Let\u2019s have another part of our series <\/span>Portuguese listening\/reading practice<\/b> with the text \u201cUma hora de rel\u00f3gio\u201d by Brazilian writer, actor and comedian Greg\u00f3rio Duvivier, taken from his column from the newspaper <\/span>Folha de S\u00e3o Paulo. <\/span><\/i>It is a very interesting and amusing text to reflect on two important aspects of Brazilian culture: our typically bad habit of sometimes being late or vague when it comes to time and the popular use of the diminutive (commonly expressed by adding \u2018inho\u2019 our \u2018inha\u2019 at the end of words) on our daily speech.<\/span><\/p>\n Don’t forget to follow the steps:<\/p>\n Part 1: <\/strong> Part 2: <\/strong> Part 3:\u00a0<\/strong> <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Uma hora de rel\u00f3gio<\/b><\/p>\n Part 1:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n O tempo pro brasileiro \u00e9 t\u00e3o fluido que a gente inventou a express\u00e3o “hora no rel\u00f3gio” -na Bahia, diz-se “hora de rel\u00f3gio”. Nesse momento um su\u00ed\u00e7o ou um ingl\u00eas tem uma s\u00edncope. “Existe alguma hora que n\u00e3o seja de rel\u00f3gio?”\u00a0<\/span>Caro amigo, existe uma imensa variedade de horas. Na express\u00e3o “espera s\u00f3 meia horinha”, “meia horinha” costuma demorar duas horas de rel\u00f3gio, enquanto na frase “t\u00f4 te esperando h\u00e1 horas”, “horas” pode significar s\u00f3 “meia horinha” de rel\u00f3gio. Por isso a import\u00e2ncia da express\u00e3o “de rel\u00f3gio”: na hora do rel\u00f3gio, cada um dos minutos dura estranhos 60 segundos de rel\u00f3gio -n\u00e3o confundir, claro, com os segundinhos e os minutinhos, que podem durar horas de rel\u00f3gio. “O senhor tem cinco minutinhos?” “Tenho -mas no rel\u00f3gio s\u00f3 tenho uns dois”.<\/span><\/p>\n Part 2:<\/strong><\/p>\n Sim, o diminutivo muda tudo. Quando se marca “de manh\u00e3zinha”, \u00e9 no in\u00edcio da manh\u00e3, de oito \u00e0s dez, MAS se por acaso marcarem “de tardinha”, estar\u00e3o se referindo ao fim da tarde, de cinco \u00e0s sete. Nada \u00e9 t\u00e3o simples: de noitinha volta a ser no in\u00edcio da noite, tornando tardinha e noitinha conceitos intercambi\u00e1veis. Que cara \u00e9 essa, amigo sax\u00e3o? Voc\u00ea mede comprimento com p\u00e9s e polegadas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n N\u00e3o pense que para por a\u00ed: tem surgido, cada vez mais frequente, o diminutivo do ger\u00fandio. Ouvi de uma amiga: “outro dia te vi todo correndinho na Lagoa”. Nada mais rid\u00edculo do que achar que se estava correndo e descobrir que s\u00f3 se estava correndinho. Esse \u00e9 o meu problema com esportes: s\u00f3 chego nos diminutivos. N\u00e3o chego a me exercitar, s\u00f3 fico me exercitandinho. Antes disso, fico alongandinho. E depois reclamandinho. Diz-se de um casal que come\u00e7a a namorar que ambos est\u00e3o namorandinho -no entanto, n\u00e3o se diz que um homem que come\u00e7a a morrer j\u00e1 est\u00e1 morrendinho.<\/span><\/p>\n Part 3: \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n O diminutivo costuma recair sobre coisas pelas quais a gente tem ao menos um pouco de carinho. Por isso pode-se dizer criancinha, velhinho, mas jamais “adolescentezinho”. Pode-se dizer gatinho, cachorrinho, mas jamais “atendentinho de telemarketing”. A n\u00e3o ser, claro, no seu uso ir\u00f4nico: se te chamarem de “queridinho”, querem \u00e9 que voc\u00ea exploda.\u00a0<\/span>Foi o Ricardo Ara\u00fajo Pereira quem atentou para o fato de que pomos o diminutivo em adv\u00e9rbios. “\u00c9 devagar, \u00e9 devagar, devagarinho”, diz o poeta Martinho -que carrega o diminutivo no nome. Deve ser coisa nossa, pensei, orgulhoso, at\u00e9 ouvir “despacito”, o “devagarinho” deles. Estranhamente, o vocalista fala mil palavras por minuto \u2014de rel\u00f3gio. Prefiro o Martinho.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n An Hour on the Clock<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Part 1:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Time for Brazilians is so fluid that we invented the expression “hour on the clock” – in Bahia, it is called “clock hour.” At this moment any Swiss or English man may have a syncope. “Is there any time other than from a clock?”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Dear friend, there is an immense variety of hours. In the expression “wait only half an hour”, “half an hour” usually takes two hours on the clock, while in the phrase “I’ve been waiting for you for hours”, “hours” can mean only “half hour” on the clock. So the importance of the expression “clock”: in the hour of the clock, each of the minutes strangely lasts 60 seconds on the clock – not to be confused, of course, with the \u201clittle seconds\u201d and the \u201clittle minutes\u201d, that can last hours on the clock. “Do you have five minutes?” “I do – but I have only two on the clock.”<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Part 2:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Yes, the diminutive changes everything. When you schedule something for “early in the morning,” it means in the beginning of the morning, from eight to ten, BUT if you happen to schedule in the “early afternoon”, it will be referring to the late afternoon, from five to seven. Nothing is so simple: in the evening it is back to the beginning of the night, turning early afternoon and evening into interchangeable concepts. Why are you making that face, Saxon friend? You measure length with feet and inches.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Don\u2019t think it stops there: the diminutive of the gerund has appeared, more and more frequently. I heard from a friend: “I saw you the other day going for a little run by the lake” Nothing more ridiculous than thinking I was running and then find out that I was just going for a little run. This is my problem with sports: I only get the diminutives. I don\u2019t actually exercise, I just do a little exercise. Before that, I do a little stretching. And then a little complaining. It is said that a couple that begins to date is dating a little, however we don\u2019t say said that a man who begins to die is dying a little.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Part 3:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The diminutive usually comes down to things for which we have at least a little affection. That’s why you can say little child, \u201clittle\u201d old man, but never “little teenager.” You can say kitten, puppy, but never “little telemarketing operator”. Except, of course, in an ironic use: if people call you “little darling,” they want you to explode.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n It was Ricardo Ara\u00fajo Pereira who noticed the fact that we put adverbs in the diminutive. “It’s slow, it’s slow, little slow,” says the poet Martinho, who carries the diminutive in his name. It must be our thing, I thought, proudly, until I heard “Despacito,” their way of saying “little slow”. Oddly enough, the lead singer says a thousand words a minute- on the clock. I prefer Martinho.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n You can learn more about the dimunitive here:<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/portuguese\/augmentative-e-diminutive-in-portuguese\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/portuguese\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2017\/07\/greg-350x197.jpg\")
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1. \u00a0Ou\u00e7a\/ Listen<\/strong><\/h2>\n
2. Leia\/ Read<\/strong><\/h2>\n