A Passagem de Ano (New Year's Eve)

The 31^st december (31 de dezembro) we celebrate an important date and, generally, we throw a big party (uma grande festa) with our friends and/or family. In Portuguese we call “Passagem de Ano” or we use the French expression “Réveillon” to this party.

We can spend this night at home (em casa), sometimes people rent a house (alugam uma casa) to this occasion or they prefer to go out for dinner (jantar fora) and go to a bar or a disco (bar ou discoteca). Sometimes there are fireworks (fogos de artifícios), concerts (concertos) and the party is in the street (na rua) or in the beach (na praia), it depends. At midnight (À meia-noite), Portuguese people generally eat twelve raisins (doze passas) one for each of the twelve chimes (doze badaladas) of a clock’s bell during the midnight countdown (contagem decrescente para a meia-noite), while making a wish (pedem um desejo) with each one. They also drink champagne (bebem champagne) , make toasts (fazem brindes) and everyone kiss (beijam) and hug (abraçam) wishing a happy near year to everyone (desejando um feliz ano novo a todos).

FELIZ ANO ANO! FELIZ 2013 (dois mil e treze)

SER or ESTAR ???

To the verb TO BE we have two possible translations in Portuguese: SER and ESTAR, depending on the context.

                                   We use SER to talk about:

 Nationality and place of origin

I’m English / I’m from London. (Sou inglês. / Sou de Londres.)

 Profession or occupation

 I’m a teacher. (Sou professor.)

 Characteristics of people, animals, and things

She’s nice. / This dog is very smart. / The house is beautiful. (Ela é simpatica. / Este cão é muito esperto. / A casa é bonita.)

 Generalization

Portuguese food is good. (A comida portuguesa é boa.)

 Possession

This car is mine. (Este carro é meu.)

 Material of composition

 This table is made of wood. (Esta mesa é de madeira.)

 Time, date or season

 It’s 10 o’clock. / Today is Tuesday. / It’s Summer now! (São 10 horas. / Hoje é terça-feira. / Agora é Verão.)

 Where or when an event takes place

 The class is today in room A. (A aula é hoje na sala A.)

We use “ESTAR” to talk about:

 Location or Spatial relationships

 The chair is next to the wall. (A cadeira está ao lado da parede.)

 Health

He’s ill. (Ele está doente.)

 Physical states and conditions

 He’s hungry. (Ele está com fome).

 Emotional states

 We are very happy today. (Estamos muitos contentes hoje.)

 Weather

 It’s raining! (Está a chover!)

 Ongoing actions (progressive tenses)

 They are reading a book. (Eles estão a ler um livro.)

 Results of actions (past participles)

The work is done. (O trabalho está feito).

I hope this helps! 

Share this:

Let's play!

We know that to play is a verb with many meanings depending on the context. In Portuguese, we have a different verb for each one of those contexts. Let’s have a close look to some of those contexts:

• I play the guitar.
• I play with my dolls.
• I play a very important role on the company I work for.
• I play football.
• The actor who plays Bilbo in “The Hobbit” is very good.

So, if we translate these sentences to Portuguese, the verb to play has, at least, five different translations:

• Eu toco guitarra.
• Eu brinco com as minhas bonecas.
• Eu desempenho um papel importante na empresa onde trabalho.
• Eu jogo futebol.
• O ator que interpreta Bilbo em “The Hobbit” é muito bom.

 To Play:

• Tocar (to play an instrument)
• Brincar (to play with toys, mostly what children do)
• Desempenhar (to play a role)
• Jogar (to play a game)
• Interpretar (to play a character)

Portuguese Tip of the Day "Feliz Natal"

Just a few days left for Christmas (Natal), it’s now more than time to wish a merry Christmas to everyone around you. So, if you go to a supermarket (um supermercado), a shop (uma loja), a coffee shop (um café) or a restaurant (um restaurante), for example, you can say as you leave:

 Adeus, obrigado/a (obrigado if you’re a man and obrigada if you’re a woman) e feliz Natal! (Bye, thank you and Merry Christmas!)

Portuguese tip of the day “Não faz mal!”

What to say if, for example, someone steps on your foot or bumps into you in the street? You will probably hear a Desculpe (excuse me), and you should answer Não faz mal! (it’s ok).

Do you want to have a totally free Portuguese lesson in Lagos?

Write me an email to info@tradutex.pt and explain me in a short text why do you want to learn Portuguese. The three best texts will win a completely free individual lesson (60 minutes). One private lesson for each winner!

This contest ends at midnight on December 10^th.

Let’s go shopping! (Vamos às compras!)

 It’s Christmas time (É Natal) and even if we don’t want to, we have to buy Christmas presents (presentes de Natal). If you have to buy them in Portugal, that could be a nice opportunity to learn some vocabulary about shops. Let’s make a quick list to help you:

Lojas – Shops

Centro Comercial – Shopping Centre

Livraria – Bookstore

Sapataria – Shoe Shop

Loja de roupa – Clothing Store

Loja de brinquedos – Toy Store

Pastelaria – Cake Shop

Papelaria – Stationery

Supermercado – Supermarket

Padaria – Bakery

Loja de informática – Computer shop

Loja de animais – Pet store

Now you can try to make your Christmas list with some Portuguese in it! J

Tradutex - Portuguese Tips For Free!

Do you thing that Portuguese is a hard language to learn? Like our facebook page www.facebook.com/tradutex and get regular tips about Portuguese language! Plus, feel free to ask whatever you want to know about Portuguese language and culture. Tradutex will answer you for free!

Hello / Goodbye (Olá / Adeus)

Let’s talk about the basics! If you want to learn a new language, you must start with simple things like hello or goodbye. Do you already know how to use this kind of expressions in Portuguese?

Let’s make a revision!

Cumprimentar / To say hello

Olá – Hello

Bom dia – Good morning (use this one until noon)

Boa tarde – Good afternoon

Boa noite – Good evening or Good night (in Portuguese, when it becomes to get dark we start to say Boa noite)

FORMAL:     

-      Como está? – How do you do?

-      Estou bem, obrigado(a).  – I’m fine, thanks

-      E você? – And you?

-      Também, obrigado(a) – I’m fine too, thank you

INFORMAL:

-      Tudo bem? – How’s it going?

-      Tudo bem, obrigado(a). – Fine, thanks.

 DESPEDIR-SE – To say goodbye

-      Adeus – Goodbye

-      Tchau – ciao

-      Até logo – See you later

-      Até já – See you later

-      Até amanhã – See you tomorrow

-      Até segunda / terça / quarta / quinta / sexta / sábado / domingo – See you next Monday / Tuesday / Wednesday / Thursday /Friday / Saturday / Sunday

-      Até para a semana  - See you next week

-      Bom fim-de-semana – Have a nice weekend

So… Até amanhã!

Share this: