Pequeas Lecciones de Portugus

Reglas de converson Espaol - Portugus:

Also in English
Las pocas diferencias existentes entre el Portugus y el Espaol resultan de la evolucin separada
que las dos lenguas tuvieron a partir del latn vulgar. Muchas de estas diferencias siguen un patrn,
que puede ser utilizado para convertir muchas palabras de una lengua a otra. Estas reglas, que
pueden ser tiles en muchos casos, no debern ser consideradas universales. Slo sirven para un
conjunto reducido de palabras, y las excepciones abundan. Tenga esto presente!
Estas reglas estan hechas para aqullos que hablan el Espaol. Les ayudaran a convertir a su
versin portuguesa muchas palabras en espaol. La operacin inversa no es tan simple.

El Espaol "ue" pasa al Portugus "o":
nuevo - novo
puerta - porta

El Espaol "ie" pasa al Portugus "e":
fiesta - festa
miedo - medo

Muchas veces, palabras enpezando por "h" en Espaol, enpiezan por "f" en Portugus. Pero
hay muchas excepciones!
horno - forno
hormiga - formiga
hierro - ferro (vea tambin la regla 2)

Las terminaciones "in", "on", y "an" en Espaol pasan al Portugus "o":
televisin - televiso
razn - razo
capitn - capito

Los plurales "ones" y "anes" en Espaol pasan a "es" y "es" en Portugus:
televisiones - televises
razones - razes
capitanes - capites

La terminacin "able" en Espaol pasa a "vel" en Portugus:
rentable - rentvel
considerable - considervel

La terminacin "dad" en Espaol pasa a "dade" en Portugus:
igualdad - igualdade
nacionalidad - nacionalidade

Las palabras que enpiezan por "ll" en Espaol, muchas veces enpiezan por "ch" en
Portugus:
llamar - chamar
llave - chave
Short Portuguese Lessons
Contents of lesson 1:
Introduction
Greetings
Simple Words
The Numbers

Introduction
Portuguese is one of the Romance languages, descendent from the vulgar Latin. It is though related
to languages such as French, Spanish, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan. It is very similar to Spanish,
and in fact, the small differences between the two languages allow mutual understanding with little
difficulty, easily overcome with some practice.
Structurally, and like its Romance sisters, Portuguese is a flexive language. The role of each
element in the sentence is indicated by prepositions, and word order is important, eventhough not
as rigid as in English. The language phonetics vary in some extent between different parts of the
Portuguese-speaking world, but without limiting mutual understanding.
I confess that the grammar is far more complicated than in English, but not very different from
other Romance tongues. There are two genders: masculine and feminine, but no neutral. Adjectives
must agree with the nouns thay are describing, but this is easier to do in Portuguese than in many
other languages. Verbs are perhaps the most complicated thing, but anyone who has ever learned
French or Spanish won't find that very hard.

Greetings
The first thing to know when learning a language is to say hello! You'll also need to say goodbye,
and of course, to wish people a good day. These expressions are the most common in Portugal,
but there are many others.
Ol - Hello, Hi
Oi - Hello, Hi (used mainly in Brazil)
Bom dia - Good morning
Boa tarde - Good afternoon
Boa noite - Good evening, Good night
Chau, Adeus - Goodbye

Simple Words
Being limited to saying hello is quite frustrating. To expand your vocabulary, here is a list of some
simple words. They might not be very useful, but we'll need them for lesson 2, when we will start
making some short sentences.

Some Verbs:
Ser - To be (permanent form)
Estar - To be (transient form)
Ter - To have
Cantar - To sing
Comer - To eat
Partir - To break, to leave

Some Nouns:
Mulher - Woman
Homem - Man
Rapariga - Girl
Rapaz - Boy
Gato - Cat
Co - Dog

Some Adjectives:
Bom / Boa - Good
Mau / M - Bad
Belo / Bela - Beautiful
Feio / Feia - Ugly
Novo / Nova - Young, New
Velho / Velha - Old
As you may have noticed, there are two forms for each adjective: the masculine and the feminine.
In portuguese, the adjective must agree with the noun in both gender and number. For those of you
who are getting scared and thinking that this is too complicated, just look at the above examples. In
most cases it is very straightforward to turn the masculine into feminine: just change the final o to
an a. Want to make it plural? Even more simple: just add an s.

The Numbers
There are people who collect numbers. Really, the first thing (and very often the only thing...) they
learn in a foreign language are the numbers. Why people like them so much? I don't know, but I
don't want to make anyone sad, so here are the numbers in Portuguese from 0 to 20:
0 - Zero
1 - Um
2 - Dois
3 - Trs
4 - Quatro
5 - Cinco
6 - Seis
7 - Sete
8 - Oito
9 - Nove
10 - Dez
11 - Onze
12 - Doze
13 - Treze
14 - Catorze (also "Quatorze" in Brazil)
15 - Quinze
16 - Dezasseis (also "Dezesseis" in Brazil)
17 - Dezassete (also "Dezessete" in Brazil)
18 - Dezoito
19 - Dezanove
20 - Vinte

And that's all for lesson 1. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 2. There you will
learn how to conjugate some verbs, and well also start making some simple sentences.
Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see
included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!
Short Portuguese Lessons
Contents of lesson 2:
The Personal Pronouns
The Verbs Ser/Estar (to be)
The Present Tense of regular verbs
Simple Sentences

The Personal Pronouns
Singular:
Eu - I
Tu/Voc - You (one person)
Ele/Ela - He/She
Plural:
Ns - We
Vs/Vocs - You (many persons)
Eles/Elas - They
Notice that there are four different forms equivalent to the english "you". In the singular, Tu is used
to address a family member, a friend, or someone younger, while Voc is more formal. In the plural
is the same: Vs is the familiar treatment, and Vocs is formal. Both the formal treatments use the
third person when making verb patterns.
In Brazil, the familiar addressings Tu and Vs are not used, and Voc/Vocs are used in all
situations. In Portugal, the use of Vs is practically extinct in most of the country, being replaced
by Vocs, but it's still widely used in northern areas.
Perhaps you have noticed that there is no "it" in portuguese. Each verb form already tells which
person is doing the action, and so one doesn't have to put the person explicitly. For instance, the
english "it rains" is translated as "chove".
"They" is Eles if one is refering to a group of men, and Elas if refering to a group of
women. Eles is also used in mixed gender groups.

The verbs Ser/Estar (to be)
There are two different verbs in portuguese that can be translated to the english To Be. The verb
Ser is used to express a permanent characteristic of something. Estar is used for transient forms.
This will be better explained with some examples, so here is the present tense of both verbs, plus
some sentences using them:
Ser (to be)
Eu sou
Tu s
Ele/ela/voc
Ns somos
Vs sois
Eles/elas/vocs so
Estar (to be)
Eu estou
Tu ests
Ele/ela/voc est
Ns estamos
Vs estais
Eles/elas/vocs esto
Examples:
Eu sou Portugus - I am Portuguese (permanent form)
Vs sois grandes - You are big (permanent form)
O cu est nublado - The sky is cloudy (transient form)
Eu estou sentado - I am sitting down (transient form)

The Present Tense of regular verbs
The infinitive of all Portuguese verbs ends with an vowel+r. There are different conjugation
patterns depending on the vowel before the r. In the list below you can find the patterns for the
present tense of verbs ending in ar, er, and ir. There are also a few verbs ending in or, but that's a
special case which will be treated in some advanced lesson.
To make the verb patterns, you first need to extract the radical. That couldn't be more simple: just
take the vowel+r out of the word. In cantar the radical is cant, in comer the radical is com, and so
on. Finnaly add the ending for the person you want to conjugate.
In this list you can find the present tense of the verbs cantar, comer, and partir, each of a different
conjugation. In bold you can find each one of the personal endings. for the sake of simplicity, I will
omit theEla, Voc, Elas, and Vocs pronouns, which are always equal to the Ele/Eles forms
Cantar (to sing)
Eu canto
Tu cantas
Ele canta
Ns cantamos
Vs cantais
Eles cantam
Comer (to eat)
Eu como
Tu comes
Ele come
Ns comemos
Vs comeis
Eles comem
Partir (to break, to leave)
Eu parto
Tu partes
Ele parte
Ns partimos
Vs partis
Eles partem
All the regular verbs follow this pattern. Now, suppose you want to say "we run". In Portuguese,
the verb "to run" is correr, a verb that ends in er, and thus conjugated like comer. The radical of
the verb iscorr, and the ending corresponding to the first person in the plural is emos (see the list
for comer). So, "we run" is "ns corremos" in Portuguese. Easy, no?

Simple Sentences
Finally, here are some examples of sentences that use the verbs given above. Don't worry for now
about the adjectives and adverbs: that will be one of the subjects of next lesson.
O homem est sentado - The man is sitting down
O co novo - The dog is young
O gato velho - The cat is old
Eles esto aqui- They are here
Vs sois belos - You are beautiful
Ns cantamos bem - We sing well
Eles comem muito - They eat a lot

And that's all for lesson 2. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 3. There you will
learn how to form the masculine/feminine and the singular/plural. You will also learn how
adjectives must agree with nouns.
Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see
included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!

Short Portuguese Lessons
Contents of lesson 3:
The Definite/Indefinite Articles
Making the Plural
Masculine/feminine
Adjectives
Examples
Exercises

The Definite/Indefinite Articles
The definite and indefinite articles have in portuguese four different forms each, because of the
different combinations between gender and number: An article, either being definite or indefinite,
must agree with its corresponding noun.
The Definite Articles (like the english the):

masculine feminine
Singular o a
Plural os as
The Indefinite Articles (like the english a and an):

masculine feminine
Singular um uma
Plural uns umas

Making the Plural
In Portuguese, like in English, things can be either singular (when there's only one), or plural (when
there are many). Given a word in the singular, the usual way to make its plural form is to add an s.
This rule can not be always directly applied, and often some modifcations on the word are
necessary. The following examples will give you an idea:
Singular form Plural form English (singular)
primo primos cousin
cebola cebolas onion
lente lentes lens
farol farois lighthouse
papel papeis paper
funil funis funnel
jardim jardins garden
motor motores motor
feliz felizes happy
As you can see, when a word ends in a vowel, the plural is made by simply adding an s. When the
word ends with the letter m, the plural is made by changing the m into ns. When the word ends
with an l, see the vowel before it: if it is an i, change the l into an s, if it is another vowel , change
the l into is. If the word ends with a z or r, make the plural by adding es.
You will see that most portuguese words end in vowels, and that the majority of consonants that
can end a word are the ones above (m, l, z, r). There are some words that in their singular forms
end in n, x, or even s, but we'll deal with them as they appear.
I didn't mention the plural of words ending in o, because there are many things to say about them,
and I will only explain them later. These words are very common, but for now I'll just say that their
plural is made by replacing the o with os, es, or es. The correct choice is the difficult part...

Masculine/feminine
As you know from lesson 1, there are two genders in portuguese: things can be masculine or
feminine, including inanimate objects, and abstract concepts. Usually, feminine words end in a, and
masculine words end in o. But this is just a general rule: it is in fact more complicated, and there
are the inevitable exceptions.
For many words it only makes sense to have one form. For instance, the word cadeira ("chair") is
feminine, but it is nonsense to make a masculine form like cadeiro, not only because chairs don't
have genders, but also because the gender associated with the word is arbitrary. There are in fact
cases where the masculine and feminine forms mean different things.
Here are some examples of masculine/feminine words:
masculine form feminine form English
tio tia uncle/aunt
esperto esperta smart (not expert!)
azul azul blue
quente quente hot
professor professora teacher
pintor pintora painter
portugus portuguesa portuguese
ingls inglesa english
As you can see, when the masculine form ends in o, the feminine form ends in a. When it ends in
an r, the feminine form is made by adding an a. To say that someone is from a given nationality,
usually the masculine form ends in s and the feminine form in esa. In the other cases, the
masculine anf feminine forms are left unchanged. Again, words ending in o will be mentioned
later. Keep in mind that there are many exceptions to these rules! In some words, the masculine and
feminine forms are totally different, especially in the case of large domestic animals. (The same
thing happens in english.):
masculine form feminine form English
boi vaca ox/cow
cavalo gua horse/mare
rapaz rapariga boy/girl

Adjectives
In portuguese, unlike in english, adjectives must agree with the noun they are qualifying. This
means that if a noun is feminine and plural, the adjective must be also in the feminine and plural
form. The placing is also different: in english, adjectives come before the noun, in portuguese they
usually came after the noun. (They can also come before the noun, but the meaning of the sentence
is affected - this will be explained in some future lesson.)
Here's an example of the use of an adjective. Novo means "new" or "young", and urso means
"bear" (in their masculine forms):
O urso novo - The new bear (masculine and singular)
A ursa nova - The new bear (feminine and singular)
Os ursos novos - The new bears (masculine and plural)
As ursas novas - The new bears (feminine and plural)

Examples
The following examples use all the grammar given so far: the conjugation of the present tense of
verbs ending in ar, er, ir, the articles, and the making of masculine/feminine, singular/plural.
Before you go on, be sure to have this part well understood. After the examples there are also
some exercises for you to practice.
Here's some vocabulary you might need:
cantar - to sing
beber - to drink
comer - to eat
correr - to run
gua - water
cano - song
ma - apple
mar - sea
vinho - wine
azul - blue
belo - beautiful
bonito - pretty
frio - cold
grande - big
maluco - crazy
pequeno - small
quente - hot
saboroso - tasty
Here are the examples:
O rapaz novo come uma ma saborosa - The young boy eats a tasty apple
O homem velho canta uma cano - The old man sings a song
A rapariga bonita portuguesa - The pretty girl is portuguese
Os cavalos felizes correm muito - The happy horses run a lot
Uma mulher bebe o vinho - A woman drinks the wine
O mar azul belo - The blue sea is beautiful
Vs sois malucos - You are crazy

Exercises
Translate the following sentences from Portuguese to English, and from English to Portuguese.
(You can see the answers here.)
O gato pequeno bebe a gua quente
Um urso feliz come a ma
A vaca maluca bebe o mar
Ns cantamos muito
The old cat is english
The cold water is good
The portuguese women drink the tasty wine
He is small

And that's all for lesson 3. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 4. There we'll look at
some prepositions, more vocabulary, and we'll start to make more complicated sentences.
Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see
included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!
Short Portuguese Lessons
Contents of lesson 4:
Some Prepositons
Contractions
Examples
Exercises

Some Prepositions
In classical Latin, the role of each member in the sentence was given by special case endings. In the
evolution of Latin, these endings were replaced by prepositions, and that's what we use in
Portuguese.
For English speakers, this is not very different from what they are used to, eventhough there isn't a
one-to-one correspondence between english prepositions and their portuguese counterparts.
The following tables gives you a listing of some common prepositions, the ones we'll use for now:
English Portuguese
to a
from, of de
in em
Please keep in mind that these are just general translations. In many situations the prepositions used
in Portuguese differ from those used in English. Anyone who has ever learned a foreign language
knows that prepositions are one of the most difficult aspects to master...
Perhaps you have noticed that the preposition a(to) has the same form as the definite article for the
feminine singular. This is just a coincidence, because gramatically they are very different. Be
careful not to mistake them! (Just as in English one doesn't mistake to, too, and two eventhough
they sound the same)

Contractions
In Portuguese, you will rarely see those prepositions above alone in a sentence. The use of
contractions is very common, and the usage of some of the non-contracted forms doesn't even
sound well.
In the table below you'll find the contractions of the prepositions with the articles. (there are other
elements that contract, but for now we'll stick to these)
Prepositions Definite Articles Indefinite Articles

o a um uma
a ao a um a uma
de do da de um (dum) de uma (duma)
em no na num numa
As you can see, some of the constructions are not contracted, some can be contracted (user's
choice), and others are always contracted.
I didn't indicate the plural forms because they follow the general rules shown in the previous
lesson.
The construction "to the" (feminine singular), in Portuguese is said a a, which is always contracted
to . The only use for the grave accent in Portuguese is to indicate a contraction, like in this case.

Examples
Once again, the following examples use all the grammar given so far: the conjugation of the present
tense of verbs ending in ar, er, ir, the articles, the making of masculine/feminine, singular/plural,
and at last the prepositions. We'll introduce some new vocabulary, and we'll also need two new
verbs: Ir (to go) and Vir (to come). Unfortunately, they are both irregular, and so you have to
memorise them. (The same thing happens in all languages: the most common verbs, which people
use daily, are usually irregular...)
Ir (to go)
Eu vou
Tu vais
Ele/ela/voc vai
Ns vamos
Vs ides
Eles/elas/vocs vo
Vir (to come)
Eu venho
Tu vens
Ele/ela/voc vem
Ns vimos
Vs vindes
Eles/elas/vocs vm
Here's some vocabulary you might need:
praia - beach
circo - circus
teatro - theater
montanha - mountain
floresta - forest
lago - lake
And also the colours:
azul - blue
verde - green
vermelho - red
amarelo - yellow
branco - white
preto - black
castanho - brown
cinzento - gray
roxo - purple
cor-de-rosa (rosa) - pink
cor-de-laranja (laranja) - orange
Here are the examples:
O rapaz vem da praia - The boy comes from the beach
Eles vo ao teatro - They go to the theatre
Ele come as maas vermelhas num circo - He eats the red apples in a circus
Eu venho de uma praia amarela - I come from a yellow beach
Vs ides ao lago - You go to the lake
O urso velho vive na montanha branca - The old bear lives in the white mountain

In some of the sentences above, an english speaker would use the present continous instead of the
simple present. In Portuguese there is also a construction equivalent to the present continous, but
for now we'll use only the simple present.
Don't forget that the colours, being adjectives, must agree with the noun!

Exercises
Translate the following sentences from Portuguese to English, and from English to Portuguese.
(You can see the answers here.)
Um gato feliz bebe a gua azul no lago
O boi castanho da montanha come na praia
Ns vamos ao lago
A woman from Portugal sings in the theatre
The big bear lives in a cold forest
The brown horse goes to the beach

And that's all for lesson 4. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 5. There we'll learn
how to make questions, and we'll see lots of more new vocabulary.
Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see
included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!

Short Portuguese Lessons
Contents of lesson 5:
Making questions
Some vocabulary about places and things
Examples
Exercises

Making questions
So far we've only seen affirmative sentences, used to express the knowledge of something, like
"Today it is raining". Also very important is to ask questions, and if you are following these lessons
because you intend to visit a portuguese-speaking country on holiday, it is extremely important to
be able to ask the basic questions, like "Where is the bathroom?", or "What time is it?".
Yes/no questions
Yes/no questions are very easy in Portuguese. Unlike English, there is no need to rearrange the
words in the sentence, or to use an auxiliary verb. A yes/no question is different from affirmative
sentences only because there is a question mark ("?") at the end of the written sentence, and an
entonation difference when spoken.
Just see the following example:
English Portuguese
The bear is brown. O urso castanho.
Is the bear brown? O urso castanho?
The woman eats the apple. A mulher come a ma.
Does the woman eat the apple? A mulher come a ma?
I think you should really enjoy this feature. It's one of the few things where Portuguese is simpler
than English...
Like I've said before, word order is much more flexible in Portuguese than in English. That means
that one can express finer shades of meaning by changing the order of words in a sentence. On the
other hand, people that are learning the language might have some trouble interpreting some
sentences. This is just a warning, because eventhough the sentences above are grammatically
correct, they are the only alternative. So don't be surprised if you encounter strange looking
sentences. (In examples like these, even in English could the sentence be reshaped)
Questions with an interrogative word
Making just yes/no questions is not very useful. They usually imply that one already has some
knowledge of something, which is not always the case. We'll see now how to make general
questions, but first, here is the correspondence between some very useful words in English and
Portuguese:
English Portuguese
What O que, O qu
Who Quem
Why Porqu
When Quando
Where Onde
How Como, Quo
How much Quanto
Which Qual
Usually, De onde (from where) is contracted to Donde, and A onde (to where) is contracted
to Aonde. There is also the form Adonde equivalent to Onde, very common in the spoken
language, but rare in written form. Unlike yes/no questions, in these the subject-verb order is
usually reversed. This is not very apparent in Portuguese, because one rarely includes the subject in
a sentence. Here are some examples:
Onde ests? - Where are you? (singular and informal)
Quem sois vs? - Who are you? (plural and informal)
Quem so vocs? - Who are you? (plural and formal)
O que isto? - What is this?
Don't forget what was said on the first lesson about forms of treatment. For Brasilians and many
Portuguese, vocs is the only treatment used in the plural, being vs very rare and considered
archaic.

Some vocabulary about places and things
Here is a list of some common vocabulary about places and things. This is especially useful for
turists. You'll also need it for the examples and exercises. (some of this vocabulary was already
part of previous lessons)
Na cidade - In the City
rua - street
estrada - road
auto-estrada - highway
avenida - avenue
esquina - corner
edifcio, Prdio - building
casa - house
(o) parque - park
(a) estao - station
paragem - stop
carro - car
(o) txi - taxi
comboio (also trem in Brazil) - train
autocarro (also nibus in Brazil) - bus

No campo - In the Country
rio - river
ribeiro - stream
lago - lake
colina - hill
(o) monte - big hill (or small mountain...)
montanha - mountain
(a) rvore - tree
floresta - forest
(o) animal - animal
pssaro - bird
(o) peixe - fish

This is just a small list to give us something to start with. If you think there is some other thing that
should be included, please tell me so.
In some words there is an (o) (masculine) or (a) (feminine), indicating the gender of the word. All
the others follow the rules seen in a previous lesson.

Examples
Here are examples of afirmative/interrogative sentences that use some of the vocabulary we've
seen in this lesson. If you have difficulties with anything, take a look at the previous lessons.
There's also some extra vocabulary you'll need:
nadar - to swim
chegar - to arrive (also "to reach" or "to be enough")
voar - to fly
peixe - fish
e - and
ou - or
mas - but
O pequeno animal corre na montanha? - Does the small animal run in the mountain?
Sim, ele corre na montanha. - Yes, it (he) runs in the mountain.
O pssaro azul nada no lago? - Does the blue bird swim in the lake?
No, ele voa. - No, it (he) flies.
Onde nadam os peixes? - Where do the fish swim?
Os peixes nadam no mar. - The fish swim in the sea.
Quem canta no teatro? - Who sings in the theatre?
Donde vm eles? - Where do they come from?
Quando chegais cidade? - When do you arrive in (to) the city?
Very often, especially in the spoken language, portuguese speakers add a few words to a question
to give it more strengh. One would rarely hear a sentence like "Quando chegais cidade?". One
usually adds " que" ("is it that") after the interrogative particle. So, the sentence above would
be: "Quando que chegais cidade?", which roughly means "When is it that you arrive in the
city?". These somewhat redundant words are common in most questions, but aren't usually
translated literally to English.

Exercises
And here are the exercises. They include everything we've seen so far, including how to make
questions. Now, translate from Portuguese to English, and vice-versa. (The answers are here.)
Quem so eles?
Onde que nadam os peixes?
Eles nadam nos lagos, nos rios, e no mar.
O urso come peixes?
Where is she from?
Does the big cat fly in the mountains?
No, but it (he) runs in the streets
When does the train arrive?

And that's all for lesson 5. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 6. There we'll take a
look at the possessive and demonstrative pronouns.
Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see
included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!

Short Portuguese Lessons
Contents of lesson 6:
The possessive pronouns and adjectives
The demonstrative pronouns and adjectives
Examples
Exercises

The possessive pronouns and adjectives
The possessive pronouns are fairly easy in Portuguese. In languages like English, and even in the
closely related Spanish, there is a difference between the adjective and the pronoun form, but no so
in Portuguese. For English speakers, the only thing to be aware is the usual dichotomy between
masculine/feminine and singular/plural forms, but for those who have reached this far in the
lessons, that shouldn't be a problem. The following table lists all the possessives: (Remember that
both pronouns and adjectives have the same form)
The possessives
Person Masculine Singular Feminine Singular Masculine Plural Feminine Plural
Eu meu minha meus minhas
Tu teu tua teus tuas
Ele/Ela/Voc seu sua seus suas
Ns nosso nossa nossos nossas
Vs vosso vossa vossos vossas
Eles/Elas/Vocs seu sua seus suas
The plural forms are only included for the sake of completeness, as they are very regular: take the
singular form, and just add an s. Perhaps you have noticed that Ele/Ela/Voc have the same form.
One important thing to remember is that the gender and number of the form depends on the object
being possessed, not on the possessor. In English, the forms his/her vary according to the gender of
the possessor, but in Portuguese they are equal, varying only according to the gender and number of
the object.
In Portugal, the possessives usually have the defined article before them, while in Brazil this is not
common. But both forms are correct, and you can hear them both in any of the countries. So, the
sentence "My car is green" could be translated as "O meu carro verde" (more common in
Portugal), or as "Meu carro verde" (more common in Brazil). As I am Portuguese, I will use the
form that is more common in Portugal, but don't forget that they are both correct!
Perhaps you have noticed that being the 3rd person forms equal regardless if there is just one or
more owners, or if the owner is masculine or feminine, this might lead to ambiguities. Pay attention
on the following sentence:
"Pedro e Ins cantam a sua cano"
Which of the following translations is correct?
1 - Pedro and Ins sing his song
2 - Pedro and Ins sing her song
3 - Pedro and Ins sing their song
4 - Pedro and Ins sing your song (a formal "your")
Well, any of the above forms could be correct. There is not enough information to decide which,
and for this reason, portuguese speakers rarely use these forms. Instead, the contraction of the
preposition "de" with the pronouns ele/ela/eles/elas is usually used. These forms are listed in the
table bellow:
Contraction Meaning
de + ele = dele his
de + ela = dela her
de + eles = deles their (masculine or mixed gender)
de + elas = delas their (feminine)
Each of the four sentences above can be now translated as follows:
1 - Pedro and Ins sing his song - Pedro e Ins cantam a cano dele
2 - Pedro and Ins sing her song - Pedro e Ins cantam a cano dela
3 - Pedro and Ins sing their song - Pedro e Ins cantam a cano deles
4 - Pedro and Ins sing your song (formal) - Pedro e Ins cantam a sua cano
The choice of which form to use depends on the context. If there is a chance of ambiguity, then use
the form that doesn't lead to it. In most day-to-day conversations, the dele/dela/deles/delas are
usually used, but in written texts or in a more formal conversation, the
forms seu/sua/seus/suas forms are preferred.

The demonstrative pronouns and adjectives
The following table lists some demonstrative adjectives and pronouns in English and their
Portuguese counterparts. Notice that the demonstrative tal changes only according to number,
being invariant to gender. The other forms are regular, and follow the usual rules for forming the
feminine and plural. (some of the forms, like the plural of another, don't make much sense in
English, but are still valid in Portuguese)
English
Masculine
Singular
Feminine
Singular
Masculine
Plural
Feminine
Plural
Invariable
this este esta estes estas isto
that esse essa esses essas isso
that
(yonder)
aquele aquela aqueles aquelas aquilo
such tal tal tais tais

the same o mesmo a mesma os mesmos as mesmas

another outro outra outros outras

the other o outro a outra os outros as outras

the one o a os as o
Special attention must be given to esse, aquele. They both mean that in English, but are used in
different situations. The demonstrative esse is used to designate an object that is close to the
receiver, whileaquele is used for an object that is far from both the speaker and the receiver. (More
or less like the archaic English yonder.)
Please also notice that in Brazil it is common that a speaker will refer to an object close to him with
the esse forms, and not este as one might expect.
Examples
The following examples cover both the possessives and the demonstratives. Some new vocabulary
will be introduced, so take a good luck at the translation if you have any doubts. In Portuguese,
the personal pronouns that function as subject (eu, tu, ele...) are not usually used in a sentence
because of their redundancy. I have included them in previous lessons because foreigners feel
more at ease using them, but from now on I'll slowly begin building sentences without them. This
means you should have a good knowledge of the verb forms in order to continue...
Este carro meu - This car is mine
So aquelas as vossas flores? - Are those your flowers?
Ela come a sobremesa dele - She eats his desert
Esta a minha escola - This is my school
Aquele no o mesmo pssaro - That (yonder) is not the same bird
Essa rapariga minha prima - That girl is my cousin (That girl is a cousin of mine)
Essa rapariga a minha prima - That girl is my cousin (*)
No compreendo tal atitude - I don't understand such attitude
Queres comer outra ma? - Do you want to eat another apple?
Isto incrvel! - This is incredible! Essa uma boa ideia! - That is a good idea! (*) By putting the
defined article a before the possessive pronoun, the meaning of this sentence changes slightly. The
cousin is "defined", meaning that it's not a random cousin, but a cousin that was mentioned earlier
in the conversation.
Exercises
And here are the exercises. They include everything we've seen so far, and you will need
vocabulary seen in previous lessons (and also the portuguese word for Always, which is Sempre).
Now, translate from Portuguese to English, and vice-versa. (The answers are here.)
Esse peixe nada no meu lago.
Aquele co teu?
Vamos ao cinema no teu carro?
A mesma jovem rapariga canta outra bela cano.
Those (yonder) old cats eat our fish.
Fifteen brown horses run in my fields.
You always have the same ideas!
How does your bird sing?

And that's all for lesson 6. You are welcome to continue and go on for lesson 7. There we'll take a
look at the Past and Future tenses.
Please send me your comments, sugestions, or whatever! If there's anything you would like to see
included in these Short Portuguese lessons, please tell me so!

Short Portuguese Lessons
Regular Verb Models
Cantar - Comer - Partir
The following Verb Models apply to all regular verbs. The verbs cantar, comer, partir are
examples for each of the 3 regular verb models. To get the forms for other regular verbs just
replace with the corresponding radical. This list includes only the simple tenses, being useful as a
reference to those who follow the lessons, or to people who have already a good knowledge of
the language. Speakers of related languages such as Spanish will find it very useful for
comparisons.
Modo Indicativo (Indicative Mode)
Presente (Present)
canto
cantas
canta
cantamos
cantais
cantam
como
comes
come
comemos
comeis
comem
parto
partes
parte
partimos
partis
partem
Pretrito Imperfeito (Imperfect)
cantava
cantavas
cantava
cantvamos
cantveis
cantavam
comia
comias
comia
comamos
comeis
comiam
partia
partias
partia
partamos
parteis
partiam
Pretrito Perfeito (Preterite)
cantei
cantaste
cantou
cantmos
cantastes
cantaram
comi
comeste
comeu
comemos
comestes
comeram
parti
partiste
partiu
partimos
partistes
partiram
Pretrito Mais-Que-Perfeito (Pluperfect)
cantara comera partira
cantaras
cantara
cantramos
cantreis
cantaram
comeras
comera
comramos
comreis
comeram
partiras
partira
partramos
partreis
partiram
Futuro do Presente (Future)
cantarei
cantars
cantar
cantaremos
cantareis
cantaro
comerei
comers
comer
comeremos
comereis
comero
partirei
partirs
partir
partiremos
partireis
partiro
Futuro do Pretrito (Condicional)
cantaria
cantarias
cantaria
cantaramos
cantareis
cantariam
comeria
comerias
comeria
comeramos
comereis
comeriam
partiria
partirias
partiria
partiramos
partireis
partiriam
Modo Conjuntivo (Subjunctive Mode)
Presente (Present)
cante
cantes
cante
cantemos
canteis
cantem
coma
comas
coma
comamos
comais
comam
parta
partas
parta
partamos
partais
partam
Pretrito Imperfeito (Imperfect)
cantasse
cantasses
cantasse
cantssemos
cantsseis
cantassem
comesse
comesses
comesse
comssemos
comsseis
comessem
partisse
partisses
partisse
partssemos
partsseis
partissem
Futuro (Future)
cantar
cantares
cantar
cantarmos
comer
comeres
comer
comermos
partir
partires
partir
partirmos
cantardes
cantarem
comerdes
comerem
partirdes
partirem
Modo Imperativo (Imperative Mode)
canta (tu)
cante (voc)
cantemos (ns)
cantai (vs)
cantem (vocs)
come (tu)
coma (voc)
comamos (ns)
comei (vs)
comam (vocs)
parte (tu)
parta (voc)
partamos (ns)
parti (vs)
partam (vocs)
Formas Nominais (Noun forms)
Infinitivo Impessoal (Impersonal Infinitive)
cantar comer partir
Gerndio (Gerund)
cantando comendo partindo
Particpio Passado (Past Participle)
cantado comido partido
Infinitivo Pessoal (Personal Infinitive)
cantar
cantares
cantar
cantarmos
cantardes
cantarem
comer
comeres
comer
comermos
comerdes
comerem
partir
partires
partir
partirmos
partirdes
partirem

Short Portuguese Lessons
Auxiliary Verbs
Haver - Ter - Ser
The following tables have all the forms for the Auxiliary verbs Haver, Ter, Ser. These verbs are
highly irregular, but very important. In modern Portuguese the verb Haver is only used in the third
person singular, and to form certain coumpound tenses. The lists include the forms for all persons
and tenses, but you'll probably never need most of them.
Modo Indicativo (Indicative Mode)
Presente (Present)
hei
hs
h
havemos
haveis
ho
tenho
tens
tem
temos
tendes
tm
sou
s

somos
sois
so
Pretrito Imperfeito (Imperfect)
havia
havias
havia
havamos
haveis
haviam
tinha
tinhas
tinha
tnhamos
tnheis
tinham
era
eras
era
ramos
reis
eram
Pretrito Perfeito (Preterite)
houve
houveste
houve
houvemos
houvestes
houveram
tive
tiveste
teve
tivemos
tivestes
tiveram
fui
foste
foi
fomos
fostes
foram
Pretrito Mais-Que-Perfeito (Pluperfect)
houvera
houveras
houvera
houvramos
houvreis
houveram
tivera
tiveras
tivera
tivramos
tivreis
tiveram
fora
foras
fora
framos
freis
foram
Futuro do Presente (Future)
haverei
havers
haver
haveremos
havereis
havero
terei
ters
ter
teremos
tereis
tero
serei
sers
ser
seremos
sereis
sero
Futuro do Pretrito (Condicional)
haveria
haverias
haveria
haveramos
havereis
teria
terias
teria
teramos
tereis
seria
serias
seria
seramos
sereis
haveriam teriam seriam
Modo Conjuntivo (Subjunctive Mode)
Presente (Present)
haja
hajas
haja
hajamos
hajais
hajam
tenha
tenhas
tenha
tenhamos
tenhais
tenham
seja
sejas
seja
sejamos
sejais
sejam
Pretrito Imperfeito (Imperfect)
houvesse
houvesses
houvesse
houvssemos
houvsseis
houvessem
tivesse
tivesses
tivesse
tivssemos
tivsseis
tivessem
fosse
fosses
fosse
fssemos
fsseis
fossem
Futuro (Future)
houver
houveres
houver
houvermos
houverdes
houverem
tiver
tiveres
tiver
tivermos
tiverdes
tiverem
for
fores
for
formos
fordes
forem
Modo Imperativo (Imperative Mode)
h (tu)
haja (voc)
hajamos (ns)
havei (vs)
hajam (vocs)
tem (tu)
tenha (voc)
tenhamos (ns)
tende (vs)
tenham (vocs)
s (tu)
seja (voc)
sejamos (ns)
sede (vs)
sejam (vocs)
Formas Nominais (Noun forms)
Infinitivo Impessoal (Impersonal Infinitive)
haver ter ser
Gerndio (Gerund)
havendo tendo sendo
Particpio Passado (Past Participle)
havido tido sido
Infinitivo Pessoal (Personal Infinitive)
haver
haveres
haver
havermos
haverdes
haverem
ter
teres
ter
termos
terdes
terem
ser
seres
ser
sermos
serdes
serem