Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Hello and welcome to Portuguese Survival Phrases brought to you by PortuguesePod101.com, this course is designed to equip you with the language skills and knowledge to enable you to get the most out of your visit to Brazil. You will be surprised at how far a little Portuguese will go.
Now, before we jump in, remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and there, you will find the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

Lesson focus

Today's phrase will help you take matters into your own hands! Today we'll take a look at "please," as in asking for something.
The phrase we'll learn today is por favor. In Portuguese, por favor means "please."
Let’s break it down by syllable: por favor
Now let's hear it once again: por favor
The phrase por favor literally means "as a favor," but we use it just like "please."
Let's hear it one more time: por favor
And broken down: por favor
And full speed: por favor
Brazilians are extremely good guessers, and the most rudimentary way of using por favor is to point at something while saying por favor. But, how about we spice this up a bit? Let's start with "this please," which in Portuguese is isto por favor. In English, "this" comes before "please," and it's the same in Portuguese. So "this" in Portuguese is isto.
Isto.
Isto.
So the full phrase is isto por favor.
Isto por favor.
Looking at the word for "this" warrants a look at the word for "that," which is isso. So the phrase isso por favor, or "that please," is almost identical to the phrase isto por favor, which is "this please."
Let’s break it down by syllable: isso por favor
Now let's hear it once again, one after another: Isto por favor means "this please."
isso por favor means "that please."
Just one letter changes. Now let's hear them once again:
Isto por favor means "this please," and Isso por favor means "that please."
Get it?
Cultural Insights
Now, usually I would give a little culture note right now, but there is something important I need to explain. I don't want to use the G-word, but I'm afraid I'm going to need to explain a bit of grammar today. So, here we go.
These phrases we just learned are gender neutral. Gender, as it refers to Portuguese, denotes a particular type of agreement between the nouns, adjectives, articles, and prepositions. For example, in English you don't say "She is an actor." You'd sound like an idiot. You say "She is an actress." Likewise, we don't say "He is a stewardess" because stewardess denotes femininity and "He" is not a woman. This is gender agreement, and in Portuguese, it is much, much more extensive than in English. Because of these gender variations, there are five ways to say "this" and ten ways to say "that." But don't worry, you don't need to know all fifteen.
The reason I explained this is that even though isto and isso are just fine for you to use, the Brazilians probably won't because they're natives and understand the complex agreement patterns. And as we go through these lessons, and during your trip, you'll see several different ways to say "this" and "that." Don't worry - don't get stressed. It's all just "this" or "that." Learn the phrases the way they are written in here, and you'll do great!

Outro

Okay, to close out this lesson, we'd like you to practice what you've just learned. I'll provide you with the English equivalent of the phrase and you're responsible for saying it aloud. You have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so boa sorte!
"please" - por favor
por favor
por favor
"This please." - Isto por favor.
Isto por favor.
Isto por favor.
"That please." - Isso por favor.
Isso por favor.
Isso por favor.
Alright, that's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF and additional info in the post. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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