Archive for 'Learning'
É assim não! Posted by Rachel on Dec 17, 2008
One of the most important things to bear in mind when learning Portuguese is that there is a big difference between written Portguese, which is more formal and sticks to the grammar books, and oral Portuguese, which is a whole different story. One place where this becomes apparent is the use of the word “não”…
College Majors in Portuguese Posted by Rachel on Nov 20, 2008
In Brazil, a college major is called a graduação. Unlike American universities, Brazilian colleges allow students to graduate as lawyers, doctors, and other specialized careers from their undergraduate studies, which for these majors is sometimes more than four years of study. We’re going to take a look at some common Brazilian majors: Administração: Administration Arquitetura…
Sports in Portuguese Posted by Rachel on Nov 11, 2008
Though the most popular sport in Brazil is obviously soccer, today we’re going to take a look at how to say the names of different sports that are played or popular in Brazil. futebol: soccer [foo-chee-BOH] volei: volleyball [VOH-lay] volei de praia: beach volleyball [VOH-lay deh PRY-ah] basquete: basketball [bahs-KEH-chee] futsal: indoor soccer [foo-chee-SOW] jiu…
Terms of Endearment Posted by Rachel on Oct 21, 2008
There are a lot of words to express affection for others in Portuguese, so let’s take a look at some of them: mamãe: this means mommy, or mom. papai: this means daddy, or dad. fofinho: this means “cute,” or “cutie pie.” bonitinho: this means “pretty” or “cute.” amorzinho: this literally means “little love,” used to…
Portuguese Language Tools Online Posted by Rachel on Oct 16, 2008
Today, I’m going to give all of you some very useful websites to help you clear up doubts about Portuguese grammar and to help you with translation. Word Reference has a Portuguese-English online dictionary, as well as Portuguese-Spanish Globo’s digital dictionary has a Portuguese language dictionary, as well as a grammar and verb section Conjuga-me…
Portuguese Personal Pronouns Posted by Rachel on Oct 13, 2008
It’s important to know all of the person pronouns in Portuguese, even if you may not use all of them: Eu (I) [Ee-ew] Tu (you, informal) [Too] Você (you, formal), Ela (She), Ele (He) [Voh-say, eh-lah, eh-lee] Nós (We) [Noi-ss] Vós (all of you, informal) [Voice] Vocês (all of you, formal), Elas (them, feminine), Eles…
Valeu! Posted by Rachel on Oct 8, 2008
We’ve gone over this word before in podcasts, but today we’re going to take a closer look at its meanings. It is considered giria (slang) and has very specific uses. 1. Thanks! Valeu (prononced vah-lay-ew) is a slangy way to say thanks, and is used among young people. Boy 1: Pode me emprestar cinco reais?…