Conectivos e conectores: Conclusivas

To make a conversation flow we use conjunctions. You do it all_the_time. Conclusivas: Indicam relação de conclusão. > pois (posposta ao verbo), logo, portanto, então, por isso, por conseguinte, por isto, assim, etc. Exemplos: >>  Ele bebeu bem mais do que poderia; logo, ficou embriagado. > Aditivas > Adversativas > Alternativas > Explicativas

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Conectivos e conectores: Explicativas

The previous posts in this series about conjuctions: > Conclusivas > Aditivas > Adversativas > Alternativas Explicativas: Expressam a relação de explicação, razão ou motivo. > que, porque, porquanto, pois (before the verb). Exemplos: >> Ele não entra porque está sem tempo. >> Eu resolvi limpar a janela que fica suja quando chove. >> Ele vai à praia pois está de férias….

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Conectivos e conectores: Alternativas

Spectacular Conjunctions, part 3 Alternativas: Como o seu nome indica, expressam uma relação de alternância, seja por incompatibilidade dos termos ligados ou por equivalência dos mesmos. > ou… ou, ou, ora… ora, já… já, quer… quer, etc. Exemplos: >> Ou ela, ou eu.>>> It’s either me or her.  >> Você vai ter que comer tudo, quer você…

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Conectivos e conectores: Adversativas

Fabulous Conjunctions, part 2 In this second post we present for your learning pleasure, the adversativas — the glue that bonds us. Adversativas: Indicam uma relação de oposição bem como de contraste ou compensação entre as unidades ligadas. >>Adversativas show a relationship of opposition and contrast. Também pode gerar um sentido de consequência a algo…

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Once upon a time.

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…

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The Social Language

Just as Brazilians love to talk and be social, they are equally enthusiastic about facebook, twitter, skype and all the rest. *just a year or two ago everyone had an Orkut account — now replaced almost completely by facebook. Some of our readers have been asking us to talk about the current vocabulary of média social….

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Ela estava de cabeça quente

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 >…

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Mal posso esperar!

I can hardly wait! I found it really difficult to learn how to say things like, ‘barely’, ‘hardly’, and ‘scarcely’ — staples of english communication 😉 I would always come up with, for example: ‘não posso esperar’ — which translates quite literally to ‘I am unable to wait’ To express the true meaning of hardly…

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I’ve been working

Eu tenho trabalhado, e você? And, what about you, what have you been up to? In english, the ‘been’ is a way of signaling that you’re talking about the past, about something that is ongoing.  If you say for example. ‘Eu trabalhei’ it means that you worked and that it’s done. To talk about some action…

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What number are you?

Are they calling you a ‘nota dez’ or simply a ‘um-sete-um’ -? You better know. Brazilians love to use numbers with hidden meanings. Let’s look at the most common; zero = brand, spanking, new. > Ele ganhou um carro zero para trabalho. 10=  really, really good. > Ela é linda, inteligente e simpatica — Ela…

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Ordering in Portuguese

I had a tough time getting used to the way Brazilians order things – at restaurants, pharmacies, hotels – wherever. For some reason, I was expecting a little more politeness in the language – ESPECIALLY when ordering in Portuguese. I’d like a large iced-coffee, please In Brazil you are going to say, Give me a…

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Expect the Unexpected.

When Brazilians want to say that something unexpected came up, they do it like this: “Aconteceu um imprevisto!” Which just seems strange for two reasons: 1) The verb is at the very start of the phrase; and 2) where is the ‘came up’ part? (from Semantica Series 2: advanced dialogs) A beginner would try and…

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Alma Gêmea

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…

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Eu te dou valor!

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…

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Rascunho.

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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Te amo Brazilian Portuguese!

It’s a little strange to hear some one that you hardly know sending you “hugs & kisses” after a brief phone conversation. But, that is how it goes here in Brazil. A man commonly ends a phone or email conversation with “abraço” (hug). A woman will often say “beijos” or call you “querido/a” (darling). This…

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The Present Perfect Tense

In Portuguese there are several ways to refer to something that happened in the past, each with varying shades of meaning. The present perfect indicative (!) includes expressions like ‘I have been going out every night’. Use it when talking about action that has been happening (and still is).

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