Valeria.Fontes's recent posts

Once I said "estoy embarazada" meaning "I'm pregnant" in Spanish, although I wanted to say I was embarrassed. "Embarrassed" is a true cognat in Portuguese ("embaraçada"), but not in Spanish. It's a classical mistake Brazilians make, together with: apellido, largo, aula, bolsa, bolso, borracha, cachorro, cena, cola, pastel, latir, oficina, pegar, pelado, película, polvo, presunto, pronto, propina, rato, saco, sitio, vaso, and many others that create funny situations.

Se você conversar com um nativo brasileiro informalmente, ele ou ela provavelmente usarão a expressão "cadê?" ao invés de "onde está?" (if you talk to a native brazilian speaker they will probably use the expression "cadê?" rather than "onde está?", meaning "where is it/he/she etc?"). A expressão tem uma origem popular (contração da forma antiquada "que é feito de?", que, primeiro, transformou-se em "quedê"), mas atualmente é largamente difundida, inclusive em meio cultos.

A aranha arranha a rã. A rã arranha a aranha. Nem a aranha arranha a rã. Nem a rã arranha a aranha.

O sabiá não sabia que o sábio sabia que o sabiá não sabia assobiar.

Fala, arara loura, A arara loura falará.

Bagre branco, branco bagre.

O que é que Cacá quer? Cacá quer caqui. Qual caqui que Cacá quer? Cacá quer qualquer caqui.

Bote a bota no bote e tire o pote do bote.

Mesmo os falantes nativos têm dificuldades no momento da escrita:

1) Por que: usado em perguntas, quando tem o significado de "razão", "motivo", "causa". Exs. "Por que ela não veio hoje?", "Não sei por que você não consegue um emprego." 

* Também é a união de por + pronome relativo que, significando "pelo qual", "pela qual", "pelos quais", "pelas quais". Ex. "As ruas por que passamos estavam cheias de lixo".

2) Porque: explicação, justificativa, causa, usado em respostas. Exs. "Não fui ao cinema porque perdi a hora", "Não fale alto porque as crianças estão dormindo", "Estou feliz porque ganhei um presente lindo"

3) Por quê: usado no final de uma frase. Exs. "Você não foi à festa por quê?", "Se você estudou para a prova, está nervoso por quê?"

* Quando a expressão aparece sozinha numa frase. Ex. "As crianças ainda não foram para a escola! Por quê?"

4) Porquê: depois de um artigo definido ou indefinido: Ex. "As crianças não entenderam o porquê do castigo", "O porquê do atraso não foi esclarecido até agora", "Diga-me um porquê para não ir ao compromisso amanhã".

Common pause fillers in spoken English are "like", "sort of", "well". In Brazilian Portuguese they vary according to region, but some of the most common are "tipo" (= like), "então" (= so), the use of vowels ("a", "o", "e"). I notice that the younger you are, the more you use them. How about your own language?

The video below helps you with typical difficulties English speakers have when learning Brazilian Portuguese.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEJdPdPOKJU

One of the most difficult pronunciation patterns for foreigners learning Portuguese is the "ão". The youtube video below has some interesting tips for English speakers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXDW1w7WZbU

Once a Londoner told me that if you can see Saint Paul's cathedral from where you were born, you speak Cockney. I immediately thought about my own city accents, for example, if you live "on the other side of the river", or if you live in any of the four districts that originally received immigrants to work in the first industries. I'm curious about stories like that. Do you have any?

leosmith wrote:

The biggest "influencers" of English are French, Latin and Greek. I didn't count Germanic languages because, in my mind, they are the natural predecessors of English.

But how about American English? Did it have any influence of indigenous and/or African languages? I've never heard anything about this, but it's surprising that those populations didn't bring any changes to the language.

In Brazilian Portuguese we may find traits of other languages, be it pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. All our different accents have those influences, for instance, the "carioca" very influenced by the European Portuguese final "s", the "paulistano" with an Italian prosody and intonation, the "paulista" with an indigenous language pronunciation of the "r" (which is the same of the English retroflex "r"), Bantu vocabulary added to everyday life language, etc. What about your mother tongue? What influences does it have?

Nós chamamos "sotaque paulistano" à fala própria da cidade de São Paulo e "sotaque paulista", às falas do estado de São Paulo.

A característica que gostaria de ressaltar é a supressão do "s" no plural que ocorre em alguns sotaques mais carregados da cidade, ou seja, uma tendência a dizer "as cadeira", "os carro", "os paulista"... acredito que seja uma influência da língua italiana no português, uma vez que essa língua constrói plurais sem usar o "s" e os bairros onde esse sotaque ocorre foram, no passado, redutos de imigração italiana.

Brazilian Portuguese is mainly spread through music, I guess (through soap operas in Portugal), and I know a lot of people want to learn it because of Capoeira. I've also heard it sounds sexy to foreign ears. What about your own language?

O sotaque carioca, mais particularmente o s chiado ao final da sílaba, é uma herança direta do português de Lisboa, já que a corte portuguesa veio em grande contingente para o Rio de Janeiro, em 1808, e a cidade se tornou capital da República em 1889. O som do s lisboeta ficou, então, prestigiado por ser o sotaque da realeza.

Além do s, o fonema r mais sussurrado também é bem característico da forma de falar do carioca. Em vez de “porrrta” como os paulistas, eles dizem “porta”. Esse som do "r" carioca assemelha-se à pronúncia do "r" na língua francesa.

Arabic. I started a University course in Arabic Language and Literature, but I quit after 3 years. It was very hard for me to recognise the difficulty, because I was used to get languages easily. It's a challenge I'll return to some day.

Michel wrote:

French orthography, pronunciation and French people's temper.

True! I overpronounce the "r"

Understanding feminine and masculine is hell to non-latin language speakers.

leosmith wrote:

English orthography. It's diabolical.

Is it diabolical to native speakers as well?

It happened with my ex husband's family, when they arrived in Brazil from Peru. He offered a dinner to celebrate their arrival, and there was great expectation. Victor went to the supermarket and bought "little duck" ("patinho"), which is a beef kind of cut in here, and not duck meat. His nephew said "ducks taste like beef in Brazil".

I believe grammar improves vocabulary by giving it multiple meanings. Words are richer when put in relation to other words, and you start to have insights about the language structure.

Totally! When you have to teach something, you have to stop and think about the best way to communicate it, you organize the information, consider possible difficulties on the student part, study the issue deeply, and eventually learn something new about what you believed to know thoroughly.

What is something in your language that you know foreigners will have difficulties? In Brazilian Portuguese there are a lot of traits, specially considering what people learn in classes and what they face in reality, because the distance between written and oral language is huge.

Percebi isso há poucos dias: pronunciamos a contagem do número 30 de uma forma muito peculiar quando estamos com pressa: "teum" (31), "tedois" (32), "tetrês" (33), etc. O mais interessante é que isso só acontece quando estamos fazendo contagem, nunca quando dizemos os números isolados: "trinta e um", "trinta e dois", "trinta e três", etc.

On the other hand, it's hard to change things one learned as a child.

Luke.Liebenberg wrote:

In isiZulu there are praise names attached to last names. So basically every amaZulu person has certain praise names that are connected to their ancestry for every surname. If you know an amaZulu person's praise name for their surname they'd be very impressed with you.

I'm curious for examples of those praise names!

july.lullalove wrote:

Valeria.Fontes wrote:

Not exactly any taboo, but I've already felt I should have shut up many times. In Brazil, we tend to be overly outgoing, when compared to other nationalities, so there have been these situations in trips, when I was so excited and happy that I ended up being intrusive and suspicious, at least this is my interpretation of the look in people's eyes!

I can totally feel you! I am an outgoing person too and I'd love to talk about anything under the sun even to a person I have just met. I think I cannot blame this to our culture of trying our best to make sure a new person or a visitor won't feel left behind, trying to be as hospitable as we can. hihi. But yeah, I have some North American friends telling me that they really find it suspicious. :P

I was once in a hostel in Bolivia where most people were really young. Then I saw this middle-aged woman with a little girl, always aside, and thought it a good idea to approach. She welcomed me, I got confident and took a very stupid decision. I tried playing with her daughter. She took the girl by the hand as fast as she could and literally ran away! I felt as if I was an outlaw.

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

It is also taboo in Spain, you don't discuss your salary... but I have another one... Franco, you don't discuss the Spanish civil war unless you are just glossing over it

I've already experienced that! It's a pet subject for me, and I faced a Spanish girl rage when I tried giving opinions about it. I understand why.

leosmith wrote:

People are often surprised that discussion of money, or how much one makes, is somewhat taboo in the US. And it makes us pretty uncomfortable when we get labeled as "rich" - there is a negative stigmatism associated with that here.

Actually it's similar in Brazil. People like showing off wealth, but they feel uncomfortable talking about it. I believe it's related to Catholicism, so it surprises me to hear you say so.

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

I did drop the f-bomb in Spanish a couple of weeks back very naturally when something went wrong!

I love the Spanish f-bomb! It's wisdom!

Most last names in Brazil are European (even among people who clearly have no european origin), and it depends on the region the prevalence of Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, German, etc. We also have many Japanese last names. Indigenous people use the name of their "nation" as last name, but I believe it to be a new trend. It's always the father's name in the end and the mother's in the middle, but it's not mandatory, I only have my father's family name, for example.

Portuguese is similar to Spanish, so it's the same -a (feminine) and -o (masculine), which causes a lot of trouble for learners!

Not exactly any taboo, but I've already felt I should have shut up many times. In Brazil, we tend to be overly outgoing, when compared to other nationalities, so there have been these situations in trips, when I was so excited and happy that I ended up being intrusive and suspicious, at least this is my interpretation of the look in people's eyes!

Faye.Vitan wrote:

Valeria.Fontes wrote:

In Brazil people with northeast accent are mistreated and made fun of when they come to the South. We regard them as vulgar and non-educated, although they have a really rich culture up there.

That sounds a bit sad. Is the northeast part of Brazil, rural?

Yes, it's sad and it doesn't change, despite being illogical. The northeast part of Brazil is not totally rural, they have major capitals, but the folk image of it is linked with underdevelopment and poverty.

My parents are old enough to be my grandparents, so I grew up exposed to old-fashioned language, and other kids mocked me a lot. What expressions in your language would highlight a person's age?

HolaIsabel wrote:

Muito legal e obrigada pela informacao. Eu só sabia que mudaba o sotaque com a regiao. Vou pesquicar mais sobre o que você falou
Claramente nós tambem temos isso no espanhol kkk com tudos os paises!
Bom dia :grin: :grin:

Meu ex-marido era Peruano. Presenciei seu julgamento de uma moça a quem pedimos informação numa rua em Cusco: ele a chamou "pituca" pela pronúncia de uma única palavra!

Patricia.GD wrote:

Olá Valéria, muito obrigada por essa postagem, é bem interessante essa diferença entre o Brasil e Portugal. É sempre bom aprender ...
uma palavra que eu achei engraçada em Portugal foi ¨passadeira = faixa de pedestre¨ outra engraçada ¨gaja/rapariga = garota¨.

Patrícia, muitas palavras e expressões soam engraçadas em Portugal! Eu começo a rir logo de cara!

I've never experienced that myself, but my ex-husband turned to spanish when he was angry (a big collection of dirty words!). I also have a friend who got married and moved to the USA 20 years ago. She told me that her workmates mock her accent change when she's upset. Even within Portuguese itself, I have friends from other cities whose accent change when they visit their families, or speak on the phone with their mothers. Interesting that it's more associated with women... I've learned somewhere that the mother is more linked to language learning than the father (same for religion).

I am on my laptop too, and I have applestore only.

Uma das diferenças entre as duas línguas é o uso do gerúndio, embora eu tenha ouvido falar que há regiões em Portugal que usam da mesma maneira que no Brasil. Aqui dizemos "estou estudando", "estou dançando", "estou comendo". Em Portugal: "estou a estudar", "estou a dançar", "estou a comer".

Nirupam.Deo wrote:

Faye.Vitan wrote:

As mentioned by july.lullalove here, in the Philippines, we look down on people who have Visayan accents. People with those accents are not taken as seriously as those without it. In job hunting, employers prefer those without the Visayan accent even if they are more competent. It's a sad reality. How about in other countries, do accents affect people's employment opportunities?

Actually yes, here in India Biharis are kind of looked as black horse because they lack sophistication and don't wear fake facade all the time to appear one. That goes against them mostly, not taken seriously and ill-treated for the same reason

In Brazil people with northeast accent are mistreated and made fun of when they come to the South. We regard them as vulgar and non-educated, although they have a really rich culture up there.

Faye.Vitan wrote:

As mentioned by july.lullalove here, in the Philippines, we look down on people who have Visayan accents. People with those accents are not taken as seriously as those without it. In job hunting, employers prefer those without the Visayan accent even if they are more competent. It's a sad reality. How about in other countries, do accents affect people's employment opportunities?

In Brazil accents affect people's employment opportunities as well as in social situations.

july.lullalove wrote:

My country, the Philippines, has a lot of dialects ( given that it consists of 7,107 islands + other small islands unmapped). Our national language is Filipino but we have a lot of words that have a Spanish origin. English is a second language here.
Some people are making fun of a person who speaks Tagalog but still carries his dialectal accent. When in fact, Tagalog is native only to those who live in Luzon (the Northern part). And those who live in the Middle and Southern part uses Tagalog only in official settings like at work and at school. When a native Tagalog speaker hears a Filipino with a thick "Southern accent" (like Bisaya or Hiligaynon), they would really notice you.
On the other hand, when foreign nationals try to speak "broken Tagalog", they are considered cute. :P
P.S We have a city in the South named Zamboanga and they speak "broken Spanish".

In Brazil it depends on where the foreigner is from to be considered cute. If Latin American or African, if coming from the global North...

HolaIsabel wrote:

Uh, in Colombia we have some stereotypes when referring to an accent. I don't think (from my perspective) that it is related to a good or bad Spanish. As Spanish is spoken in so many countries we don't have that approach. However, we do critize people and tend to label them based on their accent. "Paisa" girls are stupid. "Costeños" are vulgar, "cachacos" are pretentious, and so on. All of this regionalism has a big connotation when it comes to accents. Just when you speak already people start making a opinion about how are you based on a what accent do you have.

I was married to a Peruvian guy and, when we travelled to visit Peru, I realised that same thing you've described, around making an opinion based on accents. There was this situation of asking for directions on the street, in which my ex-husband labeled the girls as "pituca" just by by her way of saying the name "Urubamba". Just this single word!

My Spanish has also improved a lot during the years I was married to a Peruvian guy, not only the realisation of the language itself, but also my conscience of its idiosyncrasies.

I'm here for those who would like to know a bit about Brazilian Portuguese.

Há muitos sotaques no Brasil que coincidem com regiões geográficas, mas a língua também varia se o falante vem do interior ou de uma capital, de bairros centrais ou periferias, dependendo de classes social. 

No Sul, temos o gaúcho, o catarinense e o paranaense.

No Sudeste, o paulista, o carioca e o mineiro. No estado de São Paulo, há duas grandes famílias de sotaques, o paulistano e o interiorano.

No Nordeste, os sotaques mais contrastantes são o baiano e o pernambucano.

No Norte, o paraense, o maranhense, o amazonense.

Há também os sotaques dos estados centrais.

PiAlfa wrote:

I know it's not an English speaking country, but in Spain we have a subject that combines literature and grammar. And yeah, most people hate it because you have to analize the type of sentence and its components: the type of word (verb, noun...) and its use inside the sentence (complemento directo, complemento indirecto... I don't know their names in English xd). Some sentences are easier to analize than others.

Just like the way we study Portuguese in Brazil.

O plural das palavras terminadas em "ão" pode acontecer apenas acrescentando-se um "s": orgão-orgãos, benção-bençãos, sotão-sotãos, mão-mãos, grão-grãos, irmão-irmãos, artesão-artesãos. Outra forma seria "ães": pão-pães, manifestação-manifestções, composição-composições, botão-botões, paixão-paixões, visão-visões, razão-razões. 

Nesses casos acontece o erro de pronúncia dos estrangeiros, pois é preciso acrescentar um "n", anasalando o som: "limõens", "cançõens", "alteraçõens", "cidadãons", "coraçãons", etc.

É comum que os estrangeiros aprendendo Português Brasileiro pronunciem o "a" aberto, e não o correto anasalado, quando está na segunda sílaba de palavras como as seguintes: gostAndo, dançAndo, falAndo, andAndo, amAndo, viajAndo, estAmos, comprAmos, analisAmos, gostAmos, marcAmos, encontrAmos.

A nasalização mais óbvia encontra-se nas palavras terminadas em "ão": não, realização, entonação, verão. Entretanto também nas palavras com sílabas terminadas em "m" e "n" essas letras não são pronunciadas e apenas indicam a nasalização da vogal anterior: "cantam" pronuncia-se "cã(n)tãu", "também" pronuncia-se "tã(n)bêi(n)". 

A palavra "muito" é a maior prova dessa tendência à nasalização, pois acrescentasse um "n" à pronúncia: "muinto".

Um exemplo de evolução de uma gíria é o uso da palavra "crowd". Foram os surfistas que trouxeram a palavra para o Português, nos anos 90. Primeiramente se dizia "tá crowd" em relação ao mar para descrever uma praia lotada de surfistas (algo ruim). Depois a palavra sofreu uma mutação, incorporando no estrangeirismo um sufixo próprio do português: a gíria tornou-se "crowdeado". "O lugar tá crowdeado", podendo ser qualquer ambiente e não mais apenas a praia. Atualmente está em desuso.

In Brazil we're prejudiced against some of the country's accents. We tend to value the southeast region accents and devalue the northeast ones. Within São Paulo, where I live, we split the language into good and bad as well, the suburban accent being considered a poor Portuguese. What about your countries?

I'm terrible with naming, but my suggestion is to involve the idea of self-learning in the name.

Soup wrote:

Hey Valeria,
This is a really interesting topic I think.
As I was starting to learn English in a serious way, ten years ago now, I noticed how people online gradually started saying "she" about a hypothetical person instead of "he", and then, more recently, how it started shifting to "they". Similarly, in French, the écriture inclusive is something that became quite prevalent recently: instead of writing les amis/les amies, you can write les ami-e-s. In Spanish, you can write lxs amigxs instead of los amigos/las amigas.
These are all examples of gender-neutral language [0], which is itself a subset of inclusive language [1]. The wiki pages in English and Portuguese about this are very poor compared to the ones in French or in German, for example, but they're informative nonetheless. And yes, it seems to be a new development, insofar as it's becoming socially accepted, and even expected in some circles, and is becoming the norm in official communication.
[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender-neutral_language
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclusive_language

Thanks for you comment! I had no information at all about this topic around the world. It was very surprising when you said that it's becoming the norm in official communication, because in Brasil it's connected to young university people and LGBTQ+ and feminist circles. With the political polarization of recent years, there's a dispute among left parties too, the most traditional ones arguing it's foolishness as long as we have "more serious and urgent issues" to turn to. 

arroz - rice

feijão - beans

batata - potato

tomate - tomato

carne de vaca - beef

bife - steak

bife empanado -breaded steak

frango - chicken

peixe - fish

camarão - shrimp

carne de porco - pork

linguiça - sausage

molho - sauce

salada - salad

alface - lettuce

cebola - onion

alho - garlic

macarrão - pasta

ovo - egg

omelete - omelet

ovo frito - fried egg

pão - bread

manteiga - butter

leite - milk

café - coffee

açúcar - sugar

sal - salt

mel - honey

água - water

suco - juice

refrigerante - soda

Tyler.Huff wrote:

Cantonese neatly avoids the pronoun issue by using 佢 （keoi5) for he, she and it.
Mandarin uses different characters but all are pronounced ta1.

Hey Tyler! But is it something new in the language?

maçã - apple

pêra - pear

uva - grape

melancia - watermelon

melão - melon

laranja - orange

mexirica - tangerine

banana - banana

mamão - papaya

manga - mango

morango - strawberry

goiaba - guava

abacate - avocado

cereja - cherry

figo - fig

pêssego - peach

ameixa - plum

Lately there has been a heated argument about gender in Portuguese. In my language we choose the masculine voice to address groups or to mean neutral voice, for example, if we need to say "everybody in this room", we'd pick "todos" instead of "todas" ("everybody" has a masculine and a feminine options). Now there are people using an invented word: "todes" or "todx"... The main argument is that language is alive and constantly changing. Although I agree on this statement, I'd say it doesn't change by decree. Is there anything similar hapenning in your own languages?

comer - eat

mastigar - chew

engolir - swallow

digerir - digest

saborear - taste

beber - drink

bebericar - sip

experimentar - try

cheirar - smell

cozinhar - cook

assar - bake

fritar - fry

preparar/ fazer - make

congelar - freeze

refeição - meal

café da manhã - breakfast

almoço - lunch

jantar - dinner

ceia - supper

lanche - snack

jejum - fast

cachorro - dog

cachorrinho, filhote - pup

gato - cat

gatinho, filhote - kitten

passarinho - bird

peixe - fish

cavalo - horse

égua - mare

potro - colt

galinha - hen

galo - rooster

pintinho - chick

pato - duck

patinho - duckling

porco - pig

porquinho, leitão - piglet

ovelha - sheep

carneiro - ram

ovelhinha, carneirinho - lamb

cabra, bode, cabrito - goat

vaca - cow

boi - ox

touro - bull

bezerro - calf

mar - sea

rio - river

margem - bank

praia - beach

montanha - mountain

árvore - tree

flor - flower

folha - leaf

sol - sun

lua - moon

nuvem - cloud

estrela - star

céu - sky

horizonte - horizon

água - water

ar - air

terra - earth

fogo - fire

deserto - desert

duna - dune

lago - lake

colina - hill

cachoeira - waterfall

floresta - forest

selva - jungle

pântano/brejo - bog

plantas - plants

animais - animals

In Brazil we study Portuguese as a school subject learning grammar (which makes kids hate it). Once I was told it's not like this in English speaking countries, but I've never understood how it happens. I'm curious! What about other countries?

Pode me ajudar, por favor? - Can you help me, please?

Onde fica...? - Where is...?

Quanto custa....? - How much is.....?

Que horas...? - What time....?

O que é isso? - What's this?

Por que? - Why?

Quando? - When?

O que? - What?

Quem? - Who?

Como? - How

respirar - breath

dormir - sleep

comer - eat

beber - drink

levantar - get up, stand up

andar, caminhar - walk

sentar - sit

escrever - write

ler - read

contar - count

falar - speak

conversar - talk

dizer - say

escutar - listen

ouvir - hear

cheirar - smell

tocar - touch

experimentar - taste

sentir - feel

chorar - cry

sorrir - smile

rir - laugh

estudar - study

sair - go out

entrar - get in

viajar - travel

alto - tall

baixo - short

estatura mediana - medium height

gordo - fat

magro - slim

malhado - fit

moreno - dark-haired, dark skin

loiro - blond

bronzeado - tanned

pele clara - fair skin

longo/comprido - long

curto - short

chanel - bob

"no ombro" - shoulder length

enrolado - curly

liso - straight

ondulado - wavy

cacho - lock

franja - bangs

trança - braid

trançado - braided

coque - bun

rabo de cavalo - pony tail

maria-chiquinha - pigtails

penteado - hairdo

castanho - brow

castanho claro - light brown

castanho escuro - dark brown

preto - black

loiro - blond

ruivo - red

branco - grey

careca - bald

Lingtola sounds really weird for Portuguese speakers because "tola" is a word and it means "stupid". 

prato - dish

copo - glass

talheres - silverware

garfo - fork

faca - knife

colher - spoon

guardanapo - napkin

toalha de mesa - tablecloth

xícara - cup

caneca - mug

tijela - bowl

bandeja - tray

panela - pot

liquidificador - blender

geladeira - fridge

cabeça - head

cabelo - hair

testa - forehead

orelhas - ears

sobrancelhas - eyebrows

olhos - eyes

nariz - nose

boca - mouth

lábios - lips

dentes - teeth

língua - tongue

queixo - chin

pescoço - neck

tronco - body, torso

ombros - shoulders

braços - arms

cotovelos - elbows

mãos - hands

dedos - fingers

pulso - wrist

peito - chest

barriga - belly

umbigo - belly button

cintura - waist

quadril - hips

virilha - groin

pênis - penis

vulva - vulva

pernas - legs

joelhos - knees

canela - shin

pés - feet

calcanhar - heel

batata da perna/ panturrilha - calf

nádegas/ bunda - buttocks

bonito-feio - beautiful-ugly

quente - frio - hot-cold

grande - pequeno - big-small

claro - escuro - clear-dark

alto - baixo - high-low

gordo - magro - fat-thin

legal - chato - nice-boring

fraco - forte - weak-strong

cedo - tarde - early-late

perto - longe - close-far

camiseta - Tshirt

camisa - shirt

calça - pants

short - shorts

casaco - coat

saia - skirt

vestido - dress

sapato - shoe

meia - sock

colete - vest

blusa - blouse

meia-calça - tights

calcinha - panty

soutien - bra

cueca - briefs

cinto - belt

moleton - sweatshirt

malha - sweater

jaqueta - jacket

Os pronomes possessivos combinam com o substantivo em gênero e número: meu carro, meus carros, minha boneca, minhas bonecas, teu irmão, teus irmãos, tua irmã, tuas irmãs, seu amigo, seus amigos, sua amiga, suas amigas, nosso país, nossos países, nossa mãe, nossas mães, vosso interesse, vossos interesses.

No dia-a-dia, tendemos a usar "seu, sua, seus, suas" no lugar de "teu, tua, teus, tuas" e "dele, dela, deles, delas" no lugar de "seu, sua, seus, suas", por exemplo, "o amigo dela" ao invés de "seu amigo", "a casa deles", "a rua delas".

Na escola aprendemos os pronomes pessoais assim: eu, tu, ele, ela, nós, vós, eles, elas. No entanto, no dia-a-dia, na maior parte do país, usamos "você" ao invés de "tu" e "vocês" ao invés de "vós", além de uma preferência por dizer "a gente", ao invés de "nós" (por exemplo, "a gente gosta" ao invés de "nós gostamos"). Em algumas regiões usa-se bastante o "tu", embora muitas vezes conjugado como se fosse "você" ("tu vais" seria a conjugação correta, mas usa-se "tu vai", por exemplo)

Na escola, aprendemos a conjugação dos verbos no tempo futuro da seguinte maneira:

1a conjugação - amar: eu amarei, tu amarás, ela/ele amará, nós amaremos, vós amarei, elas/eles amarão

2a conjugação - entender: eu entenderei, tu entenderás, ela/ele entenderá, nós entenderemos, vós entendereis, elas/eles entenderão

3a conjugação - conseguir: eu conseguirei, tu conseguirás, ela/ele conseguirá, nós conseguiremos, vós conseguireis, elas/eles conseguirão

No entanto, no dia-a-dia usamos uma expressão com o verbo ir para formar o futuro, além de usarmos o "você/ vocês" ao invés de "tu/vós':

1) eu vou amar, você vai amar, ela/ele vai amar, nós vamos amar, vocês vão amar, elas/eles vão amar

2) eu vou entender, você vai entender, ela/ele vai entender, nós vamos entender, vocês vão entender, elas/eles vão entender

3) eu vou conseguir, você vai conseguir, ela/ele vai conseguir, nós vamos conseguir, vocês vão conseguir, elas/eles vão conseguir

sorrir: eu sorri, você sorriu, ela/ele sorriu, nós sorrimos, vocês sorriram, elas/eles sorriram

prevenir: preveni, preveniu, preveniu, prevenimos, preveniram, preveniram

partir: parti, partiu, partiu, partimos, partiram, partiram

conseguir: consegui, conseguiu, conseguiu, conseguimos, conseguiram, conseguiram

ir: eu fui, você foi, ela/ele foi, nós fomos, vocês foram, elas/eles foram

vir: vim, veio, veio, viemos, vieram, vieram

ler: eu li, você leu, ela/ele leu, nós lemos, vocês leram, elas/eles leram

escrever: escrevi, escreveu, escreveu, escrevemos, escreveram, escreveram

prender: prendi, prendeu, prendeu, prendemos, prenderam, prenderam

correr: corri, correu, correu, corremos, correram, correram

aparecer: apareci, apareceu, apareceu, aparecemos, apareceram, apareceram

eleger: elegi, elegeu, elegeu, elegemos, elegeram, elegeram

falar: eu falei, você falou, ela/ele falou, nós falamos, vocês falaram, elas/eles falaram

cantar: cantei, cantou, cantou, cantamos, cantaram, cantaram

jogar: joguei, jogou, jogou, jogamos, jogaram, jogaram

pagar: paguei, pagou, pagou, pagamos, pagaram, pagaram

pegar: peguei, pegou, pegou, pegamos, pegaram, pegaram

chegar: cheguei, chegou, chegou, chegamos, chegaram, chegaram

comprar: comprei, comprou, comprou, compramos, compraram, compraram

Dormir: eu durmo, você dorme, ela/ele dorme, nós dormimos, vocês dormem, elas/eles dormem

Partir: eu parto, você parte, ela/ele parte, nós partimos, vocês partem, elas/eles partem

Corrigir: eu corrijo, você corrige, ela/ele corrige, nós corrigimos, vocês corrigem, elas/eles corrigem

Abrir: eu abro, você abre, ela/ele abre, nós abrimos, vocês abrem, elas/eles abrem

Sorrir: eu sorrio, você sorri, ela/ele sorri, nós sorrimos, vocês sorriem, elas/eles sorriem

Ir: eu vou, você vai, ela/ele vai, nós vamos, vocês vão, elas/eles vão

Vir: eu venho, você vem, ela/ele vem, nós vimos, vocês vêm, elas/eles vêm

Ler: eu leio, você lê, ela/ele lê, nós lemos, vocês lêem, elas/eles lêem

Escrever: eu escrevo, você escreve, ela/ele escreve, nós escrevemos, vocês escrevem, elas/eles escrevem

Beber: eu bebo, você bebe, ela/ele bebe, nós bebemos, você bebem, elas/eles bebem

Comer: eu como, você come, ela/ele come, nós comemos, vocês comem, elas/eles comem

Correr: eu corro, você corre, ela/ele corre, nós corremos, vocês correm, elas/eles correm

Vencer: eu venço, você vence, ela/ele vence, nós vencemos, vocês vencem, elas/eles vencem

Crescer: eu cresço, você cresce, ela/ele cresce, nós crescemos, vocês crescem, elas/eles crescem

Entender: eu entendo, você entende, ela/ele entende, nós entendemos, vocês entendem, elas/eles entendem

Ver (irregular): eu vejo, você vê, ela/ele vê, nós vemos, vocês vêem, elas/eles vêem

Amar: eu amo, você ama, ela/ela ama, nós amamos, vocês amam, elas/eles amam.

Trabalhar: eu trabalho, você trabalha, ela/ele trabalha, nós trabalhamos, vocês trabalham, elas/eles trabalham

Chegar: eu chego, você chega, ela/ele chega, nós chegamos, vocês chegam, elas/eles chegam

Desenhar: eu desenho, você desenha, ela/ele desenha, nós desenhamos, vocês desenham, elas/eles desenham

Carregar: eu carrego, você carrega, ela/ele carrega, nós carregamos, vocês carregam, elas/eles carregam

Encontrar: eu encontro, você encontra, ela/ele encontra, nós encontramos, você encontram, elas/eles encontram.

Oi Alex, ainda querendo conversar em Português? Sou brasileira.

Mariseny wrote:

¿Donde escucuchaste esa frase? Esto se puede tratar de los contenidos culturales de la comunidad hablante a la que pertenece esa lengua, ya que la cultura es un sistema de símbolos compartidos, creados por un grupo de gente para permitirle manejar su medio ambiento físico, psicológico y social. La cultura se manifiesta y se construye mediante la interacción entre las personas, es una creación del ser humano que surge de la comunicación entre las comunidades y regiones. Es por esto que debemos ser un poco flexibles, olvidarnos del etnocentrismo y aceptar parcialmente el relativismo cultural, ya que esto puede ayudarnos a que la comunicación con los miembros de otras culturas se realice con éxito y que se produzcan un número muy limitado de “malentendidos” provocados por nuestra diferente visión de la realidad, ya que no hay culturas mejores ni peores; asumir que no hay jerarquías entre culturas y que todas ellas son dignas y merecedoras del mismo respecto, es por esto que para superar este choque “choque cultural”, el docente deberá ser capaz de crear una relación de empatía dentro de la clase, tratar de entender la lengua como un elemento integrante de la cultura sin pretender que el estudiante renuncie ni a su cultura ni a su personalidad; solamente que sea capaz de superar su etnocentrismo, sin olvidar que hay que tomar en cuenta el nivel sociocultural, la edad y procedencia geográfica. Te doy un ejemplo:
Personaje: María
Sexo: Femenino
Clase social: Nivel cultural medio
Edad: 35
Procedencia Geográfica: México
Personaje: Pedro
Sexo: Masculino
Clase social: Nivel cultural bajo
Edad: 40 años
Procedencia geográfica: La Rioja.
Pedro: Muje… (Pedro alza la voz a María que está en la sala desde el cuarto)
María: ¿Qué sucede? Pedro…
Pedro: Esta bujer Ca´vez ta pior (gritando para si mismo)
Maria: ¡Calmate hombre! ¡Por Dios! ¿Qué ocurre?
Pedro: Esti pantarón t´aujereau ¡Estoy mu cansau María! ¿o eh que tiéh lah orejah tapáh?
María: ¡Eres un echador! ¡No sigas con tu misma cantaleta!
Pedro: ¡Áura cogi unauja y cocemeló!
María: ¡Ah caray¿Por un agujerito estás haciendo tanto lío?
Pedro: ¡Coño, no me pizqueh!¡Hostia! Te he dicho venticinco mir veces de que nu mi gusta las cosas esprolija.
María: Yo de gata en la sala limpiando y tú acostadote. ¿Acaso soy tu criada, Pedro?
Pedro: ¡Caro! ¡Exataménte, además de sé mi bujer! Ya te lo he repetío cien veceh
María: ¡Órale tú! ¡Ah, chingado! Eres rete machista y súper alzado.
Pedro: Ancima m' insurtas. Si serías tú pos ó no mienojaría tantismo.
¿Pueden entender lo que dicen estas persona?

It was the title of a post in the Reading Tool. I'm aware of the cultural aspects of languages (specially the oral speech), I just have never seen this phrase before, and it's a very common mistake (regarding the official written Spanish, as far as I know) among Brazilian students of Spanish.

casa - house

prédio - building

praça - square

parque - park

ruas - streets

farmácia - drugstore

padaria - bakery

cabeleireiro - hair dresser 

açougue - butcher's

mercado - market

horti-fruti - grocer's

restaurante - restaurant

posto de gasolina - gas station

hospital - hospital

aeroporto - airport

livraria - book shop

biblioteca - library

museu - museum

prefeitura - city hall

escola - school

loja - shop

banco - bank

academia - gym

ponto de ônibus - bus stop

estação de trem - train station

lavanderia - laundromat

escritório - office

fábrica - factory plant

Does "strange" make the comparative "stranger" or "more strange"?

For example, in "this situation is stranger than the previous one" or "this situation is more strange than the previous one"?

mesa - table

cama - bed

cadeira - chair

sofá - sofa

poltrona - armchair

armário - cabinet

guarda-roupa - wardrobe

privada/ vaso sanitário - toilet

pia - sink

tapete - rug

cômodos - rooms

sala - living room

sala de jantar - dining room

cozinha - kitchen

quarto - bedroom

banheiro - bathroom

quintal - yard

jardim - garden

garagem - garage

porta - door

janela - window

parede - wall

telhado - roof

chão - floor

Which sentence is correct? Or, are they both correct? "I'll wait to see if there will be an alert message"/ "I'll wait to see if there is an alert message".

ZairaI.Uranga wrote:

Valeria.Fontes wrote:

Considering Spanish as one of my target languages, I thought about "venga!". I understand it as a way to show agreement, but every time I hear it I ask myself "donde vamos?"

As a native Spanish speaker, I am aware that many slang terms are super weird. I never thought too much about "¡venga!" but yes, it sure it's kinda tricky. I also think about "¡aguas!" when saying "be careful!" as it literally means "water", or about how fancy is that we have so many bad words (that I won't list because I like to keep it family-friendly).
I personally really love Spanish and it's very fun to find weird expressions in it, there are a lot!

I love Spanish too! I find the different accents amazing and local expressions as well. I was married with a Peruvian guy and it was really hard to follow a conversation when I visited his "barrio" in Lima, but I was smarter at the end of the trip. That's when they made me lose my "vale" and replace it with "venga".

JaeHong.S wrote:

If you can type "English Grammar," there will be a lot of information regarding your question :)
For example, when you say bout "Run-On Sentence," it means that in one sentence, there are so many subjects, verbs, objectives, etc. It sometime could be lengthy, but it is better to shorten as possible to make it simple :)

Thank you, but I'm looking for improving my writing style, not exactly grammar.

ZairaI.Uranga wrote:

Wow, that's so cool! I am sure that starting university knowing four languages is not something common and that it gave you many advantages. It must have also been great to be able to have job opportunities that young. I personally enjoy teaching a lot, so I am glad you got to have that kind of job so soon in your career. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! :)

I do!!!! A class always changes my day into better!

I also find Portuguese spoken in Portugal funny sometimes. They call a breakfast "pequeno almoço" ("small lunch"), bathroom "quarto de banho" (which is the exact translation to English: a room to bath) and many other things in a self explanatory way. In Brazilian Portuguese we tend to form nouns with suffixes, instead of this obvious names, for example, the bathroom is "banheiro" (a word derived from "banho" = bath).

Considering Spanish as one of my target languages, I thought about "venga!". I understand it as a way to show agreement, but every time I hear it I ask myself "donde vamos?"

Besides "raining cats and dogs" what other expressions you natives hear from speakers learning exclusively through course books?

I started teaching my schoolmates when I was 15, which gave me some popularity, although I was very shy. It also convinced my parents I could go in an exchange program. Later, when I was taking Italian classes, the teacher recommended me to the school owner as I managed grammar very well, and that was my first job!

Being a teacher in that school, I was offered a free Spanish course! The teachers' cheering also made me take up French. So, when I entered university I was able to read in four languages.

Os cumprimentos mais formais, sendo que a formalidade no Brasil está ligada principalmente ao mundo do trabalho e à idade, embora não sejam uma camisa de força e variem muito de acordo com escolhas pessoais, são: bom dia, boa tarde e boa noite, como vai?, tudo bem?, adeus (esse ninguém usa, me faz pensar em saídas muito dramáticas), até logo, até mais

Os mais informais: oi, olá, tudo certo?, tudo bom?, tchau, 

Há também regionalismos e gírias: dia!, tarde!, noite!, e aí?, certinho?, falô!, inté!, até!, Té!

Can you recommend trustful writing manuals? I'm confused searching the internet because nobody seems to agree on punctuation or on what a run-on sentence is. I'm not worried about the English language itself, but about style and communication quality. An online proofreading course would also be great for me.

I'm aware of the general rules regarding the use of the definite article, but I still get confused in certain circumstances. For example, in "(...) a number of contributions from THE French pragmatic sociology to THE sociology of collective mobilizations" I would use the second article, but not the first, and I can't justify it... it's just intuition. Am I wrong?

JaeHong.S wrote:

I can't think of anything now, but Koreans usually can't perfectly pronounce "L" or "R". Sometimes, when my Korean friends spell out their names starting with L or R, it is definitely hard to recognize which is which.. :)

True! And it's the same for Japan and China, isn't it? I had a japanese friend who called me "ballerina" because it was hard for her to say "Valéria". I used to love it!

ZairaI.Uranga wrote:

I still make this mistake in German a lot when I am not careful. I say "Ich bin gut" instead of "Mir geht es gut".
For a native Spanish speaker, the distinction between both phrases is not easily spotted. The second phrase means "I am well/ok.", but instead I end up saying "I am good" which means "I am good in bed".
I am truly sorry to all the Germans who meet me, that is NOT the way I want to start a conversation.

Jajaja! Then they say we latins are overly sensual!

Michel wrote:

What they call "une baguette" in France - in Belgium we call it "un pain français" (a french bread).
So when I was in France I asked for "un pain français" and got the answer :
Here all our breads are French - sir.
Also I had a hard time to understand things like he actually did it yesterday since "actuellement" means currently.

In Portuguese we have "atualmente" and the same problem with understanding "actually".

I'm revising a text and it's a non-native writing in English. She prefers to use "of" than phrasing with inversions, and it's making me uneasy. I don't know if it's preferable in a formal context (it's a doctoral thesis). For example, "the revision of this thesis", instead of "this thesis revision", and "the sections of this thesis", instead of "this thesis sections". Can anybody help me?

Jade.Xuereb wrote:

SGP wrote:

One of the "estar" examples I read was "estoy exhausto".
But if someone's general feeling is being exhausted, rather than being very tired one time a day only because of work, would it be "soy exhausto" then?

I don't think they would use soy with anything emotional. Just with things can have a state of permenance. Perro no estoy un nativo.

As Spanish and Portuguese are almost the same regarding those two verbs (soy=ser, estoy=estar) I can assure we do use "soy/sou" with emotional things (although you can't say "soy exhausto"), but I agree with you in the question of permanence. For example, you can say either "soy feliz" or "estoy feliz", both would mean "I'm happy", but the first is a permanent state, and the second, a situational one ("I have many problems in life just like anybody else, but soy feliz!" vs "I'm traveling through the Caribbean so estoy feliz").

Everytime you are in a place, use "estar": "estoy en mi casa" (I'm at home), "estoy em Brasil" (I'm in Brazil), "estoy en la playa" (I'm at the beach), "estoy en la cocina" (I'm in the kitchen), "estoy en el paradero" (I'm at the bus stop), "estoy en la cama" (I'm in bed), etc.