Learn how to use uns and umas to talk about probability
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Paloma: Olá! Eu sou a Paloma! |
| Gina: Gina here! Welcome back to PortuguesePod101.com. This is Upper Beginner Season 2 Lesson 11 - Are You Experiencing Some Problems in Brazil? In this lesson you’ll learn how to use articles to talk about probability in Portuguese. Paloma: This conversation is between Rogério and Adriana, and it takes place after a meeting in the early afternoon. Gina: Rafael is the chairman of the committee, so the speakers will be using formal Portuguese.: |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Paloma: As we mentioned in lesson eight, when you speak to people who are older than you, we usually use the terms o senhor and a senhora, or their plural forms os senhores and as senhoras when you’re speaking to a group. |
| Gina: That's right. Two other words that are used to show respect are roughly translated as "Mr." and "Mrs." but are more terms of respect than exact titles. |
| Paloma: And in Portuguese, those would be Seu for men and Dona for women. You use them in the same situations and with the same people you would use the phrases o senhor and a senhora. |
| Gina: But remember these two new words can only be used before the person’s name. You may sometimes even use them in the same sentence. Let’s hear an example. Paloma: Seu Pedro? O senhor vai sair conosco? Which translates to "Mr. Pedro? Will you be leaving with us?" |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. What’ve we got first? |
| Paloma: The first phrase we’re going to look at is O que houve? |
| Gina: ...which means "what happened." This phrase is a very intelligent one. |
| Paloma: In fact, most phrases that use the verb haver like this one tend to sound intelligent and polished. |
| Gina: This could be because it’s an irregular verb and has a fairly difficult conjugation pattern. We're not sure. |
| Paloma: (laughs) But beyond that, the word is not used very often, which makes it seem even more noticeable. |
| Gina: In any case, the question is very polite and kind. You can use it when you want to show that you’re concerned about someone or something. |
| Paloma: OK, next is não vai poder vir. It has many verbs! |
| Gina: It’s a mouthful alright! But the meaning is "will not be able to come." |
| Paloma: This is an instance where we have three verbs - ir, poder, and vir - linked together in a kind of verbal string. |
| Gina: That's right. Now, the only verb that is conjugated is the first one... |
| Paloma: ...which is vai. The rest are kept in their infinitive forms. Okay, finally, our last phrase is algum problema.. |
| Gina: ...which is "some problem" or "any problem". |
| Paloma: Note that the word problema, although ending with "a", is a masculine word, which doesn’t mean it’s used only by men, but grammatically it has masculine gender. |
| Gina: That’s right. In other words if you were to say it as a feminine word… |
| Paloma: ...alguma problema… |
| Gina: ...that would be grammatically incorrect. Okay, now onto the grammar. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Paloma: In this lesson, you’ll learn about using uns and umas to talk about probability in Portuguese. |
| Gina: Okay so, in Portuguese, there are four related words that have a lot more than four meanings. |
| Paloma: That's right. Those four words are um, uma, uns, and umas. |
| Gina: Probably the most common use of these words is as indefinite articles, which are words like "a" and "an" in English. |
| Paloma: Right. An example of these words being used as indefinite articles would be Eu quero ganhar uma viagem para um hotel cinco estrelas. |
| Gina: "I want to win a trip to a 5-star hotel." Next, we’re going to look at the Portuguese plural for "a." |
| Paloma: Yes, the words um and uma can also change to their respective plurals, uns and umas. |
| Gina: These plural articles are more equivalent to the word "some." : Paloma: Right. An example of this would be Eles compraram umas casas. |
| Gina: "They purchased some houses." or "They purchased a few houses." Wouldn't that be nice. Just walk up and purchase some houses. |
| Paloma: Dream of a lifetime for me. (laughs) Okay, lastly, we’ll look at using uns and umas as "about" or "around". |
| Gina: In the dialogue, the word uns was used twice with the meaning "about." Could you give us an example? |
| Paloma: Sure! Eu recebi um telefonema da senhora Fernandes faz uns 15 minutos. |
| Gina: "I received a phone call from Mrs. Fernandes about fifteen minutes ago." |
| Paloma: Now, notice how both meanings of um are used in the same sentence. At the end of the sentence, uns 15 minutos… |
| Gina: ...literally "some 15 minutes", is how we sometimes speak in English, as in "The person just bought some 50 houses." |
| Paloma: This isn’t a common way to speak, nor a common purchase for most people! But it is the meaning of uns and umas. |
| Gina: And it’s grammatically correct in Portuguese |
| Paloma: That's right. The only difference is that in Portuguese, this usage is much more common. |
Outro |
|---|
| Gina: Great, that’s all for this lesson! Remember to check the lesson notes, and leave us a comment if you have any questions. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. Paloma: Tchau tchau! Gina: Bye! |
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