My (Brazilian) Portuguese Cheat Sheet

So you’re in Brazil trying to get a better grasp on the language in order to better express yourself and experience the culture.

After ~ 2 yrs in Brazil, here’s my brain dump.

Nouns: male/female

• Nouns ending in -o are usually male; endings in -a are female.
• Exceptions: o mapa, a foto, etc
• -ção are female (promoção, declaração, ficção) / -ção turns into plural like -ções (promoções, declarações)
• -de are female (felicidade, cidade, responsabilidade)
• -m are female (viagem, garagem) / -m turns into plugar like -ns (viagens, garagens)
• Names of companies = female (Empresa) – A Microsoft, A Petrobras.
• Names of sites = male (Site) – O Google, O Twitter.

Pronouns (meu, minha, seu, sua)

• Pronouns’ gender follow the nouns’ gender
• This took me a while to understand–just think of it as two words tied into one.
• sua casa (feminine)
• seu lugar (masculine)

Possession: Este(a), Esse(a), Aquele(a) / Isto, Isso, Aquilo

• If I’m having a conversation with a someone, then:
• Este: object closer to me
• Esse: object closer to other person
• Aquele: some object far away from either of us.
• Isto: “this” but without mentioning an object in question.
  For ex, Correct: Que é isso (What is this), Incorrect: Que e isso pessoa.
• Isso: “that” same as above
• Aquilo: “that” same as above

Posession: De(o/a/os/as)   + este/esse/aquele   + ele/ela/eles/elas

• A casa dele (de ele)
• A casa do Roberto (de o Roberto)
• A casa da mulher (A woman’s house [specific woman])

Preposition: Em(no/na/nos/nas) + este/esse/aquele

• De: possesion of object
• De+este = deste
• De+esse = desse
• De+aquele = daquele

Definite Article: O / A / Os / As

• In English, we use “this” to signify an important object. e.g.,  ”I love this house”, instead of “I love a house”.
  This house is referred to a specific house, instead of being just any random house.
• O = Masculine, A = Feminine, Os = Plural Masculine, As = Plural Feminine
• For people, use O Roberto, A Marina, etc.

Para vs Por/Pelo(a/os/as): this has haunted me for a long time, since in English both signify “for”

• Para: literally “for” as in direction or “purpose”  (Onibus para Sao Paulo, O quarto para duas pessoas, Presente para voce)
• Por: As in “via”, “by” more of an indirect meaning (Obrigado por tudo, Estou andando por Ipanema)
• Pelo(a/os/as): Por + a/os/as: Same as por but with a definate article (Obrigado por a comida = Obrigada pela comida)
  I’m not thanking the food itself, but I’m thanking someone else, a 3rd party, for making this food.

Preposition: in / on top of

• Em + a/o/as/os = Na/No/Nas/Nos
• Signifies to be “on top” of something or “in” something
• Estou no (em o) Brasil / Bota isso na (em + a) mesa / Estou na (em+a) praia

Prepositions for places

• Neighborhoods by tradition
• Ipanema (no prep), Copacabana (no prep), Leblon (O leblon/no leblon), Leme (o leme/no leme)
• Places that signify an object (river, reef, etc) contain a definite article (o, a)
• O Rio de Janeiro (no Rio de Janeiro), Sao Paulo (em Sao Paulo)
• Countries (definite article not used for Portugal, and ex-Portuguese colonies minus Brazil; Brazil and all other countries use it)
• O Brasil, (no Brasil), Portugal (em Portugal), Angola (em Angola), A Russia (na Russia), A Espanha (na Espanha)

When to use definate article?

• Possession: A casa do (de + o) meu amigo /  ”My friend’s house”
• By tradition: see “prepositions for places” above
• If a sentence has an “important” word you prefix it with definite article.
• Frances de mentira (French person who is lying in general)
• Frances da mentira (French person who told some big and intricate lie, also becomes like a possession, e.g., A lie’s french person)

A(o) vs Em/No(a)

• ‘A’ means destination (but I’m not there yet), e.g., Estou chegando ao ponto, Estou chegando ao Brasil, Estou de volta ao Rio
• ‘Em’ means that I’m there already. e.g., Estou no (em + o) Brasil, A caneta esta na (em + a) mesa

A gente = Nós

• In Brazil, ‘a gente’ can signify ‘us’.  It follows the você conjugation form. For regular people (as in ‘they’, not including yourself and your company) you can use ‘as pessoas’

Verb forms

• Brazilian Portuguese has only 3-4 forms (unlike 6 in Portugal’s)
• I, you, us (can be ‘a gente’ which follows ‘you’ form conjugation), they
• Eu, você(s), nós (or ‘a gente’), eles(as)

Verb tenses (past done, past continuos, present, present continuous, future)

• Falar = to speak
• Past done = I did something in the past and it’s done, over with.  (Falei – I spoke)
• Past continuous = I used to do something in the past (for an extended time).  (Falava – I used to speak)
• Present = I do this now / I’m doing this now (Falo – I speak / Falando – I am speaking)
• Future = I will do this / I’m going to do this (Falare – I’ll speak / I’m going to speak – Eu vou falar)

Verbs: complex constructs (past, [past + past] cond, [present + future] conditional)

• Past = I would/should have brought this (Eu teria/devia trazido isso).
  Using the combination of ter (teria) or dever (devia) + trazer (trazido)
• Past + past = If I knew that, I would have brought this (Se eu soubesse isso, eu o trazia).  Using saber (soubesse) + trazer (trazia)
• Present + future = If you were me, what would you do (Se voce fosse eu, o que faria?). Using ser (fosse) + fazer (faria)

Verbs: Request / Negative

• Request: I want you to see this – Eu quero que voce veja isso
• Negative statement: Don’t be like this – Não seja assim
• After the word ‘que’ the verb changes forms. (e.g., ver = veja, ser = seja, pedir = pede, vir = venha, etc)

Because/Due to:  To explain that something happen in response to something else

• Por que – Because – A escola esta fechada por que esta chovendo (The school is closed because it’s raining)
• Por cause de(o/a) – Because of – A Escola esta fechada por causa da chuva (The school is closed because of the rain)
• Pelo(a/os/as) - Responsible party - O Brasil foi discobrido pelos portugueses (Brazil was discovered by Portuguese)
• Devido – Due to – O tempo refrescou, devido à chuva (Weather refreshed due to the rain).

Phonetics:  This took me a while to get.  What really helped was reading Irish Polyglot’s post and his explanation on the pronunciation.

• Closed vowel: denoted by a little ‘hat’ above the letter: â, ê, ô
  A perfect example is the word alô (hello) when used in foreign countries.  Another example ‘roll’ (of paper, etc)
• Open vowel: á, é, ó
  You say openly, like (ó in the word ‘call’)
• Nasal: ção
  The ã in this case pronounced with their 50% of the air coming out of the mouth, and 50% from the nose.

That’s a quick overview to help to compartmentalize my thoughts.  Didn’t expect this post to be this long (over 1000 words), but it’s a nice outline of my language thinking process.

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Tagged as: foreign language, portuguese