Tag Archives: Grammar
Tocar vs. Brincar vs. Jogar Posted by Rachel on May 25, 2010
Sometimes, there’s more than one word for a single word in English. The three words tocar, brincar, and jogar are a perfect example, since they all translate as “to play” in English. tocar = to play (instrument) or to ring brincar = to play (children) jogar = to play (game/sport) Let’s take a look at…
Using “ao” Posted by Rachel on Dec 24, 2009
Today, we’re going to examine how to use “ao” as a preposition. Here, it is used as “upon” or “when.” Ao descobrir o rato no quarto, ela deu um grito. When she discovered the mouse in her room, she screamed. Ao encontrar o garoto perdido, ficamos aliviados. Upon finding the lost boy, we felt relieved…
To have done Posted by Rachel on Nov 13, 2009
In English, we frequently use the present perfect tense to describe some sort of experience that we had in the past. In Portuguese, this tense is used very infrequently, and instead, the past simple tense is used with já (already). Let’s take a look at some examples. Have you gone to Disney World? Você já…
Podcast: Introductions Posted by Rachel on Aug 31, 2009
Today, we’re going to learn different ways to introduce yourself based on various skill levels in Portuguese. Each set of phrases is in order of difficulty, from least to most difficult. These are approximations in terms of level, but the idea is to show that you can say the same thing in a number of…
Estar vs. Ser Posted by Rachel on Jun 25, 2009
One of the difficult things for English speakers to learn in Portuguese is to distinguish between estar and ser, which both mean to be. Let’s review this very important concept. First, let’s take a look at how we conjugate both in the present simple tense, since they have similar conjugations. ser eu sou tu és…
Portuguese Verb Tenses Posted by Rachel on Jun 4, 2009
For today’s interactive feature, we’re going to talk about the different verb tenses. The question is: which is the most difficult Portuguese verb tense for you? There are a few verb tenses that I find tricky, like the future subjunctive tense (for, estiver, etc), since when I’m speaking, I sometimes confuse the eles/elas conjugation with…
Problems with Portuguese Posted by Rachel on Apr 17, 2009
Today we’re going to do another interactive post. The question is: What is the biggest obstacle you’ve encountered while learning Portuguese? What part of the language do you find the most difficult? In my experience, one of the most difficult grammar rules to learn is hypenating words. It’s difficult to memorize what kind of accent…