There are some verb tenses and forms that you will rarely find in books, and the form “I was going to do something” is one of them. It is SO easy to say this in Portuguese and I’m pretty sure you’re going to love it!

We use the Imperfect form of verb ir + the infinitive of the main verb. Check this out:

I was going to = Eu ia
You were going to = Você ia
He was going to = Ele ia
She was going to = Ela ia
It was going to = Ia (no subject in Portuguese)
We were going to = Nós íamos
You were going to = Vocês iam (plural)
They were going to = Eles (masc.) / Elas (fem.) iam

Some examples:

Eu ia estudar para a prova, mas não tive tempo.
I was going to study for the test, but I didn’t have time.

Você ia estar na Europa no mês passado, não ia?
You were going to be in Europe last month, weren’t you?

Você não ia lavar a louça para mim?
Weren’t you going to do the dishes for me?

Ele ia fazer Direito, mas desistiu.
He was going to go to Law School, but he gave up.

Ele não ia fazer isso de jeito nenhum.
He wasn’t going to do that at all.

Ele ia se casar com ela em junho?
Was he going to marry her in June?

Ela ia dar aula naquela escola no começo do ano.
She was going to teach at that school at the beginning of the year.

Ela não ia trabalhar meio-período a partir deste ano?
Wasn’t she going to work part-time starting this year?

Nós íamos passar as férias na praia, mas choveu muito.
We were going to spend our vacation by the beach, but it rained a lot.

Vocês não iam me ajudar a me mudar?
Weren’t you guys going to help me move out?

Eles iam viajar amanhã cedo, mas o carro quebrou.
They were going to travel tomorrow morning, but their car broke down.

As meninas não iam fazer a comida para a festa?
Weren’t the girls going to make the food for the party?

Disseram que ia chover amanhã.
They said it was going to rain tomorrow.

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Olá, pessoal! How’s it going?

Brazilians are known for their hospitality and making sure people feel welcome when they come visit so we have a blast when foreigners try to speak Portuguese, because we know it’s not a very easy one. Kudos for the effort!

Celebrities sometimes have to learn some Portuguese as a part of promoting their movies, albums, etc., so here’s a compilation of some celebrities speaking Portuguese (at least trying to!)

Celebrities speaking Portuguese

But I have to admit, one of my favorite celebrities who speak Portuguese are Shakira and Ricky Martin. They just don’t speak survival Portuguese, they actually speak very good Portuguese, check it out!

Shakira speaking Portuguese

Ricky Martin speaking Portuguese

Bottom line: you don’t need to have a perfect accent or conjugate your verbs to perfection – trust me, I know lots of educated Brazilians who don’t – but one thing is true: if you make an effort and speak some Portuguese in Brazil, you will be highly appreciated and even be invited to someone’s home for a churrasco (barbecue)!

Talking about churrasco, tomorrow is Friday so let me wish you a great weekend! Take care and nos vemos na semana que vem!

In today’s post I’m going to show you how to make nouns plural in Portuguese. It’s not difficult, but you need to follow some rules.

Are you ready to start?

01. Words ending in vowels, just add an -s.

cama [bed] – camas [beds]
tia [aunt] – tias [aunts]
caderno [notebook] – cadernos [notebooks]
pé [foot] – pés [feet]

02. Words ending in “r” “s” or “z”, just add the “es” ending.

cobertor [blanket] – cobertores [blankets]
mês [month] – meses [months]
nariz [nose] – narizes [noses]
luz [light] – luzes [lights]

03. Words ending in -al, -el, -il, -ol.

sinal [sign] – sinais [signs]
capital [capital] – capitais [capitals]

hotel [hotel] – hoteis [hotels]
anel [ring] – aneis [rings]

funil [funnel] – funis [funnels]
barril [barrel] – barris [barrels]

farol [lighthouse] – faróis [lighthouses]
lençol [sheet] – lençóis [sheets]

04. Words ending in “ão”

irmão [brother] – irmãos [brothers]
mão [hand] – mãos [hand]

cão [dog] – cães [dogs]
mansão [mansion] – mansões [mansions]
pão [bread] – pães [bread]

organização [organization] – organizações [organizations]
gavião [hawk] – gaviões [hawks]
avião [airplane] – aviões [airplanes]

05. Words ending in -em.

trem [train] – trens [trains]
nuvem [cloud] – nuvens [clouds]

06. Some words are always plural and they’re conjugated with a plural verb.

as calças [pants]
as férias [vacation]
as costas [back - body part]
os óculos [glasses]
os parabéns [congratulations]

There are some more complex plural forms, but we are going to get into that today. A good tip is to pay attention to when plural words are used when you are reading a text, listening to a dialogue or speaking in Portuguese.

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