Dialogue - Portuguese

Hide

Vocabulary (Review)

Hide
roupa (Brazilian) clothes
lado (Brazilian) side
foto (Brazilian) photo
distante (Brazilian) far
botão button, flower bud
frente front
moço (Brazilian) young man
paisagem landscape
fundo background, bottom, depths, fund
abaixar to lower, to turn down
detalhista a person who pays a lot of attention to details
cima (Brazilian) top, summit
trás back, behind
moça (Brazilian) young woman
habilidoso talented, skilled

Lesson Notes

Hide

Lesson Focus

The Focus of This Lesson is Portuguese Prepositions and Phrasal Prepositions
No botão do meio.
"The middle button."


Prepositions show the relationships that things have to each other. In the Beginner and Absolute Beginner series we spoke about many of the most common prepositions in Portuguese. In this lesson we are going to talk about several new prepositions and a common grammatical structure we call phrasal prepositions.

For the grammarians, a phrasal preposition is two or more words that grammatically function as a single prepositional unit or concept.

For Example:

  1. Ela chegou antes de mim.
    "She arrived before me."
  2. Ele desceu lá para baixo.
    "He went down there."

Portuguese

"English

por

"for," "to"

para

"to," "for"

em

"in," "on," "at"

de

"of," "from"

antes de

"before"

por baixo de

"below"

em cima

"on top"

para baixo

"down"

For example, the phrase por baixo breaks apart as por and baixo which could mean "for low," "for short," or even "for quiet," but it doesn't, it means "below," a single prepositional concept.

Another example is the phrase em cima which breaks apart as em and cima. Literally, it could be "on up," "in above," or "at high," but it doesn't, it means, and always means "on top of."

Examples from This Dialogue:

  1. Nesse botão aí de cima.
    "That button on the top."
  2. Mas agora tem um buraco em baixo da cerca.
    "But now there's a hole underneath the fence."

Sample Sentence:

  1. Tem um buraco cinco metros na sua frente.
    "There's a hole five meters in front of you."


Language Tip



Now a quick tip about something that you see a few times in the dialogue—the phrase para a. You'll remember that para is a preposition but a can be an article or a preposition. In this case, a is acting as an article. So here's the tip, whenever you see or hear para followed by a it's always an article, never a preposition, except for maybe in some strange poem. Plus the para and the a get slurred together when they are said at native speed. para-a. It sounds kind of like the a is prolonged and there's a little bump in it.

Key Vocabulary & Phrases

que (noun + adjective)!
We'll start by looking at the structure que... In the dialogue, Juliana said Que lugar lindo! which we translated as "What a beautiful place!" Que... (followed by a noun and an adjective) works the same as "What a..." or "What an..." Some examples are: Que filme interessante! which means, "What an interesting movie!" and Que lugar quente! to mean, "What a hot place!"

X
Next we have X. In Portuguese we use X as an equivalent for "cheese" when taking pictures. Actually X is the name of the letter "-x" in Portuguese. In Brazil, they say this because when you read the English word "cheese" in Portuguese, the "ch-" makes a "sh-" sound thus making "cheese" sound like "sheeze" which sounds almost exactly like the letter "-X" in Portuguese. So, it is common to hear someone saying digam X before taking pictures to mean "Say cheeeese."

moço and moça
The next words we'll look at are moço and moça. Moço and moça respectively mean "young man" and "young woman." These are very good words to use when calling someone's attention in the street, for example. They are nice and polite words, but they are not old or too formal. Just remember to use moço for "man" and moça for "woman." The "-os" are closed: moço and moça.

conferir
Conferir is the Portuguese verb for "to check." In the dialogue the park-goer said Confere se ficou boa which we translated as "Check to see if it turned out good." It sounds a lot like "to confirm" but that's a false connection I made when I was learning Portuguese. "To confirm" in Portuguese is confirmar but "to check" is conferir. You could use this verb like this, Vou conferir to say "I'll check," or like this, Ele conferiu a lista de afazeres? which means "He checked the task list."

Cultural Insights

No Mountains


There is some beautiful scenery in Brazil and a good camera is a must. Whereas Brazil is pretty flat, not any real mountains anywhere, I grew up in the Rocky Mountains. The Rio and São Paulo areas have lots of large hills that are quite pretty but no mountains. On a bus ride through Mato Grosso I remember waking up at dawn and looking out the window. The bus was driving on a curvy road on the edge of a mountain that had a deep canyon at the bottom. If it hadn't been so pretty, I'd have been terrified.

Lesson Transcript

Hide
INTRODUCTION
None (manual write in):
Thássia: Braden could you please explain a little bit about this series for our listeners?
Braden: Sure. First off, I'm really Excited for this series! We are going to cover a lot of stuff and answer a lot of questions. We’re going to introduce you to many key concepts and important points so you can progress in your Portuguese learning.
Thássia: Lower intermediate lessons are always in English but different from our Beginner series, we don’t limit the complexity of the dialogues.
Braden: That’s right. In the absolute beginner and beginner series’ sometime we have to structure the dialogue to match what needs to be taught but the Lower intermediate series acts as a bridge between the Beginner and Intermediate levels.
Thássia: So we use only natural dialogues and a focus on higher level Portuguese. And we teach more complex concepts than our Beginner series.
Braden: Right, we’ve already started working on our Intermediate and Upper Intermediate series where we deal with all the really advanced stuff like business proposals, job interviews, and I’m still toying with some other specialty topics so give us your suggestions and comments!
Lesson Details
Thássia: Okay, so Braden, please tell us what we will be learning in this lesson.
Braden: Right, in this lesson, we’ll be learning about prepositions in Portuguese.
Thássia: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between?
Braden: This conversation takes place in the late afternoon at the Chapada das Guimarães, near Cuiabá, Mato Grosso.
Thássia: What's the formality level?
Braden: Well, Juliana and Thomas are dating so they’ll speak informally to each other but because they don't know the other park-goer, they'll be speaking formally to him.
Thássia: Let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Juliana: Nossa! Que lugar lindo!
Thomas: Pode crer! Vamos tirar uma foto com essa paisagem de fundo?!
Juliana: Vai ficar linda! Vou pedir para aquele rapaz ali tirar.
(walking over)
Juliana: Moço, poderia tirar uma foto nossa?
Passerby: Claro.
(sounds of camera exchanging and people shuffing off)
Passerby: Hum...tá muito distante! Moça, onde é que dá o zoom?
Juliana: (ao longe) Nesse botão aí em cima.
Passerby: E onde é que tira o flash?
Juliana: No botão do meio.
Passerby: Ah achei! (falando para ele mesmo) vai ficar muito boa a foto. Perai, é melhor você ficar na frente do seu namorado. Assim a paisagem fica bem enquadrada ao lado de vocês, bem na sua esquerda.
Juliana: (ao longe) Assim tá bom?
Passerby: Melhorou, mas ele é bem mais alto que você. Poderia abaixar?
Thomas: Assim?
Passerby: Tá ótimo agora. Digam X.
Juliana e Thomas: xiiiiiiiiiis!
Passerby: Confere se ficou boa.
Juliana: Nossa! Ficou excelente, obrigada moço!
Passerby: De nada!
(Passerby leaves)
Thomas: Ficou boa mesmo, mas que cara mais detalhista!
English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly.
Juliana: Nossa! Que lugar lindo!
Thomas: Pode crer! Vamos tirar uma foto com essa paisagem de fundo?!
Juliana: Vai ficar linda! Vou pedir para aquele rapaz ali tirar.
(walking over)
Juliana: Moço, poderia tirar uma foto nossa?
Passerby: Claro.
(sounds of camera exchanging and people shuffing off)
Passerby: Hum...tá muito distante! Moça, onde é que dá o zoom?
Juliana: (ao longe) Nesse botão aí em cima.
Passerby: E onde é que tira o flash?
Juliana: No botão do meio.
Passerby: Ah achei! (falando para ele mesmo) vai ficar muito boa a foto. Perai, é melhor você ficar na frente do seu namorado. Assim a paisagem fica bem enquadrada ao lado de vocês, bem na sua esquerda.
Juliana: (ao longe) Assim tá bom?
Passerby: Melhorou, mas ele é bem mais alto que você. Poderia abaixar?
Thomas: Assim?
Passerby: Tá ótimo agora. Digam X.
Juliana e Thomas: xiiiiiiiiiis!
Passerby: Confere se ficou boa.
Juliana: Nossa! Ficou excelente, obrigada moço!
Passerby: De nada!
(Passerby leaves)
Thomas: Ficou boa mesmo, mas que cara mais detalhista!
English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation.
Juliana: Nossa! Que lugar lindo!
Braden: Wow! What a beautiful place!
Thomas: Pode crer! Vamos tirar uma foto com essa paisagem de fundo?!
Braden: You'd better believe it! Let's take a picture with this landscape behind us.
Juliana: Vai ficar linda! Vou pedir para aquele rapaz ali tirar.
Braden: That will be beautiful! I'll ask that guy there to take it.
(walking over)
Braden(walking over)
Juliana: Moço, poderia tirar uma foto nossa?
Braden: Young man, could you take a picture of us?
Passerby: Claro.
Braden: Of course.
(sounds of camera exchanging and people shuffing off)
Braden(sounds of camera exchanging and people shuffling off)
Passerby: Hum...tá muito distante! Moça, onde é que dá o zoom?
Braden: Hum…It's really far! Young woman, where do I control the zoom?
Juliana: (ao longe) Nesse botão aí em cima.
Braden: That button there on the top.
Passerby: E onde é que tira o flash?
Braden: And where is the flash?
Juliana: No botão do meio.
Braden: The button in the middle.
Passerby: Ah achei! (falando para ele mesmo) vai ficar muito boa a foto. Perai, é melhor você ficar na frente do seu namorado. Assim a paisagem fica bem enquadrada ao lado de vocês, bem na sua esquerda.
Braden: Ah I found it! The photo will be very good. Wait, it's better if you're in front of your boyfriend, that way the landscape is well situated near you, just on your left.
Juliana: (ao longe) Assim tá bom?
Braden: Is this good?
Passerby: Melhorou, mas ele é bem mais alto que você. Poderia abaixar?
Braden: Better, but he is a lot taller than you. Could you lower yourself?
Thomas: Assim?
Braden: Like this?
Passerby: Tá ótimo agora. Digam X.
Braden: It's great now. Say Cheese.
Juliana e Thomas: xiiiiiiiiiis!
Braden: Cheeeese!
Passerby: Confere se ficou boa.
Braden: Check to see if it turned out good.
Juliana: Nossa! Ficou excelente, obrigada moço!
Braden: Wow! It turned out excellent, thank you young man!
Passerby: De nada!
Braden: You're welcome!
(Passerby leaves)
Braden(Passerby leaves)
Thomas: Ficou boa mesmo, mas que cara mais detalhista!
Braden: It did turn out really well but what a particular guy.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Thássia: Brazilian women are always worried about their hair.
Braden: That’s true. But when you’re trying to take a picture that will last for a long time, it makes sense that you get a bit apprehensive about your appearance.
Thássia: I certainly do.
Braden: And there certainly is some beautiful scenery in Brazil, and a good camera is a must.
Thássia: Yes. I love it here.
Braden: Although Brazil is pretty flat, not any real mountains anywhere, I grew up in the Rocky Mountains.
Thássia: The Rio and São Paulo areas have lots of large hills that are quite pretty but no mountains.
Braden: On a bus ride through Mato Grosso I remember waking up at dawn an looking out the window. The bus was driving on a curvy road on the edge of a mountain that had a deep canyon at the bottom. If it hadn’t been so pretty, I’d have been terrified.
VOCAB LIST
Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson.
: The first word we shall see is:
Camila: foto [natural native speed]
Braden: photo
Camila: foto [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: foto [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: distante [natural native speed]
Braden: far
Camila: distante [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: distante [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: lado [natural native speed]
Braden: side
Camila: lado [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: lado [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: botão [natural native speed]
Braden: button, flower bud
Camila: botão [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: botão [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: frente [natural native speed]
Braden: front
Camila: frente [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: frente [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: moço [natural native speed]
Braden: young man
Camila: moço [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: moço [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: paisagem [natural native speed]
Braden: landscape
Camila: paisagem [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: paisagem [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: fundo [natural native speed]
Braden: background, bottom, depths, fund
Camila: fundo [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: fundo [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: abaixar [natural native speed]
Braden: to lower, to turn down
Camila: abaixar [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: abaixar [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: detalhista [natural native speed]
Braden: a person who pays a lot of attention to details
Camila: detalhista [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: detalhista [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: cima [natural native speed]
Braden: top, summit
Camila: cima [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: cima [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: trás [natural native speed]
Braden: back, behind
Camila: trás [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: trás [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: moça [natural native speed]
Braden: young woman
Camila: moça [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: moça [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: habilidoso [natural native speed]
Braden: talented, skilled
Camila: habilidoso [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: habilidoso [natural native speed]
: Next:
Camila: roupa [natural native speed]
Braden: clothes
Camila: roupa [slowly - broken down by syllable]
Camila: roupa [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.
Thássia: We’ll start by looking at the structure que... In the dialogue, Juliana said “Que lugar lindo!”
Braden: which we translated as “What a beautiful place!”
Thássia: Que... (followed by a noun and an adjective) works the same as “what a...” or “what an...”
Braden: Some examples are, Que filme interessante! which means “what an interesting movie!”
Thássia: and Que lugar quente! to mean “What a hot place”
Braden: Next we have X.
Thássia: In Portuguese we use X as an equivalent for “cheese” when taking pictures.
Braden: Actually X is the name of the letter “x” in Portuguese. In Brazil, they say this because when you read the English word “cheese” in Portuguese, the “ch” makes a “sh” sound thus making “cheese” sound like “sheeze” which sounds almost exactly like the letter “X” in Portuguese.
Thássia: So, it is common to hear someone saying digam X before taking pictures to mean “say cheeeese.”
Braden: The next words we’ll look at are moço and moça.
Thássia: Moço and moça respectivaly mean “young man” and “young woman.”
Braden: These are very good words to use when calling someone’s attention in the street, for example.
Thássia: They are nice and polite words, and they are not old or too formal. Just remember to use moço for young man and moça for young woman.
Braden: and what about the “os” here?
Thássia: Right! The “os” are closed, moço and moça.
Braden: Next we have “conferir” - to check.
Thássia: Conferir is the Portuguese verb for “to check.” In the dialogue the park-goer said Confere se ficou boa
Braden: which we translated as “Check to see if it turned out good.” It sounds a lot like “to confirm” but that’s a false connection. I did that when I was learning Portuguese.
Thássia: “To confirm” in Portuguese is confirmar but “to check” is conferir. You could use this verb like this Vou conferir to say “I’ll check”
Braden: or like this “Ele conferiu a lista de afazeres? which means “He checked the task list.”

Lesson focus

Braden: so Thássia, what’s the focus of this lesson?
Thássia: The focus of this lesson is Portuguese prepositions and phrasal prepositions
Braden: In the dialogue we heard the phrase –
Thássia: No botão do meio. which we translated as
Braden: "The middle button.” this phrase is interesting because in Portuguese there are two prepositions but in the translation there aren’t any.
Thássia: Prepositions show the relationships that things have to each other. In the Beginner and Absolute Beginner series’ we spoke about many of the most common prepositions in Portuguese.
Braden: That’s right. In this lesson we are going to talk about several new prepositions and a common grammatical structure we call phrasal prepositions. A phrasal preposition is defined as two or more words that grammatically function as a single prepositional unit or concept.
Thássia: so an example sentence would be Ela chegou antes de mim. – “She arrived before me.” Here whe have two prepositions that must be used together to form one single prepositional concept.
Thássia: Technically “before” would be just antes but in Portuguese the de is always used, just like with the verb gostar de. The dictionary wouldn’t say that but you can’t use antes without “de.”
Braden: Another example would be Ele desceu lá para baixo. – "He went down there.”
Thássia: Here a preposition and an adjective para and baixo are used to mean “down.”
Braden: For example, the phrase “por baixo” breaks apart as “por” and “baixo” which could mean “for low,” “for short,” or even “for quiet” but it doesn’t, it means “below,” a single prepositional concept.
Thássia: Another example is the phrase “em cima” which breaks apart as “em” and “cima.” Literally it could be “on up,” “in above,” or “at high.” but it doesn’t, it means, and always means, “on top.”
Braden: So in the dialogue we heard “Nesse botão aí de cima.” which means "That button on the top."
Thássia: and “Mas agora tem um buraco em baixo da cerca.” which we translated as “But now there’s a hole underneath the fence.”
Braden: Now a quick tip that you see a few times in the dialogue is the phrase “para a.” “para” is a preposition but “a” can be a preposition or an article. In this case, "a" is acting as an article.
Thássia: But how do you know?
Braden: Right! So here’s the tip, whenever you see or hear “para” followed by “a” it’s always an article, never a preposition, except for maybe in some strange poem.
Thássia: Yeah, poetry breaks all the rules.
Braden: Plus the “para” and the “a” get slurred together when they are said at native speed.
Thássia: “para–a” It sounds kind of like the "a" is prolonged and there’s a little bump in it.
Braden: So prepositions show relationships and between Portuguese and English the prepositions are really quite different in how they are used and what they mean.
Thássia: Yes. Prepositions are also very difficult to define so it’s best to read or listen to native speech to identify how and when which prepositions are used to really understand them.