- Um, uma The words for a/an have masculine and feminine forms. You say um café because café is masculine and uma cerveja because cerveja is feminine. As well as meaning 'a/an' um and uma also means 'one'. The only low number other than one that takes a feminine form is 2, as in: dois sumos (m) and duas limonadas (f).
- É longe?/ É perto? Another use of the verb ser -to be- is to talk about the position of things, as in É longe? Is it far? Não, não, é perto No, no, it’s close.
- Obrigado / obrigada. In Portuguese, everything and everybody - people, places and things - has a gender: they are either masculine (m.) or feminine (f.). Many masculine words end in –o, and feminine words often end in –a. Likewise, the word for 'thanks' is obrigado when said by a man, or obrigada, when said by a woman.
- Quartos vagos Adjectives (words which describe) take the same form as the nouns they describe. So you'd say quartos vagos, 'rooms available' and quartos individuais, 'single rooms', masculine and plural, but cerveja francesa 'French beer', since cerveja is singular and feminine. They usually come after the noun they describe.
- Quartos vagos Adjectives (words which describe) take the same form as the nouns they describe. So you'd say quartos vagos, 'rooms available' and quartos individuais, 'single rooms', masculine and plural, but cerveja francesa 'French beer', since cerveja is singular and feminine. They usually come after the noun they describe.
- o amigo / a amiga The words for 'the' in Portuguese are o for masculine people or things and a for feminine ones. O amigo is a male friend and a amiga is a female one. With human beings the gender of a noun is obvious enough. However, with other objects, you'll need to learn the gender as you go along.
- o amigo / a amiga The words for 'the' in Portuguese are o for masculine people or things and a for feminine ones. O amigo is a male friend and a amiga is a female one. With human beings the gender of a noun is obvious enough. However, with other objects, you'll need to learn the gender as you go along.
- Eu vou/ Eu sou Portuguese people rarely use the words for I, you, he, she. This is because the form of the verb normally shows quite clearly which person you are referring to. When they use it is usually to make a distinction between someone else: Eu vou comer uma carne de porco, I’m going to have the pork, compared with what you are going to have.
- Sardinhas/ azeitonas Words ending in vowels are made plural by adding an 's' , as in azeitona, olive, azeitonas, olives. Words ending in consonants generally add –es, as in doutor and doutores, but there are a few exceptions, eg: -l becomes –is as in hotelhotéis and -m becomes –ns as in jardim, garden, jardins, gardens.
- Adoro…Gosto de… These are very useful phrases to use, especially in Brazil, where people like to express themselves with lots of enthusiasm!: Adoro ir à praia I love going to the beach. Gosto is always followed by 'de': Gosto de jogar futebol I like to play football. When asking someone else, change the 'o' to an 'a': Gosta de ir dançar? Do you like to go dancing?
- pode/ posso/ podemos These are all forms of the verb poder -to be able to-, but are very useful as key phrases in the question form: Posso? May I?, Pode? Can you? Podemos? May we? They’re usually followed by a verb: Pode repetir por favor? Can you repeat that please? Posso falar com o Senhor..? May I speak to Mr…?
- Sou, é, somos These are forms of the verb ser 'to be'. Sou means 'I am' as in Sou escocesa 'I'm Scottish'. É is the equivalent of 'he is', 'she is' and also 'you are', so É inglês means 'He is English' or 'You are English'. Somos means 'we are' as in Somos galesas 'We are Welsh'. This can become a question as in É português? 'Are you Portuguese?' or 'Is he Portuguese?'.