Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Paloma: Olá! I’m Paloma, and welcome to the lesson!
Gina: Gina here! This is Upper Beginner Season 2 Lesson 8 - Why Should You Accept This Portuguese Invitation?
Paloma: In this lesson you’ll learn about giving reasons using the preposition “para”. The conversation is between Adriana and Débora Fernandes.
Gina: And it takes place in the afternoon on the phone. They have never met, so they’ll be using formal Portuguese.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Gina: Talking to older people in Brazil can be terrifying because things are always changing. So, you may learn a particular formal form for addressing older people but who knows if it's still correct to use!
Paloma: Exactly. This can be a big problem. The traditional way is to address them using the phrases o senhor for “Mr.” and a senhora for “Ms.” or “ma’am”.
Gina: But textbooks don't often explain that, unless the person is much older than you, by thirty or forty years for example, you probably won't refer to them this way.
Paloma: That's true. For people who are close to your own age, within ten years for example, you'd probably just call them você.
Gina: Nowadays, it's more about social relationships than age, like telemarketers or secretaries at banks call everyone Mr. and Ms., regardless of their age.
Paloma: Yes, that’s so true!
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES
Gina: Let’s take a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson.
Paloma: In Brazil, there are formal forms of “you.” our first phrase is a senhora.
Gina: That's right. This means “the lady”. However, when you’re speaking to an older woman, you can politely address her using this term.
Paloma: For example, you could say A senhora vai nos visitar semana que vem? instead of Você vai nos visitar semana que vem?
Gina: Excellent example! Both mean “Will you visit us next week?” Alright. What’s next?
Paloma: The next words are deveria and poderia, which share something in common; they both have -ia at the end.
Gina: This is a type of conjugation that is often referred to as the “‘would’ conjugation.”
Paloma: That’s right. So, poderia is translated as “would be able to”, and deveria as “would must”.
Gina: Now, that last one doesn’t really make sense in English, so a better translation for that is “should”. And there are differences in their usage.
Paloma: That’s right. The word poderia can be separated from its -ia ending and placed behind it as in ia poder.
Gina: This changes the meaning from “would be able to” to “was going to be able to”. That doesn’t make much sense either, so let’s say “would have been able to”.
Paloma: But, we can’t split up deveria and rearrange the parts the same way. If we did, we would get ia dever, which means “was going to owe”.
Gina: Okay, and what is our last phrase?
Paloma: That would be saber o porquê.
Gina: This phrase means “to know why” or “to know the reason why”.
Paloma: When spoken you may not notice the difference, but in written Portuguese, the ê of porquê is spelled slightly differently, with a circumflex accent over the “e.”
Gina: That’s right! When written altogether, with the accent, it is a noun, and means “the cause” or “the reason”. Okay, now onto the grammar.
GRAMMAR POINT
Paloma: In this lesson, you’ll learn about giving reasons using para, as in Estou ligando para convidá-la a participar da nossa próxima reunião.
Gina: Ah, that example is one that we heard in the dialogue. We can translate it as “I’m calling to invite you to participate in our next meeting.”
Paloma: Notice how the word para is used to introduce the reason Adriana is calling.
Gina: Also notice that this is the same way the word “to” is used in English.
Paloma: Right! Sentences using para to provide an explanation have three parts.
Gina: First, you have the action or the thing that you want to explain.
Paloma: Second, you have the word para which shifts towards giving the explanation.
Gina: And third, you have the actual explanation or reason for the action. So let’s break down this sentence.
Paloma: The first part or the thing we want to explain would be Estou ligando.
Gina: “I am calling...”
Paloma: Then the second part of the sentence is the word para. Then, the third part, which is the largest part of the sentence, is convidá-la a participar da nossa próxima reunião.
Gina: “...invite you to participate in our next meeting.”
Paloma: Now, the word convidá-la is a special verbal conjugation that we’ll talk about in the intermediate series.
Gina: Yes, for now just know that it means “invite you” when you’re talking to a woman.
Paloma: If Adriana had been calling to a man she would have said convidá-lo.
Gina: Ok great! Let’s give the listeners another example.
Paloma: Sure! How about using the word para with more than one person, like A banda tocou uma música agitada para as pessoas dançarem mais rápido.
Gina: “The band played a hectic song for people to dance faster.” Now, this example has the same three parts of the sentence. The difference here is that the first part which gives the action or thing you want to explain is much larger than in our previous examples. But the structure is the same.
Paloma: There is a special conjugation in the third part of the sentence however. Here, the word dançarem is the infinitive dançar plus -em, which makes it in the plural form in the third person.
MARKETING PIECE
Paloma: Do you know the number one reason people don't study a second language?
Gina: Not enough time.
Paloma: You’re very busy.
Gina: We know. And that’s why we have one click lesson downloads on iTunes!
Paloma: Subscribe on iTunes.
Gina: All free materials will be automatically downloaded for each new lesson as they become available.
Paloma: Basic and premium members, get access to all bonus lesson materials too!
Gina: Save time. Spend more time studying.
Paloma: Never worry about missing another lesson again!
Gina: Go to iTunes, search with the phrase PortuguesePod101.com and click Subscribe.

Outro

Gina: Well, that’s all for this lesson. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time!
Paloma: Até mais!

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