Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Braden: Braden here! This is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 4 - Brazilian Reading Difficulties.
Thássia: Hello everyone! I'm Thássia, and welcome back to PortuguesePOD101.com.
Braden: With us, you'll learn to speak Portuguese with fun and effective lessons.
Thássia: We also provide you with cultural insights.
Braden: And tips you won't find in a textbook. In this lesson, you learn how to ask about someone's nationality.
Thássia: This conversation takes place in the airport between connecting flights.
Braden: It's between Naiara, Michael, and Alessio, Naiara's boyfriend.
Thássia: Michael and Naiara are well acquainted by now so they will be speaking casually.
Braden: Let's listen to the conversation.

Lesson conversation

Naiara: Eu sou brasileira. E você?
Michael: Não, não sou brasileiro, sou Americano. (Virando para o Alessio). E você?
Alessio: Não, eu sou italiano.
Naiara: Vou para Salvador com meu namorado.
Michael: Você tem namorado?
Naiara: Sim, eu tenho um namorado. É ele. (apontando para o Alessio)
Michael: Foi um prazer conhecê-la.
Naiara: O prazer foi nosso!
Braden:One time, slowly please.
Naiara: Eu sou brasileira. E você?
Michael: Não, não sou brasileiro, sou americano. (Virando para o Alessio) E você?
Alessio: Não, eu sou italiano.
Naiara: Vou para Salvador com meu namorado.
Michael: Você tem namorado?
Naiara: Sim, eu tenho um namorado. É ele. (apontando para o Alessio)
Michael: Foi um prazer conhecê-la.
Naiara: O prazer foi nosso!
Braden:Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Naiara: Eu sou brasileira. E você?
Braden: I am Brazilian. And you?
Michael: Não, não sou brasileiro, sou americano.
Braden: No, I'm not Brazilian. I'm American.
Michael: (Virando para o Alessio) E você?
Braden: (Turning to Alessio) And you?
Alessio: Não, eu sou italiano.
Braden: No, I'm Italian.
Naiara: Vou para Salvador com meu namorado.
Braden: I'm going to Salvador with my boyfriend.
Michael: Você tem namorado?
Braden: You have a boyfriend?
Naiara: Sim, eu tenho um namorado. É ele. (Apontando para o Alessio)
Braden: I do. It's him. (Pointing to Alessio)
Michael: Foi um prazer conhecê-la.
Braden: It was a pleasure meeting you.
Naiara: O prazer foi nosso!
Braden: The pleasure was ours!
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Braden: Okay. It seems like Michael wanted to get out of that situation as soon as possible.
Thássia: Yes. He seemed uncomfortable. Hey, Braden, did you know that the official Portuguese orthography changed recently?
Braden: I did. By the way, orthography is the writing system of a language.
Thássia: Or better, it's changing.
Braden: That's right. Over the past fifty years or so, Brazil and other Portuguese speaking countries have altered their writing system a number of times trying to reach a universal Portuguese writing system.
Thássia: It's changed so much that reading a book published in Portuguese more than fifty years ago is very strange.
Braden: Which is why, even if you've learned Portuguese long ago, it's a good idea to restart here with the Absolute Beginners Series because so much has changed and we can answer many of your questions along the way. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
VOCAB LIST
Thássia: The first word we shall see is, brasileiro [natural native speed].
Braden: Brazilian
Thássia: Brasileiro [slowly broken down by syllable], brasileiro [natural native speed]. Americano [natural native speed].
Braden: American.
Thássia: Americano [slowly - broken down by syllable], americano [natural native speed]. Italiano [natural native speed].
Braden: Italian
Thássia: Italiano [slowly - broken down by syllable], italiano [natural native speed]. Namorado [natural native speed].
Braden: Boyfriend.
Thássia: Namorado [slowly - broken down by syllable], namorado [natural native speed].
KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES
Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Thássia: The first words we will look at are nationalities.
Braden: The dialogue contained the words "americano," "brasileira," and "italiano."
Thássia: These mean "American man," "Brazilian woman," and "Italian man," respectively.
Braden: Because of grammatical gender, there are also opposite forms which are…
Thássia: "Americana," "brasileiro," and "italiana."
Braden: Which mean "American woman," "Brazilian man," and "Italian woman."
Thássia: Can you hear the difference? The only thing that changes is the last letter.
Braden: That's right. The nationalities with an "-a" at the end indicate female speakers and the nationalities with an "-o" at the end indicate male speakers.
Thássia: You can make this plural by either adding an "-s" or an "-es" to the end of the correct word.
Braden: For example?
Thássia: "Americano" means "American" and "americanos" means "Americans." Just add an "-s."
Braden: And "brasileiro" means "Brazilian" and "brasileiros" means "Brazilians."
Thássia: Not all words follow this simple 'add an "-o" or an "-a" at the end to make it Portuguese' rule.
Braden: That's true. There are some nationalities, like "chinês," which means "Chinese," and "canadense," which means "Canadian."
Thássia: Like we said before, most nationalities change according to gender. If a Chinese man were speaking, he would say "Sou chinês," which means, "I'm Chinese." If a woman were speaking, she would say "Sou chinêsa," which means, "I'm Chinese."
Braden: But I have found that "canadense" doesn't do that. There is no such thing as a "canadensa," right?
Thássia: That sounds very weird to me.
Braden: It should be because it's not a word in Portuguese.
Thássia: I feel much better now. Let's take a look at today's grammar point.

Lesson focus

Braden: The focus of this lesson is asking someone's nationality.
Thássia: In the dialogue, we heard how to ask about someone's nationality.
Braden: To ask the question, you simply state, "Você é americano," which means "You are American," with a rising tone at the end. "You are American?"
Thássia: That rising tone is how you ask a question in Portuguese.
Braden: The rising tone changes the simple statement "você é americano," "You are American," into a question, "Você é americano?" "Are you American?"
Thássia: To respond to an inquiry about your nationality, you say "Não, não sou japonês."
Braden: Negating a verb, as in "go" versus "not go," is pretty easy in Portuguese. You simply place the word "não" in front of the verb.
Thássia: You should also know that in Portuguese double and even triple negatives are normal and do not cancel each other out as they do in Standard English.
Braden: That's right. And always remember that when writing about nationalities, Portuguese doesn't use capital letters.
Thássia: In English you write Italian with a capital "-I," but in Portuguese you write "italiano" all in lowercase.
Braden: That just about does it for this lesson.
Thássia: So stop by PortuguesePOD101.com and pick up the lesson notes.
Braden: It has the conversation transcript.
Thássia: Vocabulary, simple sentences, agreement explanation.
Braden: And a cultural insight section.
Thássia: Seeing the Portuguese really helps make the information stick.
Braden: But don't take our word for it. Please, have a look for yourself.
Thássia: Please, let us know what you think. Tchau!

Grammar

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