Dialogue - Portuguese

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Vocabulary

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brincar to play, to joke, to have fun
roubar to steal, to rob
cachorro (Brazilian) dog
raça race, breed,
maior (Brazilian) bigger, larger
cão dog
chiuaua chihuahua, a dog breed from the Chihuahua region
obediente obedient

Lesson Notes

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Lesson Focus

The focus of this lesson is pretérito perfeito vs. pretérito imperfeito
Bem, eu deixei ele aqui atrás da porta. Ele é muito obediente então sabia que ele ia ficar.
"Well, I left him here behind the door. He is very obedient so I knew he would stay."


 

O pretérito perfeito vs. pretérito imperfeito



 

Pretérito Imperfeito
Views past moment as a single event. Views a past event in progress, can't see when it started or ended. Specifically:
1. Shows the moment when a past event began or ended. 1. Tell what was happening.
2. Shows an event ( or series of events) as being completed. 2. What used to or would happen in the past.

3. Physical, mental, or emotional state in the past.

4. Give background action in the past or set the stage for another action.

5. Give background action in the past or set the stage for another action.
O pretérito perfeito is kind of like a picture. O pretérito imperfeito is more like a filmstrip


For example:


Pretérito perfeito

  1. Eu comi a banana. "I ate the banana."
  2. Ele sentiu o cheiro dela. "He smelled her scent."
  3. Nós andamos para o parque. "We walked to the park."


Pretérito imperfeito

  1. Eu comia bananas sempre. "I always used to eat bananas."
  2. Ele sentia o cheiro dela toda vez que passava. "He used to smell her scent every time she passed by."
  3. Nós andávamos sempre. "We always used to walk."


Language Tip


tinha que vs. teve que

 

The phrases tinha que and teve que follow the same rules as any other preterit or imperfect conjugation.

  1. I used to have to do something (habitual)
  2. I had to... (once)

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

De raça
de raça is the Portuguese way to say "thoroughbred" or "pure-bred."

Meio bravo
Meio bravo means "a bit agressive" and not "half angry" as the literal translation might make it seem.

Gosta
In the dialogue we heard the phrase, Tem lugares que ele gosta? which we translated as "Are there places that he likes?" This is one of the rare examples of the verb gostar not being followed by the preposition de. There are a couple of ways to explain how this works. First is that, in Portuguese, you can't end a sentence with a preposition. You can do this in English—despite what your grammarian friends say—but in Portuguese, it's quite impossible; there must always be an object of the preposition. So, to not end with a preposition, the sentence ends with the verb gostar. The idea being that the rest of the sentence is inferred. So, the entire phrase would be Tem lugares que ele gosta "de frequentar"? In my experience, gostar can only not be followed by de if it is the last word in the sentence.

Cultural Insights

Breeds of Dog


I was surprised at how many dogs there are in Brazil. In many regions there are many stray dogs called cachorro vira-lata ("garbage-can-turning dogs") but there are also many dogs that are kept and bred as pets or guard dogs.

Some of the more common dog breeds in Brazil are:

  1. Pit Bull—type of bull terriers including staffordshire bull terrier, American Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and the American Pit Bull Terrier
  2. Pastor alemão—means German Shepherd, used for all dogs of this type.
  3. Labrador—means Labrador. Same as English.

Dog owners are likely to know the breed of their own dogs but not much about any other dog.

Lesson Transcript

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INTRODUCTION
Braden: Hello, and welcome to PortuguesePOD101.com, where we study modern Portuguese in a fun, educational format!
Sílvia: So, brush up on the Portuguese that you started learning long ago, or start learning today.
Braden: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson, Sílvia, what are we looking at in this lesson?
Braden: Welcome everyone to our first Intermediate lesson! You've been asking for it and now it's here!
Silvia: That's right! We've been hard at work getting this ready and setting things up just the way you want.
Braden: So, this is also one of the debut lesson of Silvia. They've been working with us for a while but always behind the seens. Now you in the spotlight!
Silvia: Hey hey!
Braden: So tell us a bit about yourself.
Silvia: Well...
Braden: That's really great. So could you tell us a bit about the this series and how it's going to work?
Silvia: Sure. Our main goal when we were designing this series was to give intermediate level listeners deeper contact with Brazil and Portuguese.
Braden: That's right. One of the most complicated parts about learning a new language is context, but physical and cultural and we think we've done a pretty good job bringing quite a few topics that an intermediate level probably wouldn't be able to learn about with out being "in-country."
Silvia: That's right. Our intermediate level is geared toward people who already have a longer term contact and plan on keeping contact with both the language and the culture for a while.
Braden: As opposed to the person who's just trying to get a credit a college. The intermediate level is difficult because by it's nature "intermediate" is pretty general. We define intermediate as anyone who can carry on a conversation. It may be a simple conversation or a highly technical conversation about nuclear reators but a conversation nonetheless.
Silvia: Our goal is that by the end of this series you'll be able to participate better in those conversations,
Braden: participate in more types of conversations
Silvia: and not get lost anymore!
Braden: that's a good one!
Silvia: Anyway so what's going on in this lesson?
Braden: Well the Story Line is that a lady is talking to the officer about her lost dog.
Lesson Details
Silvia: And what will we be learning in this lesson?
Braden: In this lesson, we'll be learning talking about the past
Silvia: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between?
Braden: This conversation takes place in the late morning, at the square, Adriana and the police officer
Silvia: What's the formality level?
Braden: Well, it's formal.
Silvia: Let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Policial: Então o que aconteceu?
Maria: Bem, eu deixei meu cachorro aqui atrás da porta. Ele é muito obediente então sabia que ele ia ficar.
Policial: Mas agora ele não está?
Maria: Não, ele desapareceu. Por isso chamei vocês.
Policial: Onde seu cachorro costumava ficar? Tem lugares que ele gosta?
Maria: Ele gosta do Parque Barigui. Tem muito espaço lá então ele consegue correr e brincar muito bem lá.
Policial: Também é a maior parque da cidade.
Maria: Fico preocupada também porque as vezes ele é meio bravo e talvez morda alguém.
Policial: Tem muitas pessoas que passam por lá. Você acha talvez que alguém roubou seu cachorro?
Maria: Eu não sei. Talvez, porque ele é de raça.
Policial: E qual é a raça dele?
Maria: Ele é um Chihuahua.
English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Policial: Então o que aconteceu?
Maria: Bem, eu deixei meu cachorro aqui atrás da porta. Ele é muito obediente então sabia que ele ia ficar.
Policial: Mas agora ele não está?
Maria: Não, ele desapareceu. Por isso chamei vocês.
Policial: Onde seu cachorro costumava ficar? Tem lugares que ele gosta?
Maria: Ele gosta do Parque Barigui. Tem muito espaço lá então ele consegue correr e brincar muito bem lá.
Policial: Também é a maior parque da cidade.
Maria: Fico preocupada também porque as vezes ele é meio bravo e talvez morda alguém.
Policial: Tem muitas pessoas que passam por lá. Você acha talvez que alguém roubou seu cachorro?
Maria: Eu não sei. Talvez, porque ele é de raça.
Policial: E qual é a raça dele?
Maria: Ele é um Chihuahua.
English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Policial: Então o que aconteceu?
Braden: So, what happened?
Maria: Bem, eu deixei meu cachorro aqui atrás da porta. Ele é muito obediente então sabia que ele ia ficar.
Braden: Well, I left my dog here behind the door. He is very obedient so I knew he would stay.
Policial: Mas agora ele não está?
Braden: But now he's not there?
Maria: Não, ele desapareceu. Por isso chamei vocês.
Braden: No, he disappeared. That's why I called you.
Policial: Onde seu cachorro costumava ficar? Tem lugares que ele gosta?
Braden: Where did your dog usually go? Are there places that he likes?
Maria: Ele gosta do Parque Barigui. Tem muito espaço lá então ele consegue correr e brincar muito bem lá.
Braden: He likes Barigui Park. There is a lot of space so he can run and play very well there.
Policial: Também é a maior parque da cidade.
Braden: It's also the largest park in the city.
Maria: Fico preocupada também porque as vezes ele é meio bravo e talvez morda alguém.
Braden: I'm worried too because sometimes he's a bit aggressive he might bite someone.
Policial: Tem muitas pessoas que passam por lá. Você acha talvez que alguém roubou seu cachorro?
Braden: Many people go through Barigui park. Do you think maybe someone stole your dog?
Maria: Eu não sei. Talvez, porque ele é de raça.
Braden: I don't know. Maybe, because he's purebred.
Policial: E qual é a raça dele?
Braden: And what breed of dog is he?
Maria: Ele é um Chihuahua.
Braden: He's a Chihuahua.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Braden: (ask Silvia something about the dialogue-Peter always does a little review about the previous lessons. explain what you are thinking about the storyline in the lesson, so the students can follow and participate - don't make them guess.)
Silvia: (response)
Braden: I was surprised at how many dogs there are in Brazil.
Silvia: That's right...
Braden: and in many regions there are many stray dogs called "cachorro vira-lata" why are they called vira-lata?

Silvia: (expand on that) but there are also many dogs that are kept and bred as pets or guard dogs.
Braden: okay so what are Some of the more common dog breeds in Brazil are -
(focus on pronunciation)
Pit Bull - type of bull terriers including staffordshire bull terrier, American Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and the American Pit Bull Terrier,
Pastor alemão - means german shepherd, used for all dogs of this type. as in pastor alemão (german shepherd)
Labrador -
(others?)
Braden: Also, in my experience, I've noticed that dog owners are likely to know the breed of their own dogs but not much about any other dog.
VOCAB LIST
Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
: The first word we shall see is:
Sílvia: brincar [natural native speed]
Braden: to play, to joke, to have fun
Sílvia: brincar [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: brincar [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: cachorro [natural native speed]
Braden: dog
Sílvia: cachorro [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: cachorro [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: obediente [natural native speed]
Braden: obedient
Sílvia: obediente [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: obediente [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: cão [natural native speed]
Braden: dog
Sílvia: cão [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: cão [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: maior [natural native speed]
Braden: bigger, larger
Sílvia: maior [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: maior [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: roubar [natural native speed]
Braden: to steal, to rob
Sílvia: roubar [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: roubar [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: raça [natural native speed]
Braden: race, breed,
Sílvia: raça [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: raça [natural native speed]
: Next:
Sílvia: chiuaua [natural native speed]
Braden: chihuahua, race of dog from the Chihuahua region
Sílvia: chiuaua [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Sílvia: chiuaua [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
de raça
Silvia: de raça
Braden: And what does this mean?
Silvia: de raça is the Portuguese way to say "thoroughbred" or "pure-bred."
Braden: But it literally translates to "of race," right?Could you break it down for us?
Silvia: (break down)
Braden: And how would you use this?
Silvia: (examples &Explanations)
Braden: And next we have
Silvia: meio bravo
Braden: which translates to?
Silvia: literally translates to "half angry" but it means "a bit agressive."
Braden: So she used this to describe her dog right. he was
Silvia: meio bravo yes
Braden: Cool. Next we have
Silvia: gosta. Now in the dialogue we heard the phrase, Tem lugares que ele gosta? which we translated as
Braden: "Are there places that he likes?" This is one of the rare examples of the verb gostar not being followed by the preposition de. There are a couple of ways to explain how this works.
Silvia: yes, First is that, in Portuguese, you can't end a sentence with a preposition. You can do this in English - dispite what your grammarian friends say - but it Portuguese, it's quite impossible, there must always be an object of the preposition.
Braden: That's right So, to not end with a preposition, the sentence simply drops the 'de' attached to the gostar." and ends with gosta. The idea being that the rest of the sentence, including the "de" is inferred.
Silvia: So, the entire phrase would be Tem lugares que ele gosta "de frequentar"?
Braden: In my experience, gostar can only not be followed by de if it is the last word in the sentence.
Silvia: Well even here gostar is followed by 'de' it's just that the 'de' left off. It's still there though, just not said.

Lesson focus

Braden: So Silvia, what's the focus of this lesson?
Silvia: The focus of this lesson is the pretérito perfeito vs. pretérito imperfeito
Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase
Silvia: Bem, eu deixei ele aqui atrás da porta.
Braden: Which we translated as "Well, I left him here behind the door."
Silvia: In this line we have both the preterit and the imperfect tense. In Portuguese, we call the preterit tense the preterito perfeito.
Braden: And what do you call the imperfect tense?
Silvia: the preterito imperfeito.
Braden: be sure to check out the PDF because we have a great table comparing the pretérito perfeito and the pretérito imperfeito. So how is the pretérito perfeito used?
Silvia: Well, it's actually the easier of the two. It's just the simple past. Simple being the key word.
Braden: Could you give us some examples of the pretérito perfeito?
Silvia: Sure. one simple phrase is Eu comi a banana.
Braden: Which we translated as "I ate the banana."
Silvia: another would be Nós andamos para o parque.
Braden: Which we translated as "We walked to the park."
Silvia: So the pretérito perfeito is the easier of these two past tenses. It's the simple past.
Braden: Right. The other past tense is called the pretérito imperfeito or imperfect tense. could you explain how to use the pretérito imperfeito?
Silvia: Sure. The preterito imperfeito is used when talking about repetitive actions, like always running in the morning, or emotions like I was so mad. That would be "Eu estava com tanta raiva" btw.
Braden: Do you use it for weather?
Silvia: Yes. Imperfeito is also used for weather and time. So, Estava três graus à seis da manhã. That's the imperfeito. Using the perfeito here sounds very strange, "esteve três graus às seis da manhã." is very weird and doesn't make sense. It gives the feeling that you were three degrees at six am.
Braden: Yeah, I wonder how you would do that? So, could you give us some examples of the pretérito imperfeito?
Silvia: Sure, I'll use the same "banana" example as before. The sentence Eu comia bananas. illustrates the difference between the preterit and the imperfect
Braden: That's right. Which we translated as "I used to eat bananas." That "used to" is important.
Silvia: The other example would be Nós andávamos sempre. instead of nós andamos sempre. did you hear that andávamos vs andamos.
Braden: Which we translated as "We always used to walk." So in the dialogue, we had the phrase
Silvia: Onde seu cachorro costumava ficar?
Braden: Which we translated as "Where did your dog usually go?" Now remember that we're going for meaning here not literal translation.
Silvia: Yeah the literal translation would be "where your dog was to stay?" and that doesn't make much sense does it.
Braden: So the idea here is a habitual action. The dog, in the past, used to (key phrase) go where frequently? Where does he usually go?
Silvia: Right. And that's the major difference between the pretérito perfeito and the preterito imperfeito. The pretérito perfeito is one time events, like snapshots on the past.
Braden: Right. like "I went home." Grammatically, that's a one time event and would be a pretérito perfeito in Portuguese
Silvia: Exactly. In contrast, I used to go home. is different.
Braden: That's right. Probably the best exercise to understand the difference is to try to describe the difference (the difference you feel) between these two phrase. How has the meaning changed and why didn't you say "I went home" to mean "I used to go home." Explain, to yourself why they are different. They are not the same in English and they are not the same in Portuguese.
Braden: And one more example from the dialogue.
Silvia: Well there's Então o que aconteceu? which the policeman said at the beginning.
Braden: Which we translated as "so, what happened?" This is a pretérito perfeito
Silvia: right and a pretérito imperfeito would be Ele é muito obediente então sabia que ele ia ficar.
Braden: Which we translated as "He is very obedient so I knew he would stay."
Silvia: One last example, of this is a short fixed phrase. In the beginner series, we've gone over the phrase tem que which means "have to"
Braden: just like in English this can be made past tense. You can say, "had to" or "used to have to" How do you say those in Portuguese?
Silvia: Well to say "had to" in Portuguese you conjugate the verb ter to the pretérito perfeito - that means you have to watch which person you're using. So, to translate "you had to" it would be "você teve que."
Braden: And in the imperfect?
Silvia: well that would be "you used to have to" right? That would be "você tinha que"
Braden: Okay, so the impefect past is for emotions, weather, time, habitual actions, and for whenever you need to translate "used to."
Silvia: and the preterit tense or pretérito perfeito is used for snapshots of the past. Simple past actions view as a single event.
Braden: right. Like I listened to this great PortuguesPod101 lesson.
Silvia: Ha! Which would be "Eu ouvi essa ótima lição do PortuguesPod101."
Braden: That's all for today. Thanks for listening,

Outro

Braden: That just about does it for today.
Sílvia: Listeners, ever have any Portuguese language or lesson-related questions?
Braden: Or maybe you have some feedback for us...
Braden: Leave us a comment or ask a question on the lessons page!
Sílvia: It's super simple. Go to PortuguesePod101.com...
Braden: ...click on comments,
Sílvia: ...enter your comment and name,
Braden: ...and that's it!
Sílvia: Commenting is a a great way to practice writing and reading in Portuguese.
Braden: It helps you learn faster.
Sílvia: And it helps us get better through your feedback.
Braden: No excuses.
Sílvia: Go to PortuguesePod101.com, and comment now.
Braden: NOW!
Braden: See ya later!
Sílvia: Tchau tchau!