Portuguese Language Blog

Today, we’re going to discuss air travel on the podcast.

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Fui ao aeroporto às 16:00 horas.

Fiz o check-in, passei pela imigração e pela segurança.

Depois, esperei no portão.

Embarquei no avião e achei o meu assento.

A aeromoça trouxe o jantar e depois fiquei dormindo.

Quando cheguei ao aeroporto, passei pela imigração de novo e pela alfândega.

Finalmente, fui pegar minhas malas na esteira de bagagens.

First, the speaker says, “I went to the airport at 4PM.” Note that in Brazil, they use military time, so 4PM translates as 16:00. The past simple of ir (to go) is fui in the first person. When we talk about time, we put a grave accent on the as (at), before the number. We also must put horas (hours) after the number when we talk about time. Also note that the preposition for “to” in “to the airport” is ao (since airport is a masculine noun and joins with the a, which is “to”).

This means: “I checked in (or went to check in) and went through immigration and security.” The past simple of fazer (to make/do) is fiz in the first person, which is an irregular verb, and the past simple of passar (to pass/go through) is passei in the first person, which is a regular verb. In Portuguese, check-in is the same as in English, but you pronounce it with a Portuguese accent and use it with fazer (to do). Immigration is imigração, and security is segurança. Don’t forget the preposition here, which is por, which changes to pela, due to the feminine nouns.

Here, the speaker says, “Then I waited at the gate.” Depois means after, or then. The past simple of esperar (to wait) is esperei in the first person, and is a regular verb. Gate is portão, and is masculine, despite the fact that porta (door), a related word, is feminine. Here, the preposition is em, but becomes no, since it precedes a masculine noun.

This means: “I boarded the plane and found my seat.” Embarcar means to board or to embark, and in the past simple, first person tense, it becomes embarquei. Note that here, the c changes to a qu, since you can’t achieve the “kay” sound with a ce, and must change it to a q. Achar (to find) becomes achei in the past simple, first person. Avião is airplane, and assento is seat.

Here, he says: “The flight attendant brought dinner and then I fell asleep.” Aeromoça means stewardess, or flight attendant. O jantar means dinner, which can also be a janta. Trazer (to bring) is irregular, and in the first person, past simple becomes trouxe (don’t forget the x, which has an s sound). Ficar (to stay/become) in the past simple, first person becomes fiquei. Note that again, we must change the c to a qu to achieve the “kay” sound. Ficar dormindo means to fall asleep.

This means, “When I arrived at the airport, I went through immigration again, and through customs.” Chegar, to arrive, becomes cheguei in the first person, past simple. Again, we use a (to) as the preposition, which becomes ao because of the subsequent masculine noun. Here, we have to add a u to achieve the hard g sound. De novo is “again.” Alfândega is customs. Again, we use passar (to pass/go through) with por, which becomes pela because of the feminine nouns.

Here, the speaker says, “Finally, I picked up (or got) my bags at baggage claim.” Finalmente is finally, and mala is suitcase or bag. In this case, my becomes minhas, since we have a plural, feminine noun. Pegar is to pick up, or get. Esteira de bagagens is the actual belt on which the luggage comes, but we can translate it as baggage claim.

Click here to listen to today’s podcast! Movie Podcast

UPDATE: Here’s the temporary link to the podcast. Sorry about the problem–we’re working on fixing it.

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Today, we’re going to talk about movies.

Eu gosto muito de filme.
Estou acostumado a ver filmes de ação ou de drama.
Mas de vez em quando, experimento assistir algo diferente.
Fui ao cinema ontem, e assisti um filme muito interessante.
Vi um documentário sobre o aquecimento global.
Antes do filme, vi vários trailers bons do mesmo tipo.
Agora queria ver mais filmes assim.

In Portuguese, movie is filme. Here, the speaker says, “I really like movies.” Note that although the noun is used in the singular, it is used to describe the plural. Gostar de means to like.

This means “I usually see action movies or drama.” Estar acostumado a means to be used to doing something, but it can also be translated as usually doing something (i.e. estou acostumado a acordar cedo – I’m used to getting up early). Note that ação is action. Some other genres include comedia (comedy), romance (romance), and infantil (for kids).

“But once in awhile, I try watching something different.” De vez em quando means once in awhile, or sometimes, and assistir means to watch, like a movie, TV show, or soccer game. Experimentar means to try, when we’re discussing doing something for the first time, or trying on clothes (for example: Experimentei a camisa, mas ficou grande –I tried on the shirt, but it was too big). We would use provar for other cases, like tasting new food (i.e. Provei a feijoada ontem e gostei – I tried feijoada yesterday and liked it).

Here, the speaker says, “I went to the movies yesterday, and I watched a really interesting film.” Cinema, which is a masculine noun, means the movies. Note that we say ao cinema (to the movies), since we are using ir (to go) and must include the article (o), which is combined with a (to). Ontem is yesterday.

This means, “I saw a documentary about global warming.” Documentário is documentary, and aquecimento global is global warming. Note that ver in the first person, simple past tense is vi.

“Before the movie, I saw several good previews for similar movies.” Like in English, we say trailer for preview. Mesmo tipo means the same type, or similar. Note that when we say before (antes), we must add de, which in this case becomes do, since we have a masculine noun after it (filme). If it were a feminine noun, it would become da (like antes da apresentação).

Finally, this means “Now I want to see more movies like this.” When you use querer in the past imperfect tense (queria), it expresses a desire to do something in the future, so it could be translated as “I want” or “I’d like.” It’s similar to the conditional of gostar (gostaria – I’d like) Assim means “like this” or “similar.”

Today is Podcast Day! Check out the podcast here: CommunicationsPodcast

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Today, we’re going to learn about the terms used to discuss communication and getting in touch.

Estou tentando entrar em contato com o Marcelo.
Já liguei para a casa dele, mas ninguém está atendendo.
Ele me deu o número de seu celular, mas não anotei.
Não adianta mandar email, se ele não está em casa.
Já escrevi para ele no Orkut, mas ele não deve ter visto.
Se eu tivesse o número dele, mandaria um SMS.
Preciso avisá-lo sobre o jogo, é urgente.

Entrar em contato com means “to get in touch with.” Tentar means to try. All together, this means, “I’m trying to get in touch with Marcelo.” Note that when we refer specifically to a person using his name, we use the article, which in this case is masculine [o], since we are referring to a man. If we were to translate this literally, we would say, “with the Marcelo.”

This means “I already called his house, but no one is picking up.” Ligar means to call, and atender means to pick up or answer the phone. Note that ninguém means no one, and dele is the possessive for his. Also note that we use the progressive tense like we would in English to say that no one is answering the phone.

Here, the speaker says: “He gave me his cell phone number, but I didn’t write it down.” Anotar is to write down. Celular is cell phone. Note that we say the number of his cell phone (o número de seu celular), and that in this case, we use seu for the possessive of “his.”

Adiantar> is a very useful verb that means to help or to be worth it to do something. To get an idea of how it is used, here’s an example: Não adianta voltar para o escritório, porque já está fechado. There’s no use in going back to the office, because it’s already closed. In this case, it is used to say “It won’t do any good to send an email if he’s not home.” Estar em casa means to be at home. Mandar email means to send email. Remember that PDAs are very expensive in Brazil and fewer people have Blackberrys and Iphones than in the US.

This means, “I wrote to him on Orkut, but he must not have seen it.” Orkut is the most popular social networking site in Brazil, and an overwhelming number of people use it. There’s a part similar to a Facebook wall, called scraps, where people leave each other messages to communicate. Note that we often use já when using the simple past, even if we don’t always translate it as “already” and make it implicit in the past tense, as we do here. In this case, we use dever (to should/must), to mean “he must not have seen it.”

In this sentence, we use the conditional tense. Here, the speaker says: “If I had his number, I’d send him a text message.” Mandar is to send. An SMS is a text message, and stands for serviço de mensagens curtas. They are also referred to as torpedos SMS and mensagens de texto. Text messages are a very common way of getting in touch with someone in Brazil, since cell phone calls are very expensive and text messaging is considerably cheaper.

This means: “I need to tell him about the game, it’s important.” Precisar is to need, and avisar is to warn or to tell. Here, we say “tell him” and have to use a contraction, in which we cut off the “r” in the infinitive, add a dash, and a lo (since it is a male we are referring to). Urgente means important or urgent.