Past Continuous Tense
In this learning note, we’ll discuss the , which is the Portuguese equivalent to the past continuous tense (a.k.a. the past progressive). For simplicity, we’ll refer to it as the . This tense refers to something that took place in the past that was ongoing or did not have a clear endpoint. It imparts this […]
Impersonal vs Personal Infinitive
This learning note will cover the personal infinitive in Portuguese and how it is distinguished from the impersonal infinitive. First let’s review what we mean by infinitive. The is one of the three verbs can have. These nominal forms do not express the verb tense, mode, and person by themselves, as they are dependent on […]
Irregular -IR Verbs
Quick review of regular -IR verb endings Let’s start out with a regular -IR verb example, just to cleanse your palate 🍷: Irregular -IR Verbs And now, a very common and very irregular example: Here’s another irregular (and perhaps less scary) example:
Irregular -ER Verbs
Quick review of regular -ER verb endings Let’s start out with a regular verb: The verb stem escrev- is combined with the regular -ER present tense endings (-o, –es, –e, –emos, –em). Irregular -ER Verbs For an irregular example, let’s have a look at , which you’ve likely seen by now. This verb is a […]