Portuguese Lab Podcast | 113 | Mini-story - há-desde in the past

Mini-story

Naquela rua havia duas casas assombradas, uma em frente à outra. A casa da
esquerda estava desabitada há cem anos. A casa da direita não tinha ninguém
a viver lá desde cinco de outubro de 1910, ou seja, estava desabitada há mais
de cem anos. A casa da esquerda tinha sido vendida a um engenheiro há duas
semanas, mas ele não sabia que havia o fantasma de um cantor solitário a
viver lá. Desde que o engenheiro tinha comprado a casa, havia barulhos de
portas a bater, de pés a arrastar pelo sótão e de uma voz esganiçada a cantar.
Não conseguia dormir com tanto barulho!
Ele foi bater à porta da casa em frente para falar com o vizinho, mas não
havia ninguém em casa. Quando a porta se abriu sozinha, ele percebeu que
também havia algo de errado naquela casa. Viu o fantasma de uma mulher
sentada ao piano a tocar uma melodia triste. Ele perguntou-lhe se ela podia
acolher o fantasma da sua nova casa porque ele era muito barulhento e
gostava de cantar. Ela levantou finalmente os olhos da teclas e sorriu. Desde
então havia silêncio na casa do engenheiro, mas ele ainda não conseguia
dormir. Na casa assombrada em frente havia todas as noites música e festa
até de madrugada.

English translation
On this street there were two haunted houses, facing each other. The house on the
left had been uninhabited for a hundred years.The house on the right had not had
anyone living there since October 5, 1910, meaning it had been uninhabited for over
a hundred years. The house on the left had been sold to an engineer two weeks

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© 2019 - Portuguese Lab

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Portuguese Lab Podcast | 113 | Mini-story - há-desde in the past

ago, but he didn’t know that there was the ghost of a lonely singer living there. Since
the engineer had bought the house, there were noises of slamming doors, shuffling
feet in the attic, and a squeaky singing voice. He couldn’t sleep with so much noise!
He knocked on the door of the house opposite to talk to the neighbor, but there
was no one at home. When the door opened by itself, he realized that there was
also something wrong with that house. He saw the ghost of a woman sitting at the
piano, playing a sad tune. He asked her if she could welcome the ghost of his new
home because he was very noisy and liked to sing. She finally looked up from the
keys and smiled. Since then, there was silence in the engineer’s house, but he still
couldn’t sleep. In the haunted house opposite there was music and party every night
until dawn.

Notas:
havia: there was, there were
há: for (+ period of time) - invariable
desde: since (+ date)

Learn more in the Portuguese Lab Academy

1) Download the MP3 file of this episode.

2) Solve the exercises relating to this episode.
3) Learn when and how to use há (there is, there are).
4) Learn when and how to use há (for - period of time) and desde (since - date).
5) Learn when and how to use the past tenses (pretérito imperfeito simples,
pretérito imperfeito).

© 2019 - Portuguese Lab

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