Learn how to talk about physical characteristics
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| DIALOGUE |
| Sara: Eu não tenho certeza, mas acho que aquele prédio alto é do Oscar Niemeyer. |
| Jake: Quem? |
| Sara: Aquele arquiteto velho que te falei. Que planejou Brasília. |
| Jake: Ah tá. Será que ele fez aquele prédio baixo ali também? |
| Sara: Eu acho que sim. Vou olhar no panfleto (brochure). |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Sara: Eu não tenho certeza, mas acho que aquele prédio alto é do Oscar Niemeyer. |
| Jake: Quem? |
| Sara: Aquele arquiteto velho que te falei. Que planejou Brasília. |
| Jake: Ah tá. Será que ele fez aquele prédio baixo ali também? |
| Sara: Eu acho que sim. Vou olhar no panfleto (brochure). |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Sara: Eu não tenho certeza, mas acho que aquele prédio alto é do Oscar Niemeyer. |
| Braden: I'm not sure, but I think that tall building over there was designed by Oscar Niemeyer. |
| Jake: Quem? |
| Braden: Who? |
| Sara: Aquele arquiteto velho que te falei. Que planejou Brasília. |
| Braden: That old architect I told you about. Who planned Brasília. |
| Jake: Ah tá. Será que ele fez aquele prédio baixo ali também? |
| Braden: Oh, okay. Could he have designed that short building over there as well? |
| Sara: Eu acho que sim. Vou olhar no panfleto (brochure). |
| Braden: I think so. Let me check the brochure. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Oscar Niemeyer |
| Sandra-: Oscar Niemeyer is another famous carioca. Was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1907 makes him one of the oldest Brazilians in the world at 104 years old. |
| Braden: He participated in the construction of the United Nations headquarters in New York, in the Latin America Memorial in São Paulo, the contemporary art museum in Niterói, which is just across the bay from Rio de Janeiro, the Cabo Branco Station in João Pessoa, Paraíba, and the Oscar Niemeyer Museum in Curitiba. |
| Sandra-: Certainly his largest achievement the design, construction, organization, and planning of Brasília, Brazil's capital city. |
| Braden: Works that have been declared heritage of humanity by UNESCO, for example - Brasília, can only be altered with his authorization. |
| Sandra-: Let's take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Sandra: certeza [natural native speed] |
| Braden: certainty, sureness, sure |
| Sandra: certeza [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: certeza [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: tenho [natural native speed] |
| Braden: I have |
| Sandra: tenho [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: tenho [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: aquele [natural native speed] |
| Braden: that, that over there |
| Sandra: aquele [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: aquele [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: prédio [natural native speed] |
| Braden: building |
| Sandra: prédio [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: prédio [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: quem [natural native speed] |
| Braden: who, whom |
| Sandra: quem [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: quem [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: arquiteto [natural native speed] |
| Braden: architect |
| Sandra: arquiteto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: arquiteto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: falei [natural native speed] |
| Braden: I spoke |
| Sandra: falei [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: falei [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: planejou [natural native speed] |
| Braden: he/she/it planned |
| Sandra: planejou [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: planejou [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: panfleto [natural native speed] |
| Braden: pamphlet, brochure |
| Sandra: panfleto [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: panfleto [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: acho [natural native speed] |
| Braden: I find |
| Sandra: acho [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: acho [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: velho [natural native speed] |
| Braden: old |
| Sandra: velho [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: velho [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: baixo [natural native speed] |
| Braden: low, short |
| Sandra: baixo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: baixo [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. |
| Sandra-: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase não tenho certeza |
| Braden: The literal translation is “no I have certainty” |
| Sandra-: but it means, “I’m not sure.” Or “I’m not completely certain.”For example, someone could ask you “A reunião será às dez horas ou à onze?” |
| Braden: which translates to, “Will the meeting be at 10 o’clock or 11?” You can respond to this using the phrase |
| Sandra-: “Não tenho certeza.” |
| Braden: in Portuguese you “have” certainty instead of “being certain.” |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Sandra-: (break down) |
| Braden: So what's our next phrase? |
| Sandra-: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase Vou olhar no panfleto |
| Braden: The literal translation is “I will look in the pamphlet” |
| Sandra-: but we translated as I look in the brochure. So, if you are adding some kind of tourist location and someone is handing out pamphlets you can ask for one by using the phrase, |
| Braden: Você poderia me dar um panfleto, por favor? |
| Sandra-: which translates to, “Could you give me a brochure please.” |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Sandra-: (break down) |
| Braden: Let's move on to the focus of this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Sandra-, what's the focus of this lesson? |
| Sandra-: The focus of this lesson is talking about physical characteristics |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase |
| Sandra-: Será que ele fez aquele prédio baixo ali também? |
| Braden: Which we translated as "Could he have designed that short building over there as well?" |
| Sandra-: In the dialogue, Sarah and Jake talked about two buildings that they think a Brazilian architect named Oscar Niemeyer designed. They use several adjectives to describe both the buildings and the architect. To describe the buildings they use the adjectives - |
| Sandra-: alto |
| Braden: "tall" |
| Sandra-: baixo |
| Braden: "short". To describe Oscar Niemeyer, the architect, they use the adjective - |
| Sandra-: velho |
| Braden: "old". You might think this is disrespectful but in fact as we mentioned before, he is 103. |
| Sandra-: Adjectives are words that modify color, specify, or alter standard nouns. |
| Braden: For example, the word prédio means “building.” If we add the adjective alto to the word prédio we get prédio alto which means "tall building”. |
| Sandra-: Remember that, opposite from English, adjectives in Portuguese directly follow the noun they modify. Only an extremely rare, abnormal, or poetic situations will there be anything between noun and the adjective that modifies it. |
| Braden: Could you give us some examples? |
| Sandra-: Sure. jovem |
| Braden: young |
| Sandra-: gordo |
| Braden: fat |
| Sandra-: magro |
| Braden: skinny |
| Sandra-: bonito |
| Braden: pretty |
| Sandra-: feio |
| Braden: ugly |
| Sandra-: profundo |
| Braden: deep |
| Sandra-: raso |
| Braden: shallow. Another interesting sub point of this is Equative sentences and adjectives. |
| Sandra-: You can describe physical characteristics using adjectives is by using a grammar structure called the equative sentence. Equative sentences equate two equal things. |
| Braden: Equative sentences are made up of 3 parts - the noun, the verb, and then the adjective used to describe the noun, officially called the predicate nominative. By the way, a quick tip is that predicate nominatives only occur in equative sentences and nowhere else. |
| Sandra-: A Sara é bonita. |
| Braden: "Sara is pretty." This is a description of Sarah. If you were to say, |
| Sandra-: Sara está bonita. |
| Braden: The meaning changes. The translation would be "Sara is pretty right now." and gives the feeling that she is dressed up for a party or something like that. She is currently pretty. |
| Sandra-: It also has the slight feeling that she isn't pretty at other times so i would advise to not use this. Sandra) |
| Braden: Could you show this to us in some sample sentences? |
| Sandra-: Sure. Minha arvore é alta. |
| Braden: which translates to "My tree is tall." |
| Braden: Now if you were to change the verb to estar you'd get |
| Sandra-: Minha arvore está alta. |
| Braden: Which translates to "My tree is tall now." and has the feeling of someone put my tree on top of a building. |
| Sandra-: Lets review this lesson. |
| Braden: Describing the physical characteristics of things around you is an extremely important ability for you to acquire. |
| Sandra-: Being able to describe the physical characteristic of things not only makes your conversation more interesting but it's also beneficial when giving and receiving directions, when ordering at a restaurant, or even when picking up clothes. |
| Braden: And remember there are 2 ways to describe the physical characteristics of anything. either by directly attaching the adjective to the noun or by using the equated sentence structure. |
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