Week 6 – Day 2: Tanto Trabalho!
Week 6 – Day 2
You can get the PDF for this lesson here.
You can watch the video here
Tanto trabalho! – so much work!
Entertaining portuguese friends is a good way to practice your portuguese. Even if you can’t speak that well it is a great opportunity to listen.
O jantar – the dinner
O almoço – the lunch
A entrada – the starter
O prato principal – the main meal
A sobremesa – the dessert
See also Week 3 – Day 1
Audio
Acabaram de jantar e agora estão a tomar um café com a sobremesa
Ana: Este inverno está tão frio, mal posso esperar para o verão!
Inga: Eu também. Vais de férias para o Brasil, não vais?
Ana: Vou, ou seja, vamos. Tenho de levar a família, não é?
Mary: Que bom! Nós só vamos à Inglaterra para ver os nossos filhos na primavera.
Ana: Faz muito frio na primavera lá?
Mary: Depende, às vezes em Maio, faz muito calor.
Inga: Eu gosto de ir à Alemanha no outono, por causa das cores.
Ana: Por causa das cores?
Inga: Sim. As cores do Outono. Sabes, as árvores ficam muito bonitas com tons de laranja e vermelha!
Breakdown: Audio
They have just finished diner and now they are taking (having) coffee with the dessert
Este inverno – this winter
Está tão frio – it is so cold
Mal posso esperar – I can hardly wait
para o verão! – for the summer!
Eu também – me too / me also
Vais de férias para o Brasil, não vais? – you are going on holiday to Brazil, aren’t you?
Vou, ou seja, vamos – I am, or rather, we are (Lit. I go, or rather, we go)
Tenho de levar a família, não é? – I have to take the family, don’t I?
Que bom! – How great
Nós só vamos à Inglaterra – We are just going to England
para ver os nossos filhos – to see our children
na primavera – in the spring
Faz muito frio na primavera lá? – does it get cold in the spring?
Depende – depends
Às vezes em Maio, faz muito calor – sometime in May it gets very warm
Eu gosto de ir à Alemanha no outono – I like to go to Germany in the Autumn
Por causa das cores? – because of the colours? (without the ‘?’ it is a statement)
Sim – yes
As cores do Outono – the Autumn colours
Sabes, as árvores ficam muito bonitas – you know, the trees look very pretty
com tons de laranja e vermelha! – with orange and red tones
We used the verb Saber – to know a little in week 3 and 4, it was the verb of the week in Week 3 – Day 2. The verb conhecer – to know was the verb of the day in Week 5 – Day 1.
There is a big difference between the two.
Saber ou conhecer? – to know or to know?
Audio
Saber is more to do with knowledge of something. The word sabedoria in Portuguese means wise. Um sabichão / uma sabichona is ‘a know it all’. Saber is to know how to do something, to have knowledge about something.
Ele sabe jogar golfe – he knows how to play golf
A minha filha sabe nadar muito bem – my daughter knows (how) to swim very well
Eu sei fazer bolos – I know (how) to make cakes
Nós sabemos o que se passou – we know what happened
Sabe que horas abre o banco, se faz favor? – Do you know what time the bank opens, please?
(Note: we do not use the verb poder when saying we know how to do something – Posso fazer um bolo will translate more like I have permission to make a cake, rather than I know how to make one. See week 5 – day 1)
Conhecer means to know or to be acquainted with.
O senhor conhece o restaurante “Belo Sol”? – do you know the restaurante Belo Sol ( are you acquainted with it?)
- Conheces o João? – do you know João?
- Conheço-o muito bem! – I know him really well
Eu não conheço a Bélgica, nunca lá fui – I don’t know Belgium, I have never been there
Conhecem aquele homem? – do you all know that man?
This verb reminded me of the French word connoisseur – a wine connoisseur – knows his wine!
Adjectives
Nouns are pretty straight forward, they are the names we give to things for the purpose of identifying them. Car, house, boat, table etc. are all nouns. To describe the things we are talking about in a little more detail we use adjectives.
The black car, the large house, the small boat, the round table.
O carro preto – the black car (m)
A casa grande – the large house (f)
O barco pequeno – the small boat (m)
A mesa redonda – the round table (f)
In English the adjective comes before the noun, but in Portuguese, it comes after.
Gender and number also play a part. Remember the poetry?
Uma casa pequena – a small house (f)
but
um barco pequeno – a small boat (m)
Also nous in the plural will be accompanied by a plural adjective:
Dois barcos pequenos
Duas casa pequenas
Some adjectives do not change gender, like grande, fácil, dificil – but they will become plural.
As mesas são grandes – the tables are large (big)
As perguntas são fáceis – the questions are easy
We covered this in Week 1 – Day 3 + 4.
Tanto
Audio
verb + tanto – so much (invariable)
Ele come tanto – he eats so much
Ela fala tanto – she speaks so much
Tanto que..
verb + tanto que…so much that…(invariable)
Ele comeu tanto que ficou doente – he ate so much that he became sick
Ela falou tanto que perdeu a voz – she talked so much that she lost her voice
tanto/tanta//tantos/tantas + noun – so many (variable)
Variable – means that it will have various forms (so many forms – you see what I did there? 🙂 ), mainly regarding gender and number. Invariable means it does not change.
Eles comeram tantos chocolates – they all ate so many chocolates
Há tanta gente na rua – there are so many people on the street
Nunca vi tantas flores! – I never saw so many flowers!
We could also use the conjunction – que with the variable
Eles comeram tantos chocolates que ficaram doentes – they ate so many chocolates that they became sick
Havia tanta gente na rua que não dava para sair de casa – there were so many people on the street that you couldn’t leave the house.
Regarding the weather though we would say:
Está tanto calor / frio – it is so much hot /cold (not tão)
Common imperfect past usage of “Saber” – to know
This imperfect past is very widely used, it can take some getting used to, but once you do get used to it, you will see how handy it is. It is better just to learn the context here rather than trying to understand why it is used this way.
Audio
Verb saber – to know
Sabias? – did you know? (tu form)
Ela não sabia – she didn’t know
Eu sabia!! – I knew (it)
Nós já sabíamos – we already knew
Sabias que ele tinha ido a Espanha? – did you know that he had gone to Spain?
Eu não sabia que ela tinha falado com ele – I didn’t know that she had spoken to him
Eu sabia que não ias comigo – I knew you wouldn’t go with me
When we use saber in the perfect past it takes on a slightly different meaning.
Como é que soube? – how did you find out? (você)
Souberam do incêndio pelas notícias – they heard about the fire on the news
Contractions
Prepositions (of / from / to / at etc..) often contract with the article (the /a / an). We have seen lots during this course, this table will serve as a rough guide on how to use them. We can also throw in a few more phrases!
a becomes ao / à / na
| to | the | to the/at the | |||
| singular | plural | sing. | pl. | ||
| a | o | os | ao | aos | masc. |
| a | a | as | à | às | fem. |
Vire à esquerda – turn to the left
O livro está à direita da estante – the book is to the right of the shelf
Eu vou aos correios – I am going to the post office(s) (post office is plural in Portuguese)
Ela foi ao médico ontem – she went to the doctor yesterday
Este ano vamos às Caraíbas de férias – this year we are going to the Caribbean on holiday
em becomes no / na
| in/on | the | in the/on the | |||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | ||
| em | o | os | no | nos | masc. |
| em | a | as | na | nas | fem. |
Eu moro em Portugal – I live in Portugal
Estou no aeroporto – I am in the airport
Ela está nos correios – she is in the post office
Há muita gente na loja – there are a lot of people in the shop
Nas lojas na avenida há muitas coisas – in the shops on the avenue there are lots of things
de becomes do / da
| of/
from |
the | of the/
from the |
|||
| sing. | pl. | sing. | pl. | ||
| de | o | os | do | dos | masc. |
| de | a | as | da | das | fem. |
Quinta do lago – Farm of the lake
Lençol da cama – sheet from the bed (belonging to the bed)
Ele é dos Açores – he is from the Azores
Ela caíu das escadas – she fell from the stairs
We also use this a lot with possession, where in English we would use –‘s (apostrophe + s)
A mala é da Joana – the bag is Joana’s
O telefone é do John – the phone is John’s
Denoting origen
Eles são dos Estados Unidos – They are from the US
Está cadeira é do café – this chair is from the café
em becomes num / numa
| in | a/an | in a/an | |
| em | um | num | masc. |
| em | uma | numa | fem. |
Ontem jantámos num restaurante novo – yesterday we ate in a new restaurant.
Ele mora num apartamento – he lives in an apartment
Ela mora numa casa grande – she lives in a big house
Ele escreveu tudo numa carta – he wrote it all in a letter
Até amanhã!
Why doesn’t ‘Havia tanta gente na rua que não dava para sair de casa’, translate to ‘There were so many people in the street that you couldn’t leave your house.’
HI Cassie,
Yes. It should have been that. I have corrected it now. Thank you!