Posted on August 16, 2015
Três Histórias Diferentes para Aprender Português
As a Portuguese teacher I have always struggled to find decent resources to use in my lessons, since most Portuguese resources use formal language and don’t assist in essential vocabulary development. Essential vocabulary are those 2000 basic words that you need to know to communicate basic things. That’s what a language student first needs. For this reason, I have written some stories that now I have self-published and are available for sale by Amazon.
My book is called Três Histórias Diferentes para Aprender Português (Three Different Stories for Learning Portuguese). These three stories are ‘different’ for the following reasons:
1st reason: they enable students of all levels to enjoy the stories, so the first story can be mainly used by Beginners (A1 level) and the others by Intermediate/Advanced level (B1 to C2);
2nd reason: they use different tenses (for instance, the first chapter is completely on Present Tense);
3rd reason: they show sentence construction and verb conjugation in first and third person;
Finally: they help the student to avoid losing interest in the book. Long books in a foreign language may be hard to complete. Thus, these three stories are short and very distinct, with a different type of narrative, scenario and literary genre.
All vocabulary in this book can be useful; every single word is safe to learn. I hate when I read Italian novels and get all excited with new words, make associations and memorize them and when I have the chance to use those words with natives of the language, they say they have never heard of them. If you try to read Portuguese/Brazilian novels or any other type of literature, even for kids, you will also see lots of words that are not common. Sometimes this happens only because writers think they need to use uncommon words to sound ‘clever’. Unfortunately that’s not good for those who want to learn a language.
So, what other fiction books are available for learning Portuguese? In the UK, only a few, and most of them are not good for the same reason as pointed above. And although some of these books were also written as ‘language learning resources’, writers have committed the same mistake: writing in a difficult and useless language. That’s the case of lots of new language learning collections called ‘Bilingual Books’.
Bilingual books, in my opinion, are terrible. What’s the fun in reading something with the translation below the sentences? You are the one who needs to translate, so you can learn how the structure works! And it’s searching in a dictionary that you memorize new words, not through a ‘ready-made’ translation. It’s necessary to pass through this ‘translational’ stage to learn by reading.
Language learning must be fun and practical and that is the point of Três Histórias para Aprender Português. The first story is called A Árvore Mágica. It’s the story of a boy who finds a magic tree. It’s a great story for beginners since it only uses basic tenses and there is a lot of repetition and conjugation. The second is O Mistério do Gato, a very fun detective story. The last story is my favourite since it’s related to my personal experience with language learning. It’s called Os Cinco Coelhos do Monge Pitânis and it tells the story of a monk who decides to learn five different languages. For this, he takes five rabbits to live with him on the mountains and he trains himself using several learning techniques.
The illustrations were made by a Brazilian friend of mine who lives in London. He is also a great painter and has been exhibiting over there (www.natanheber.com).
If you are serious about learning Portuguese, I truly recommend my book. Not only because I want to sell my product, but because I see it as an excellent learning resource, and as a language student myself, I would love to find something like this for the languages that I’m learning. Unfortunately I’ve never found anything similar (if you know other similar books, please leave a comment).
Três Histórias para Aprender Português is available on Amazon, on Paperback and also on an electronic edition (for Kindle). Here are the links to buy it:
International / USA: http://www.amazon.com/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs/dp/1514718804/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439759706&sr=8-1&keywords=tres+historias+diferentes
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs-ebook/dp/B013RAOZ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439758829&sr=8-1&keywords=tres+historias+para+aprender+portugues
Brazil: http://www.amazon.com.br/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs-ebook/dp/B013RAOZ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439716240&sr=8-1&keywords=historias+diferentes+para+aprender (Kindle Edition only)
France: http://www.amazon.fr/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs-ebook/dp/B013RAOZ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439759745&sr=8-1&keywords=historias+diferentes+para+aprender
Italy: http://www.amazon.it/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs-ebook/dp/B013RAOZ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439760034&sr=8-1&keywords=tres+historias+diferentes
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs-ebook/dp/B013RAOZ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439759838&sr=8-1&keywords=tres+historias+diferentes
Spain: http://www.amazon.es/Tr%C3%AAs-Hist%C3%B3rias-Diferentes-Aprender-Portugu%C3%AAs-ebook/dp/B013RAOZ96/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1439759889&sr=8-1&keywords=tres+historias+diferentes
The book is available in all Amazon websites, so if your country is not listed here please go to your country’s Amazon website and search for the book. If your country doesn’t have an Amazon provider, you may still be able to buy it through Amazon.com (see the first link on the list above).
I hope you like the book!!! Boa leitura! 🙂
Posted on August 13, 2015
Deboísmo
Brazilians love creating sensationalism. Although Brazil is a huge country, people are always talking about the same cultural novelties, which are disseminated by the national television and by the Internet. Today, to be “Zen” in Brazil is to be a Deboísta. I’ve heard the slang “de boa” since I was a kid (I was born in the 80s) which means: “to be in peace”, “to relax”, and I think the closest translation is the English expression “to chill”. We can say things like:
A: O que que você vai fazer hoje? = What are you doing today?
B: Hoje eu vou ficar de boa. = Today I’m just chilling.
Or:
A: Desculpa, eu tô atrasado. = Sorry, I’m late.
B: Ah, de boa. = Oh, no problem, relax.
So far this expression has been just an every day slang. But now, it became a religious organization called Deboísmo (de boa + ísmo). Yes! Some people took this idea seriously and made a Facebook page, which can be seen on: www.facebook.com/Deboismo
They call themselves ‘Deboístas’, and many other people are following them (including me!). In my opinion, this is the most ‘fun’ religion ever created. For any problem that comes up you just say: “de boa!” or “de boas!” and then you should just chill and that’s it, in theory, problem solved. Why should we worry about problems, life is full of ups and downs anyway, isn’t it?
And the best of all is that the ‘prophet’ is a sloth, in Portuguese, “bicho-preguiça” (literally: lazy animal). The prophet’s name is Deboas. The community sells t-shirts of him (merchandising, which reminds me of the classic film Spaceballs).
Below I have selected my favourite Deboism images and also images that can be helpful for learning Portuguese. Have a look down here and keep “de boas”!
Já tive dias de fúria, agora só quero ficar… DE BOAS.
(I had days of fury, now I just want to be…DE BOAS.)
Calma. É aos poucos que a vida vai dando certo.
Calm down. It’s slowly that life starts to settle down.
Nem melhor nem pior, de boas.
(Neither better nor worse, de boas.)
10 Mil Boais, Banco Central Deboísta
(10 Thousand Boais, Deboicist Central Bank)
One more thing about Deboísmo, there is a great Brazilian blog called A Fabulosa Casa Turquesa e Dourada which last year wrote a brilliant post called Feminismo Deboísta, (Deboicist Feminism) you can see this post on: https://afabulosacasaturquesaedourada.wordpress.com/2014/08/16/feminismo-deboista/
…de boas! 🙂
Posted on July 22, 2015
10 Portuguese Colloquial Contractions
Que que cê qué bebe?
If you can’t understand this type of language, you must have a look on this article since Google Translate won’t be able to help you. When you finish reading you will be able to translate this sentence by yourself.
Sometimes you study the language for years and still, when you try to speak with natives of the language, you can’t understand what they are saying. We think that they are speaking ‘too fast’. In many cases, yes, they are speaking too fast. But sometimes that’s not the main problem, since they may also be cutting down words and if you don’t know how that works, it will be hard for your brain to process the information. Contractions are fundamental for fluency and if you want to sound more natural, more like natives, you may choose to speak with some contractions as well.
Here I have selected the 10 main Portuguese colloquial contractions found in the Portuguese language. First we will see a selection of contractions that are used in Brazilian and European PT. Then I have selected some contractions that apply only to Brazilian PT. “Vamu começá?” (shall we start?)
1. Verbo Estar
Verbo ESTAR (Presente e Pretérito Imperfeito) |
|||
No-Contraction (Formal) |
Contraction (Colloquial) |
||
1 |
Eu |
Estou / Estava |
Tô (Tou) / Tava |
2 |
Tu |
Estás / Estavas |
Tás / Tavas |
3 |
Ele, Ela, Você |
Está / Estava |
Tá / Tava |
4 |
Nós |
Estamos / Estávamos |
Tamos / Távamos |
5 |
Eles, Elas Vocês |
Estão / Estavam |
Tão / Tavam |
In my opinion, this is the most important contraction since the correct form sounds too formal nowadays. Natives rarely say: Eu estou cansado. But: Eu tô cansado.
Note that this happens only on Present and Imperfect Past tenses, along with their variations such as the Present Continuous and the Past Continuous, for example:
1. (Brazilian PT) Eu estou comendo = Eu tô comendo. = I am eating.
(European PT) Eu estou a comer = Eu tou a comer. = I am eating.
2. (Brazilian PT) Eu estava comendo = Eu tava comendo. = I was eating.
(European PT) Eu estava a comer= Eu tava a comer. = I was eating.
2. Para
The preposition para (for / to / in order to) is commonly reduced to:
Para = Pra
Para a = Pra (EUPT: Prà)
Para o = Pro (EUPT: Prò)
Exemplos:
1. Eu vou para o Brasil. = Eu vou pro Brasil.
2. Ele vai para a escola. = Ele vai pra escola.
3. Num, Numa, Dum, Duma
While some prepositions with D or N are compulsory (e.g. de + o = do, em + o = no), num, numa, dum and duma are optional. Still, they are very common in colloquial language.
1. Eu moro em um flat. = Eu moro num flat.
2. Eu moro em uma casa. = Eu moro numa casa.
3. O carro é de um amigo. = O carro é dum amigo.
4. O chapéu é de uma amiga. = O chapéu é duma amiga.
4. Dropping the “R” (infinitive contraction)
When natives say the infinitive of a verb, most of the times they will drop the letter ‘r’.
1. Eu vou falar. = Eu vou falá.
2. Eu quero comer. = Eu quero comê.
3. É melhor você falar com ela. = É melhor cê falá com ela.
Note: When this type of contraction is written we usually add an accent on the last letter < á > <ê> only to indicate that the last syllable must be stressed.
5. Question Words
A) The question word “o que” (what) is commonly reduced to ‘que’.
1. O que foi? = Que foi? (What happened?)
2. O que tu fizeste? = Que tu fizeste? (What did you do?)
In many cases, natives instead only contracting ‘que’, they also add an extra que for questions:
1. Que foi? = Que que foi?
2. Que tu fizeste = Que que tu fizeste?
B) (Brazilian PT only) The tag question “não é” (isn’t it) becomes “né” (a reduction similar to the English “innit”, but much more recurrent and which can be used in any social situation).
1. Você vai jantar comigo, não é? = Você vai jantar comigo, né?
2. Você vai viajar, não é? = Você vai viajar, né?
6. Você / Vocês (Brazilian PT)
In many regions of Brazil people will say cê instead você and cêis instead vocês. This happens only when there is a verb after the pronoun. For example:
1. Que que cê tá fazendo? = What are you doing?
2. Cê já foi pra São Paulo? = Have you been to São Paulo?
3. Que que cêis querem beber? = What do you want to drink?
Note: although this contraction is very common when people speak, its written form is rarely used. For text messages (Facebook, WhatsApp, SMS) natives usually write “você” or “vc”.
7. “Bad” Portuguese (Brazilian PT)
In the big cities of Brazil, the contractions that we shall see here are not accepted as correct or “appropriate” language. Some people would say that this is ‘”bad Portuguese”, although I believe that in many regions this is just part of the natural dialect of many people. If you are learning Portuguese, it’s OK to learn this to improve your listening skills, but I suggest to avoid speaking like this.
A) Dropping the letter D from the gerund (gerúndio):
1. Eu estou comendo agora. = Eu tô comeno agora.
2. Eu estou falando com ela. = Eu tô falano com ela.
B) Replacing the AM ending (nasal sound) with U:
1. Eles falaram comigo ontem. = Eles falaru comigo ontem.
2. Eles comeram muito. = Eles comeru muito.
C) Replacing the MOS with U:
1. Nós comemos muito bem. = Nós comemu muito bem.
2. Nós falamos com ela. = Nós falamu com ela.
3. Vamos! = Vamu! (Note: This expression is not so ‘bad’, it’s actually quite common.)
D) Replacing the EM ending (nasal sound) with I:
1. O homem veio na minha casa. = O hómi veio na minha casa.
2. Eles comem muito! = Eles cómi muito.
E) Saying “tamem” instead “também” (also)
1. Eles também vão. = Eles tamem vão.
8. Avoiding Reflexive Pronouns (Brazilian PT)
In colloquial language people rarely use the reflexive pronouns. Yes, that’s much easier! So instead saying: “eu me lembro” (I remember) you can just say “eu lembro” (I remember).
1. Eu me esqueci = Eu esqueci.
2. Ela se chama Paula = Ela chama Paula.
3. Nós vamos nos sentar aqui. = Nós vamos sentar aqui.
9. Common Shortened Words (Brazilian PT)
a) Brigado!
Obrigado sounds “too polite” nowadays and in Brazil people prefer to be more friendly than polite. So obrigado becomes only “brigado”.
b) Magina!
It’s common to hear “magina!” meaning “don’t mention it!” after you say thanks to someone. “Magina” actually comes from the word “imagina” (imagine) and the first letter (i) is dropped. Maybe this expression came from something like “what a imagination, you don’t need to mention it!”.
A: Brigado! (obrigado)
B: Magina! (imagina)
c) Ó!
If you wanted to say “look!” you would, in correct terms, say “olha!” (from the Imperative tense). But natives very often just say: “ó!“.
d) Péra!
If you wanted to say “wait!” you would say “espera!”, but natives very often just say: “péra!”
10. Num = Não (Brazilian PT)
Sometimes, usually when there is a verb after the word “não” (no), natives may pronounce it like “num”. For example:
1. Eu não gosto de cachorro-quente. = Eu num gosto de cachorro-quente.
2. Eu não falei com ela ainda. = Eu num falei com ela ainda.
Finally, there are many other colloquial contractions, but here I believe I have covered the main ones. Please feel free to comment on this post (below) if you have more suggestions or any questions.
Nota para os nativos: Se você é brasileiro ou português e quer se aprofundar mais neste assunto, veja também este documento que analisa cada contração com detalhes e possui a terminologia correta para cada caso:
http://www.filologia.org.br/xvii_cnlf/min_ofic/13.pdf
Posted on July 20, 2015
Exclamatory Phrases
Expressing Wonder, Admiration, Compassion, Surprise with “QUE + WORD + !”
Portuguese is a very flexible language. One of the things that make it so flexible and easy to use are exclamatory phrases, since everything (from object’s qualities to personal emotions) can be expressed with the word “que”. Spanish and Italian also enjoy of this language feature and maybe this is one of the things that give natives of these languages that well-known ‘latin-emotional’ life-style. For example, English speakers don’t express personal necessities in the same way. They don’t say “what a hunger!”, or “what a tiredness!”, it’s not part of their language and culture to say these expressions.
So, basically, you can say: que fome! (what a hunger!), que chuva! (what a rain!), que bonito (that’s beautiful!), etc. Anything works with ‘que’ (in Spanish it’s the same word and in Italian the spelling is “che”) and that’s how exclamatory phrases, or phrases of wonder, admiration, compassion and surprise are expressed in Portuguese.
In English, adjectives usually are expressed with “that is” or “how”. For example: “That is beautiful!” / “How beautiful is that!”. Nouns are usually expressed with “what a”, such as: “What a beautiful house!”. But not all nouns will work in English, so translations may need to be adapted and because of this sometimes phrases may lose their exclamation strength and real meaning (eg: “Que fome!” is not exactly the same as “I’m hungry!”).
It’s funny that many translators are not aware of this feature. They make a common mistake when translating from English to Portuguese. As I have seen many times (especially in dubbed films and TV series) it’s common to find translations like:
Typical Wrong Translation: That’s good! = Isso é bom!
> Correct Translation: That’s good! = Que bom!
You would only say ‘isso é bom’ if you are pointing to an object and making a statement about it, not if you are expressing your pleasure or happiness.
I have studied this language feature deeply and compared it to all the languages that I have studied, which are French, Italian and Indonesian, and I hope that the following information may be useful for Portuguese learners of these other languages. Thus, in Italian the equivalent is “che” and in Indonesian “sekali”, with most translations being very close to the original meaning (slang and idiomatic expressions usually don’t apply). But in French the same doesn’t happen because ‘personal necessities’ are not commonly expressed in the same way. Also, there are more variations, since the equivalent words are “comme c’est, c’est, quel, quelle”.
Here is a table that I made with examples, comparing these 5 languages (Portuguese, English, Italian, French and Indonesian). Note that LIT stands for Literal Translation and FREE TR stands for Free Translation.
Exclamatory Phrases (Admiration, Wonder, Surprise, etc.) |
|||||
Cat |
Portuguese |
English |
Italian |
French |
Indonesian |
Adjective |
Que bom! |
That’s good! / How Good! |
Che buono! |
Comme c’est bon ! |
(Betapa) Bagus sekali! |
Adjective |
Que bonito! |
That’s beautiful! / How beautiful! |
Che bello! |
Comme c’est beau ! / Que c’est beau ! |
Indah sekali! |
Adjective |
Que nojento! |
That’s disgusting! / How disgusting is that! |
Che schiffo! |
C’est dégoûtant ! |
Jijik sekali! |
Adjective |
Que estranho! |
That’s strange! / How strange! |
Che strano! |
C’est bizarre ! |
Aneh sekali! |
Adjective |
Que engraçado! |
That’s funny! / How funny! |
Che divertente! |
C’est drôle ! C’est marrant ! |
Lucu sekali! |
Adjective |
Que legal! (BRPT) / Que fixe! (EUPT) |
That’s nice! / That’s cool! |
Che figo! / Che figata! / Che bello! |
C’est cool ! / C’est super ! |
Keren sekali! |
Adjective |
Que gostoso! |
That’s delicious! / How delicious! |
Che delizioso! |
C’est délicieux ! |
Enak sekali! |
Noun |
Que coincidência! |
What a coincidence! |
Che coincidenza! |
Quelle coïncidence ! |
Kebetulan sekali! |
Noun |
Que chuva! |
Lit: What a rain! / Free Tr: It’s raining a lot! |
Che pioggia! |
Lit: Quel pluie ! / Free Tr: Comme ça flotte ! |
Lit: Hujan sekali! Free Tr: Hujannya deras sekali! |
Noun |
Que sol! |
Lit: What a sun! Free Tr: It’s sunny! |
Che sole! |
Quel soleil ! |
Lit: Matahari sekali! Free Tr: Cerah sekali! |
Noun |
Que pena! |
What a shame! |
Che peccato! |
Comme c’est dommage ! |
Sayang sekali! |
Noun |
Que casa! |
What a house! |
Che casa! |
Quelle maison ! |
Free Tr: Rumahnya bagus! |
Noun |
Que vento! |
Lit: What a wind! / Free Tr: It’s windy! |
Che vento! |
Lit: Quel vent! / Free Tr: Comme ça souffle ! |
Free Tr: Angin kencang! |
Noun |
Que sorte! |
Lit: What a luck! / Free Tr: How lucky! |
Che fortuna! |
Quelle chance ! |
Beruntung sekali! |
Noun |
Que boa ideia! |
What a good idea! |
Che buon’idea! |
Quelle bonne idée ! |
Idée yang bagus sekali! |
Personal Necessity |
Que fome! |
Lit: What a hunger! Free Tr: I am so hungry! |
Che fame! |
Free Tr: J’ai trop faim ! |
Lapar sekali! |
Personal Necessity |
Que sede! |
Lit: What a thirst! Free Tr: I am so thirsty! |
Che sete! |
Free Tr: J’ai trop soif ! |
Haus sekali! |
Personal Necessity |
Que saudade! |
Lit: What a longing! Free Tr: I miss it so much! |
Free Tr: Quanto mi manca! |
Free Tr: Comme ça me manque ! / J’ai le vague a l’ame ! |
Rindu sekali! |
Personal Necessity |
Que sono! |
Lit: What a tiredness! / Free Tr: I am so tired! |
Che sonno! |
Free Tr: J’ai trop sommeil ! |
Ngantuknya sekali. |
Personal Necessity |
Que cansaço! |
Lit: What a tiredness! Free Tr: I am so tired! |
Che stanchezza! |
Free Tr: Je suis trop fatigue ! |
Letih sekali! |
Slang |
Que saco! |
Free Tr: What a pain in the ass! |
Che palle! |
Free Tr: Quel emmerdeur ! |
Bosan sekali! |
Slang |
Que merda! |
That’s shit! |
Che merda! |
Quelle merde ! |
Lit: Tai sekali! |
Slang |
Que coisa! |
Lit: What a thing! / Free Tr: How strange! / How funny! |
Free Tr: Che strano! |
Free Tr: Bizarre ! |
Lit: Hal sekali! Free Tr:
|
Portuguese natives use exclamatory phrases everyday. If you are learning Portuguese, I believe the most important phrases to memorize are:
Que bom!
Que pena!
Que fome!
Que sede!
Que chuva!
Related Curiosities:
The most famous ice-cream brand in Brazil is called Kibon (In the United Kingdom it’s “Wall’s” and in Portugal “Olá”). It has a different spelling than what it’s meant to be, but it sounds like “que bom!” (how good is that!).
There is a great Brazilian song called “Que Beleza!”, composed by Tim Maia. Click here to listen to it on YouTube.
Posted on July 12, 2015
Portuguese Tenses: Formal VS Informal
Portuguese is a language that has a great difference between its written and spoken form. Here you will find a formality comparison between verb tenses. The following tenses will be analysed:
- Imperativo Formal e Informal
2. Futuro Simples (Futuro do Presente) VS Futuro Imediato
3. Condicional (Futuro do Pretérito) VS Pretérito Imperfeito
4. Passado Contínuo (Pretérito Imperfeito)
5. Pretérito Mais que Perfeito Simples VS Composto
6. Subjuntivo VS Infinitivo Pessoal
1. Imperativo Formal e Informal
To give instructions or express wishes we use the imperative tense. For example:
Suba as escadas! = Go up the stairs!
Corra, você está atrasado! = Run, you are late!
In Portuguese there are two ways of expressing this tense, one with a formal conjugation and one with an informal conjugation. In colloquial language (spoken) people rarely use the formal way (except when they intend to show politeness or in badly dubbed films) while the formal is used in adverts, road signs, manual instructions and food recipes, so it’s essential to know both forms.
| (Verb) | Formal | Informal | |
| AR Verbs | Falar | Fale! | Fala! |
| Parar | Pare! | Para! | |
| Entrar | Entre! | Entra! | |
| ER and IR Verbs | Beber | Beba! | Bebe! |
| Comer | Coma! | Come! | |
| Abrir | Abra! | Abre! |
The only possible endings in the conjugation of this tense are on the letter E and on the letter A. The formal is the opposite of the infinitive, so AR verbs will finish with the letter E (e.g. fale!) and ER or IR verbs will finish with the letter A (e.g. coma!).
Tip: It’s easier to memorize the informal way. If you only drop the letter ‘R’ from the verb (infinitive), you will have the informal way (e.g. Falar = Fala, Beber = Bebe).
Finally, there are also irregular verbs. You don’t need to know them all because many will not make any sense in this tense (you wouldn’t say “be able to! = possa!” or “want!” = “queira!”), but I suggest to learn the following verbs: dizer, fazer, ler, trazer, ver, pedir, pôr, dormir, fugir, ouvir, sair, subir and vir. Irregular verbs, formal and informal, are derived from the Present Tense, for example:
| Dizer | Fazer | Ler | Trazer | Ver | Pedir | |
| (Presente – Eu) | Digo | Faço | Leio | Trago | Vejo | Peço |
| Imperativo Formal | Diga | Faça | Leia | Traga | Veja | Peça |
| (Presente – Você) | Diz | Faz | Lê | Traz | Vê | Pede |
| Imperativo Informal | Diz | Faz | Lê | Traz | Vê | Pede |
2. Futuro Simples (Futuro do Presente) VS Futuro Imediato:
The Futuro Simples tense (A.K.A. Futuro do Presente or Futuro Imperfeito) is another way of expressing the future, but it is commonly used in formal contexts, such as on the TV news, in lectures and in written Portuguese (letters, documents, etc.). In spoken Portuguese, the Futuro Imediato (the verb Ir conjugated on Present Tense) is preferred, similar to the English Going-to Future. You can see the difference in the examples below:
| INFORMAL | FORMAL |
| Eu vou falar com você amanhã. Ela vai escrever um livro. Você vai aprender português. Nós vamos jantar no restaurante. Elas vão fazer um bolo. |
Eu falarei com você amanhã. Ela escreverá um livro. Você aprenderá português. Nós jantaremos no restaurante. Elas farão um bolo. |
Note: There is also another way of expressing the future, which uses the verb Haver (e.g. Eu hei de falar). However, this is only common in poetry and classical literature.
3. Condicional (Futuro do Pretérito) VS Pretérito Imperfeito
In Portuguese we can express hypothetical situations or factual implications using two different verb tenses, one that is usually used for a formal context (Condicional, A.K.A Futuro do Pretérito) and the other for an informal context (Pretérito Imperfeito).
Formal: Eu poderia comprar a casa. = I could buy the house.
Informal: Eu podia comprar a casa. = I could buy the house.
| Informal | Formal | |
| Regular Verbs | ||
| Falar | Eu falava* | Eu falaria |
| Vender | Eu vendia | Eu venderia |
| Abrir | Eu abria | Eu abriria |
| Irregular Verbs | ||
| Poder | Eu podia | Eu poderia |
| Dever | Eu devia | Eu deveria |
| Querer | Eu queria | — |
| Ser | — | Eu seria |
| Estar | — | Eu estaria |
* Note: Most AR verbs used in the Pretérito Imperfeito Tense (Informal) are not commonly used to express the conditional sentences in Brazilian PT, but only in European PT. Thus, Brazilians prefers to use always the formal way for AR verbs. For example:
Brazilian PT: Eu gostaria de viajar amanhã. = I would like to travel tomorrow.
European PT: Eu gostava de viajar amanhã = I would like to travel tomorrow.
Observe that the verbs Querer, Ser and Estar offer only one possibility, thus they don’t change according to formality (queria, seria, estaria).
4. Passado Contínuo (Pretérito Imperfeito)
The past continuous in English is expressed in a single way, for instance: “I was speaking”. But in Portuguese, this same sentence can be expressed as:
Informal: Eu estava falando com ele. (Or in a more coloquial way: Eu “tava” falando com ele.)
Formal: Eu falava com ele.
Note that the formal way is very common in literature.
5. Pretérito Mais que Perfeito Simples VS Composto
The Pretérito Mais que Perfeito tense has two forms: a simple and a compound. The difference here is not actually the formality, since the compound form is preferred in almost all cases. The difference is that one of them is used in some works of classical literature and poetry only. Although it doesn’t concern formality, it also present two forms so I thought it could be useful to include it here.
Common: Eu tinha falado com ele. = I had spoken with him.
Literature: Eu falara com ele. = I had spoken with him.
This is a tense that is becoming archaic, so for students of Portuguese as a second language this tense is not very important (even many natives barely know how to use it nowadays).
6. Subjuntivo VS Infinitivo Pessoal
In most cases, the Infinitivo Pessoal tense, which is a unique tense in Portuguese (other Romance languages only present the Subjunctive), can have the same meaning as the Presente do Subjuntivo tense and the Pretérito Imperfeito do Subjuntivo tense. When this happens, the Infinitivo Pessoal sounds more informal than the Subjunctive tenses. For example:
Informal: É bom vocês estudarem muito. = It’s good that you study a lot.
Formal: É bom que vocês estudem muito. = It’s good that you study a lot.
Informal: É importante termos mais paciência. = It’s important that we have more patience.
Formal: É importante que tenhamos mais paciência. = It’s important that we have more patience.
Besides all these formality differences with verb tenses, there are other differences considering pronouns, verbs and colloquial contractions. I hope to be analysing those in another post soon.
For more information about verb tenses and conjugation visit:
https://conjuguemos.com/list.php?type=verbs&division=verbs&language=portuguese
And if you want to search verbs and see their full tenses table, go to:
http://conjpt.cactus2000.de/
