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 lesson is not only for all of the vegetarians out there, but also, for anyone with an aversion to a particular food. There are many reasons a person won't eat a particular food, and there may be instances when communicating this is necessary. Today, we'll go over some phrases to ensure you don't get any unwanted surprises on the plate.
In Portuguese, "I am a vegetarian." is Sou vegetariano.
Sou vegetariano.
Let's break it down by syllable: Sou ve-ge-ta-ri-a-no.
Now, let's hear it once again: Sou vegetariano.
The first word sou means "I am."
sou
sou
The next word is vegetariano.
Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: ve-ge-ta-ri-a-no
And vegetariano
So all together, we have Sou vegetariano. Literally, this means "I am a Vegetarian."
Another way you communicate you don't eat a particular food is by saying just that. In Portuguese, "I don't eat meat." is Não como carne.
Não como carne.
Let's break it down by syllable: Não co-mo car-ne.
Now, let's hear it once again: Não como carne.
The first word não means "no."
não
não
The next word is como, which means "I eat." This is a homonym to the como we learned in a previous lesson. They are two different words that just happen to share the same spelling and pronunciation.
Let's break down this word and hear it one more time: co-mo
como
This is followed by carne, which, in English, is "meat."
carne
car-ne
carne
So all together we have Não como carne. Literally, this translates to "No, I eat meat." but as that doesn't make much sense in English, it actually means, "I don't eat meat."
This sentence pattern can be used for foods other than meat by changing just one word. So let's take a look at some other possibilities. Let's try eggs, which, in Portuguese, is ovos.
One more time: ovos
So we'll break down: o-vos
And one time fast: ovos
Now, let's try the phrase with this word. "I don't eat eggs." Não como ovos.
And lastly, wheat. I know a lot of people who can't eat wheat, so let's do that one.
In Portuguese, "wheat" is trigo.
tri-go
trigo
Let's try this in the phrase: Não como trigo.
Got it?
CULTURAL INSIGHTS
It is very normal to see lots of meat on the dinner table every day in the house of a typical Brazilian. But not all of them have the financial resources to do that even though meat in Brazil is much cheaper than it is in the United States. But even if they have platefuls of meat, there will always be legumes, fruits, vegetables, grains, and lots of other non-animal food to eat right next to them.
In a restaurant, you'll get to choose what you eat because most Brazilian restaurants are buffet-style. If you're not sure, just find someone who works there and use this phrase. They will understand and immediately help you choose what you can eat.
If you are able to find a restaurant that has proper waiters like the United States does, you can use this phrase, and they will tell you which dishes you can eat.
I should point out that Brazilian cooking is nothing, absolutely nothing like the foods of any other South or Central American country. For example, they don't have tortillas or tacos, and few Brazilians would even know what those are.
Just remember that if you are invited to eat at someone's house, tell them you are a vegetarian beforehand. Meat is something Brazilians think should be on the table when a visitor is over, so unless you tell them, "No," they will make it for you. It would be very rude for you to refuse the food they probably spent over two hours preparing.

Outro

Okay. to close out today's lesson, we'd like for 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'll have a few seconds before I give you the answer, so boa sorte!
"I am a vegetarian." - Sou vegetariano.
Sou ve-ge-ta-ri-a-no.
Sou vegetariano.
"I don't eat meat." - Não como carne.
Não co-mo car-ne.
Não como carne.
"I don't eat eggs." - Não como ovos.
Não co-mo o-vos.
Não como ovos.
All right. That's going to do it for today. Remember to stop by PortuguesePod101.com and pick up the accompanying PDF. If you stop by, be sure to leave us a comment.

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