ATUALIZAR is a really great verb that you can use to say things like, Eu preciso atualizar omeusoftware. ➜ I need to update my software. and the past participle, atualizado (a): O seu currículo está atualizado? ➜ Is your CV (resumé) up-to-date? and in the form of an adjective, atual: Ele comprou o sistema mais…
Read more...In English when we are talking about seating in an airplane, or a theater we just use the word seat. But when you want to talk about assigned seating in Portuguese, there is a special word that you need to use: o assento. Whenever it’s a reserved seat situation it’s called um assento. Qual é…
Read more...Comparing one thing to another usually involves a comparison word plus a preposition. A comparison word is one of these: superior, inferior, maior, menor, pior, melhor, igual, mais alto, mais baixo Notice in these examples how ‘do que’ means ‘than’ as in bigger than, better than etc. maior > Minha prancha é maior do que…
Read more...Mudar de ideia Brazilians are a flexible bunch. They love to set dates, appointments, meetings and decisions, often without much hesitation. But it’s all in a constant state of flux. You will discover that it’s partly just their nature to agree to things. It’s actually a very charming trait. But, it also causes a lot…
Read more...You can safely use the letter s to make words into the plural, but not always. When forming the portuguese plural for M and ÃO endings, you have to follow the rules. For words that end in an m, replace the m with an ns. Like this: a bagagem > Quantas bagagens o senhor tem?…
Read more...In English we say things like, I don’t even want to think about it or, She doesn’t even like ice cream — DON’T EVEN. So, how do you say this in Portuguese? You don’t even care, right? Of course you do! NEM in Portuguese is very similar to saying “not even” And they use it…
Read more...When you want to describe position and place you always be pulling from a group of words officially called Portuguese adverbs of position. And you can become a master of these words without so much as know how to spell the word “adverb”. Let’s observe make it happen by following Principle #1: Any fact becomes…
Read more...Brazil recently had a very big scandal in which – for the first time, high-level politicians were convicted and actually imprisoned. Imprisoned! It’s a big deal. The scandal made international news and is referred to as the mensalão scandal. Aside form the sociopolitical aspects of this, the word itself: mensalão …is very, very interesting. In…
Read more...This is a really easy to learn expression that means basically, “done” or, “it’s a done deal”. You will get big bonus points using this. But save it for some situation where you really want to be cool like, Let’s have lunch together sometime? Já é! Já é literally means, It already is. Vinte reais…
Read more...Finally, an IR verb that is not irregular. Amazing! Comment below if you can think of another. DECIDIR Say, De•ci•dir! Here are some very common examples: Você decidiu o que fazer? ➜ Did you decide what to do? Você já decidiu? ➜ Have you already decided? Eu decidi ir ao centro. ➜ I’ve decided to…
Read more...In portuguese, talking about what you did is simple. There are no do’s and did’s like in English. What did you do? Brazilians use the verb FAZER. Eu fiz ontem. ➜ I did it yesterday. What did you do yesterday? > O que você fez ontem? Como você fez isso? ➜ How did you do…
Read more...From our online Portuguese course. In English, we do not have this tense (the imperfect indicative). But watch out because in Portuguese of Brazil you cannot talk about the past without it! In Portuguese, when talking about an event in the past that was ongoing or would always occur, we use this tense. Here is…
Read more...That’s what olympic athlete Rafaela Silva said after being eliminated (declassificada) for an illegal Judo move. And the expression, “cabeça quente” — hot head is something we would say as well. What’s worth learning from this is that Brazilians use ‘cabeça’ in expressions all the time. Let’s see… de cabeça para baixo = upside-down >…
Read more...Soul mates. The perfect fit. Not something you bump into everyday but, when it happens it’s a beautiful thing. In portuguese the expression is perfect: ‘soul twin’ > alma gêmea ALMA = soul, spirit, heart or essense GÊMEA = twin Alma Gêmea. “As pessoas acham que alma gêmea é o encaixe perfeito (perfect fit) e é isso que todo…
Read more...A girlfriend of mine used to say, when talking about an ex of hers that “ele não me dava valor.” At the time, I thought she was saying that the guy “didn’t give her money” ;-). And that may have been true, but not at all what she was saying! Let’s review… “Dar valor” to…
Read more...Anything that is a rough draft or, a sketch of something can be called um RASCUNHO. That includes a document, a work of art, something being made – really anything that’s not yet ready, can be referred to as a RASCUNHO. Some examples, > O relatório é um rascunho. A versão final vai sair só depois….
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