Chapter Two - Important Little Words
You may have noticed already that all nouns in Portuguese are assigned one of two genders. The definite article, "the" in English, is translated "o" or "a" in Portuguese. The masculine form, "o," is used when the word (noun)is masculine. The feminine form "a," is used when the word is feminine. Most nouns that end with the letter "a" in Portuguese are feminine. Though there is no hard and fast rule, most others are masculine. Here are some examples. Notice the patterns and the exceptions. Memorize these useful words and their genders.
| a academia | the studio |
| a ginga | the ginga |
| a capoeira | the capoeira |
| a roda | the wheel |
| a criança | the child |
| a música | the song (music) |
| a camisa | the shirt |
| a beleza | the beauty |
| a bandeira | the flag |
| a comida | the food |
| a esquiva | the dodge |
| a aula | the class (lesson) |
| a caneta | the pen |
| a casa | the house |
| o jogador | the player |
| o berimbau | the berimbau |
| o pandeiro | the tambourine |
| o homem | the man |
| o sapato | the shoe |
| o golpe | the strike (hit) |
| o problema | the problem |
| o movimento | the movement |
| o au | the cartwheel |
In English the indefinite articles are "a" and "an," and which one we use is dependant on whether or not the first letter of the word it modifies is a consonant or a vowel. In Portuguese they are "um" and "uma" and are gender specific. For example we say "uma mulher" for "a woman" and "um homen" for "a man." You might have noticed that the indefinite article in Portuguese is just the word for "one." It might help you to think that in Portuguese we don't really say "a woman" or "a man," what we're really saying is "one woman" or "one man."
Go through the vocabulary list again, and practice using both forms of the indefinite article. Repeat the words out loud as you review them so that you can also practice your pronunciation. Here is an example of a few of each kind.
| uma academia | a studio |
| uma ginga | a ginga |
| um jogador | a player |
| um berimbau | a berimbau |
The words we'll be using in this chapter are some of the most difficult to translate directly. Here we list their most common usages. As you listen to others speak Portuguese you will become more familiar with how they are commonly used.
| para | to, in order to |
| por | for, by |
| a | at, to |
| em | in |
| de | of |
| esse/essa | that* |
| este/esta | this |
| aquele/aquela | that (farther away) |
| sobre | about |
| se | if |
| ou | or |
| e | and |
| mas | but |
| entre | among |
| antes de | before |
| depois de | after |
| dentro de | inside |
| fora de | outside |
| que | that* |
*Notice that in English the word "that" actually has two different meanings. Here is an example of each and the Portuguese word that would be used in each case:
Did you know "that" I speak Portuguese? (que)
Look at "that" house! (esta/aquela)
Often, when these smaller important words occur together in a sentence, they are contracted into one word.
In order to increase your ability to understand what others are saying in Portuguese it is very important to be able to recognize these contractions as well.
| em + a = na | in the |
| em + o = no | in the |
| de + a = da | of or from the |
| de + o = do | of or from the |
| em + essa = nessa | in that |
| em + esse = nesse | in that |
| em + esta = nesta | in this |
| em + este = neste | in this |
| de + essa = dessa | of that |
| de + esse = desse | of that |
| de + esta= desta | of this |
| de + este = deste | of this |
| de + aquela = daquela | of that |
| de + aquele = daquele | of that |
| em + aquela = naquela | in that |
| em + aquele = naquele | in that |
| a + a = à | at the |
In Portuguese you never hear anyone say "em o." Instead you hear "no." Likewise, no one ever says "de essa." You'll hear "dessa" instead. These contractions are important, spend some extra time memorizing them and putting them to use.
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