Book Review (part 2): Muito Prazer, Fale O Portugues do Brasil / Speak the Portuguese of Brazil

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned this book and said I would write a review. Here it is.

I guess it’s natural for me to approach Brazilian Portuguese textbooks for English people in a similar way to how I view English textbooks for Brazilians. I do this in my job as an English teacher, and there are many, many poor textbooks but a few excellent ones too. “Muito Prazer” is, fortunately, a Brazilian Portuguese example of the latter, in my opinion. I would have no hesitation recommending this publication to learners of the language. It was certainly the sort of book I’d been hoping to see and use.

I’m going to be quite objective about this and list the many pros and few cons below and then conclude, briefly.

Why I like this book (the pros):
- The book is substantial (400 pages long), nicely presented (something you can’t take for granted in language textbooks) and nicely illustrated.
- The 2 CDs-worth of listenings are short, sharp and generally reflect possible real-life situations well.
- Explanations of new language are clear and simple, don’t rely on linguistic jargon and are rarely given in isolation without examples. New Grammar or vocabulary is introduced in small portions, tested with useful and appropriate exercises and activities and then slowly built on through the book. In other words, it is an integrated approach to learnign the language and this is a good thing.
- Students are not expected to “remember” everything and so helpful hints and reminders with references to pages earlier in the book are given.
- helpfully notes anomalies and irregularities to the principal rules.
- The activities only test what has been presented (which is not always a given in other textbooks).
- Authentic material is used in the readings. Articles are sometimes pulled from real website pieces.
- Each of the 20 units addresses a related theme – sport, health and body etc.
- The book does NOT forget pronunciation and includes some helpful pages on the topic.
- The book uses examples of Brazilian culture, geography and history to teach the language.
- The new language is presented in practical situations – buying tickets, viewing an apartment, meeting people.
- Useful reference sections at the back, scripts, answer pages and so on make it possible for someone (with a reasonable grasp of latin languages or previous exposure to Portuguese) to use this book without outside input and expect to attain an Upper Intermediate level appreciation of the language by the end of the 20 units.

Things that could be improved (or the cons).
- The readings are often far too short. Basically, make sure you are reading widely in addition to the material in the book. But, this is not surprising as the writers probably didn’t want to waste space in the 400 page tome.
- Related to the above, the questions for the readings are often too easy. For example, the reading might ask what the cost of an item is from the menu. Attaining the answer does not really demand comprehension of Portuguese – a child who only knows English would easily work it out.
- Occasionally, vocabulary is presented as a list with no explanation as to meaning. (This is when I have to call my wife to help! – or keep a dictionary handy!)
- Not really a con, but the book is designed for group use. Several activities involve talking to partners and this may not be possible.
- Related to the above, the answer section provides no clues as to what answers may or not be right when it involves the opinion of the reader (or his partner). For example, the book might ask you to write about your favourite colour. You want to check how you did, but the answer pages only say “Answers may vary” instead of giving examples of possible responses.
- Just a small thing. The book relies on Dialogues to introduce or present new language. Generally, they’re quite good and they’re not long but it would have been nice if there was some kind of task to do with these dialogues (fill in gaps / listen for an answer to a question) – otherwise, you may find yourself asking “why am I listening to these people?” or “why am I reading this?” which undermines motivation to learn.

To sum up, the cons are not very weighty if you are self-motivated in your learning, augment your use of the book with authentic reading material and have someone (a teacher? a native speaker?) to talk to and quiz about the tricky bits, and check your writing. I’m already half way through the whole thing and really enjoying it. So, if you’re learning Brazilian Portuguese, put this on your Christmas list.

Gender issues 3

I know I keep going on about the masculine and feminine of Portuguese nouns, but it`s partly because I find it so difficult to get right coming from English, a language without gender.

Recently, I`ve noticed that I occasionally get the ends of nouns wrong when I`m not sure if they are masculine (-o) or feminine (-a). I do this often when I`m trying hard to get my adjectives to agree with the gender of the noun and in so doing I accidentally change the noun! The problem is, sometimes, this can change the meaning dramatically.

Some examples (which I will keep updating)
bola – ball, bolo – cake
foca – seal (the animal), foco – focus
tira – cop, tiro – shot
vaga – space (as in parking space), vago – vague (which is actually an adjective)
verba – financial budget, verbo – verb

Até

Até is a handy word. Most English speakers learn it as meaning “until” in English, but it also covers “even” and “up to” as well. The problem for Brazilians learning English is having to distinguish between the different meanings of the three words in English.

Até = until
Eu vou ficar ali até o fim. (I will stay there until the end).

Até = up to
O onibus foi até João Pessoa. (The bus went up to João Pessoa).
The boy climbed up to the window. (O menino subiu até a janela).

Até = even
This is a direct quote from a game of UNO I was playing recently. Johnny was the youngest player there.
“”Todo mundo ganhou uma vez, até Johnny!” (“Everyone won once, even Johnny!”).

Até DOES NOT = even if
In Portuguese “even if” in English is covered by the phrase “ainda que” which is like saying in English “still that”. Still is important in English in this context, but not essential. For example,

Even if they win the battle, they (still) won’t win the war.

In Portuguese that sentence would be: “Ainda que eles ganham a batalha, eles não vão ganhar a guerra” (lit. Still that they win the battle, they no will win the war”.

Confusion
It’s all very well using “até” to equal even, up to or until but not all those words in English mean the same thing. I thought about this in an unusual place this week… I was at the dentist and he asked me: “Voce não tem medo de dentista, hein?” (You’re not afraid of the dentist, huh?). I wanted to say: “I’m OK until it hurts!”, but I found myself stuck – “Estou bem até a dor começa!”. Was I saying that I was OK up to the point the pain starts, or that I was OK even when the pain starts? Both have the opposite meaning! My wife helped me out here… you’d say “Estou bem até mesmo a dor começa!” for the latter to make sure the meaning of “including” was conveyed. So “até mesmo” would be the phrase you would need for even in that context. Hope that helps!

Para / por

If you’re like me you’ve probably found yourself stuck when speaking Portuguese trying to work out if the correct preposition is ´por´ or ´para´. The problem is, especially with por, that there are no single English equivelents. But, before we get to annoyed, we’d do well to remember that English prepositions are even more bountiful and confusing. (for example: the subtle differences between – good at, good with, good to, good for).

In terms of choosing which preposition to use – ‘por’ or ‘para’ – there are some guidelines that work most of the time, but you’ll still encounter the occasional blip or anomaly that doesn’t seem to make sense… you’ll just have to accept language is like that sometimes.

For the basis of this, I borrowed from Maria Fernanda Allen’s book Portuguese in Three Months. It is important to remember from the outset that por forms a contraction with the indefinite article in front of it. Por + a = pela, Por + o = pelo. Sometimes para is shortened to para + a = pra, Para + o = pro.

Uses of por
On behalf of…, on account of…
Eu pago a conta por você (I will pay the Bill for you).
Pela amor de Deus (For the Love of God!)

In Exchange
Troco este casaco pelo seu chapéu (I Will give you this coat for your hat)

In expressions of time for duration, frequency and as a marker.
Eles vieram por duas semanas (They came for two weeks).
Ele vai a Paris duas vezes por semana (He goes to Paris twice a week/two times per week).
Pela primeira vez, vi que ela era bonita. (For the first time, I noticed she was pretty).

Meaning by, through, along, via, over.
Vou pela praia. (I am going along the beach)
Está por ai? (Is it over there?)
Viajo a Portugal por França (I travel to Portugal through/via/by France.
Vamos pela TAP, naturalmente. (We’re going by TAP, of course).

Uses of para
Destination
Eu vou para casa (I’m going home).
These flowers are for you (Estas flores são para ti).
Parabens para você (Congratulations to you!)
Ele vai pra onde? (Where’s he going to?)

Viewpoint
Esse trabalho e muito dificil para me. (This work is very difficult for me).

Conclusion
To conclude, generally para is more direct and grounded in real things. It’s like an arrow pointing TO the subject (…preparado para voce = prepared for you = somebody prepared it for you). Por is more indirect and often refers to concepts. At times, it’s like an arrow pointing AWAY from the subject. (…preparado por voce = prepared by you = you prepared it for somebody)

Other common examples to illustrate the difference between por and para are:

Escrito por voce (written by you) versus Escrito para voce (written for you)
Eu vou orar para Deus por voces (I will pray to God for you).

As Snoopy says in the cartoon above…
Por outro lado (lit. by the other side OR on the other hand ) versus Vá pro outro lado (Go to the other side).

Gender issues 2

This post follows on from what I wrote about getting the gender right in Portuguese.

I thought I’d try and make a list here, which I will keep updating, of the most common irregular nouns that don’t follow any of the rules that I listed before.

Words that are feminine that you might think were masculine

a carne = the meat
a colher = the spoon
a chave = the key
a fase = the phase
a foto = the photo
a luz = the light
a noite = the night
a torre = the tower
a vez = the time/the phase

Words that are masculine that you might think were feminine

o chá = the tea
o clima = the weather
o dia = the day
o sofa = the sofa

 

Compound Nouns

Generally, it seems to me (unless anyone can tell me otherwise) that compound nouns – words made up of two nouns often end up being masculine even if both the nouns are feminine. Some examples:

o guarda-roupa = the wardrobe (guarda and roupa are both feminine separately)
o guarda-chuva = the umbrella (guarda and chuva are both feminine separately)
o homem-aranha = the spiderman (homem is masculine and aranha is feminine)

Other compound words

When there is a preposition between the words, the first word is usually the one that has to agree with the gender and plural rules. For example:

o Pé-de-moleque = lit. young boy’s foot, a kind of brittle candy popular in Brazil.

The gender can change in some compound nouns depending on if you are talking about a male or a female person:

o Amigo-da-onça / a amiga-da-onça = the friend of the jaguar (an idiom meaning a person who seems like a good friend but is hypocritical or insincere).
O Ex-governador / a ex-governadora = the ex-governor.

Some compounds combine adjectives and verbs with nouns. Then the gender and plural agrees with the noun:

O Beija-flor = lit. the kiss-flower / hummingbird.
Os Beija-flores = lit. the kiss-flowers / hummingbirds.

Thanks to Jack Scholes’ book (see Links & Resources) for giving me some of the examples for this section.

Já

Já is a great word in Portuguese and gets thrown in all over the place. Although it’s often translated as “already” It does the work of various words in English. These are some of the main words it covers…

Already

A: “Eles estão perto daqui”/”They’re nearly here!” B: “Já?”/”Already?”. The present perfect tense (have + past particple) is used a lot in English but less so in Portuguese. And, in English it’s often used with already as in this example: “I’ve already eaten”. Brazilians would simply say in Portuguese “Eu já comi” lit. “I already ate”.

Just

Just is a bizarre word in English and has probably over 10 meaings. See here for a decent list of the English meanings with translations of the Brazilian equivelent words. Já can be used to mean “just” in the sense of a small space of time. “We’re just arriving” – “Estamos chegando já já”. Often, as in the example given, já is repeated to emphasise how little the time is. Or, if the doorbell rings, often people in the house will say “Já vai!” which is when we would say in English “Just coming!”. But, “já” doesn’t necessarily mean a small space of time after an event – as in “He’s just finished playing football”. Brazilians would more likely say “Ele acaba de jogar futebol” lit. He finish of to play football.

Ever

My brother-in-law said this just the other week when we were eating out for Sunday lunch.”Esse o Restaurante mais nordestino que eu já vi”. In English we would say, “This is the most northeastern restaurant that I’ve ever been to”.

No equivelent in English.

And, quite simply, já is used in Portuguese when in English we probably wouldn’t use “already” or “just” or “ever”. For example, as in the picture above, “Eu já sabia” (lit. I already knew) maps to “I knew it!” in English. And when somebody suddenly has a eureka moment – a good idea or a solution to a problem they will declare in Portuguese “Já sei!” (lit. already I know) where we would say (usually accompanied by a light-bulb going on above our heads) “I know!”…

Gender issues

How to sort out your masculine and feminine issues

Jack Scholes tells this story:

“I will never forget my very first attempt to speak Portuguese. I walked into the British Council, took a deep breath, and instead omy usual greeting, “Good morning”, I confidently ventured to say, “Bom dia… Eu tenho uma problema”. At this point Circe [the secretary] went straight into English and told me that I didn’t have “uma problema”, I had “um problema”. I felt so frustrated!”

His frustration is understandable, as anyone who’s been speaking Portuguese for a while will know. Nouns are masculine and feminine and their articles and corresponding adjectives have to agree with them. Words ending in -a are usually feminine (think of people’s names: Renata, Maria, Gloria) and words ending in -o or something else are usually masculine (Paulo, Marcelo, Ronaldo). So, for example – uma mesa branca (a white table – f) and um bolo gostoso (a delicious cake – m). But, as ever, there are exceptions.

Jack Scholes goes onto explain:

Words ending in -ema are of greek origin and are masculine (as are most words imported from languages other than latin). This results in something which sounds a bit out of place… Um problema complicado (a complicated problem), o sistema nervoso (the nervous system), os esquemas fraudulentos (those fraudulent schemes).

Ron Martinez also helps with some tips on getting gender right:

Nouns are usually feminine if they end in -ade. For example: a liberdade (the freedom), a cidade (the city), a realidade (the reality)… and if they end in -ção. For example: a informação (the information), a cotaçâo (the rate), a tentaçâo (the temptation)… and if they end in -são. For example: a colisão (the collision), a mansão (the mansion), a tensão (the tension).

Nouns are usually masculine if they end in a consanant. For example, o jornal (the newspaper), o professor (the teacher), o som (the sound)… and if they end in -ão (but not -ção or -são). For example: o irmão (the brother), o campeão (the champion), o pão (the bread).

For info on the books I took those tips from, click the Links & Resources tab above.

Even more irregular gender with Brazilian Portuguese nouns

OK, but in spite of all of the above, there are still irregularities that just have to be learned. For example, times of the day are all back to front. People say “Bom dia” (Good morning), but “Boa tarde” (Good afternoon) and “Boa noite” (Good evening/night). In other words, the adjective “good” changes according to the gender of the time of day. The only thing is, based on the rules it’s the wrong way around. This only struck me as odd recently when I realised that dia is masculine (it ends in -a so why not feminine?) and both tarde and noite are feminine words when you could easily be mistaken for thinking they were masculine.

The number 2

This is also important when you need to say two days or two nights. Annoyingly, the number 2 has to match the things it’s describing (other numbers don’t). Two for masculine things is “dois” and for feminine things “duas”. Many, many times I have immediately given myself away to be a gringo learning Portuguese by getting it wrong. (Frustratingly, my 2 year old son is learning Portuguese and his supple young mind gets it right every time!). So, two days = dois dias NOT duas dias (as I frequently say) and two nights = duas noites NOT dois noites.

Words with 2 genders

And, finally, some words such as “cara” (face) and even “laranja” (orange) have different meanings depending on if they are used in a masculine or feminine way. The main meaning of both comes from the feminine – a cara (the face) and a laranja (the orange). But, switch the gender and you get a new meaning: o cara (the guy/the bloke/the man) and o laranja (a stooge/an intermediary).  In both cases though, the main and obvious meaning is feminine and the idiomatic, informal meaning to describe a type of person is masculinised. Anyone know any more examples?

You can see an example of this in the poster for the film above “Ela é o cara” which is a translation of “She’s the man” not, as you might think, “She’s the face”.

Quando Você Voltar – Legião Urbana

I’ve recently been listening to quite a lot of Legião Urbana (Urban Legion), described by a Brazilian friend of mine as the Brazilian Smiths. It also sounds like late-80s, early-90s R.E.M. and the Cure which is no bad thing, in my opinion.

Anyway, there’s a little track toward the end of their “A Tempestade” album which is short but contains a nice little love story in the lyrics. You can hear the song in the video above (I’m sorry it’s one of those home-made jobs, but I couldn’t find a video of Legião Urbana actually performing the track).

Imperative Verbs again!

The song mixes imperatives and other forms of verb conjugation in Portuguese. (Read here for an introduction to imperatives). Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to listen to the song (which is sung helpfully slowly) and listen out for how the 14 verbs listed below are conjugated – only the infinitive is given below. Some of them are imperatives. I’ve attempted an English translation of the song below if you want to check what it means. Click answers above for the solution.

Vai, se você precisa (ir=to go).
Não quero mais (brigar=to fight) esta noite
Nossas acusações infantis
E palavras mordazes que (machucar=hurt/injur) tanto
Não vão (levar=to lift/to rise to a conclusion) a nada, como sempre
Vai, clareia um pouco a cabeça
Já que você não quer (conversar=to converse/ to talk).
Já (brigar=to fight) tanto
Mas não vale a pena
Vou (ficar=to stay) aqui, com um bom livro ou com a TV
(Saber=to know) que existe alguma coisa (incomodar=to bother/trouble) você
Meu amor, cuidado na estrada
E quando você (voltar= to return)
(Trancar=to lock) o portão
(Fechar=to close) as janelas
(Apagar=to turn on) a luz
e (saber=to know) que te amo…

Quando Você Voltar – Legião Urbana
English translation / Tradução Ingles.

You go, if you need to go
I don’t want to fight more tonight
Our infantile accusations
and biting words that hurt so much
they won’t conclude anything, as usual.
You go, clear your head a little
You already don’t want to talk
We already fought a lot
But it’s not worth it
I will stay here with a good book or with the TV
I know that something is troubling you
My love, careful on the road
And when you return
Lock the door,
Close the windows
Switch off the light
and know that I love you…

(ps. for me, this song has an uncanny resemblance to a lot of Ryan Adams songs, in particular Nobody Girl and the other stuff off his Gold record).

False Friends / False Cognates

What is a false friend? What is a false cognate?

They are the same thing. False Cognates are basically words which look and maybe sound the same in Brazilian Portuguese as in English but actually have a different meaning. An example – you’ve just arrived in Brazil and are walking around Rio. You’re hungry and see a small restaurant which has “lanche” in the window. You assume this means lunch and walk in and try and order to meal, only to find they only have a small collection of crisps, take-away pastries and soft-drinks. You’ve fallen victim to the false cognate “lanche” which doesn’t mean lunch, it means snack.

Another example, one which personally baffled me for quite a while, is the word “compromisso”. Surely, I erroneously thought, this must mean “compromise”. In actual fact, compromisso means commitment. See the advert above. A quick glance and a direct translation might lead you to believe that Rossi, a construction company, have the slogan “Compromise with projects of life”. That sounds risky! Of course, what they’re saying is “Commitment with projects of life”.

Examples

There are many false cognates and I’ll just keep adding them to this post as I find the most common ones. But, a good place to start is to copy the list I found in the book edited by Michael Swan & Bernard Smith called Learner English. The book looks at how the rules and patterns of the mother tongue of learners of English creates interference. The book has sections on many different languages and this is from the chapter on Portuguese learners of English. In other words, these are words that Brazilians always get wrong in English – and, therefore, words that English people frequently get wrong in Portuguese.

abuse / abusar = use frequently, has less of the negative connotations of the English word
actual(ly) / atual(mente) = current, nowadays, at the moment. Use “na verdade” or “no fato” to express the idea of the English word.
cigar / cigarro = cigarette
cobra / cobra = snake, all kinds.
compromise / compromisso = commitment. Use “compromater” to express the idea of the English words.
costume / costume = custom
disgrace / desgraça = accident, misfortune
disgust / desgaste = worn-out
distracted / distraido = absent-minded
educated / educado = polite, well-mannered
expect / esperar = to hope, to wait
expert / esperto = intelligent, sly
facilities / facilidades = proficiency
familiar / familiar = decent, respectable or to do with family
impressive / impressionante = impressive, but in either positive or negative terms whereas in English it has only a positive connotation.
intend / entender = understand
library / livraria = bookshop
local / local = place, as in location
lunch / lanche = snack
ordinary / ordinário = base, vulgar
parents / parentes = relatives
presently / presentemente = at the moment, right now
pretend / pretender = to intend, to plan
primarily / primeiramente = first
push / puxe = pull
rat / rato = mouse
real / real = royal, sure
revere / rever = to see again, to check, to revise.
sensible / sensivel = sensitive. Use the word sensato to describe somebody as sensible
vulgar / vulgar = ordinary

Imperatives (Look! Enjoy! Dream!)

Imperatives – what are they?

Imperatives are a strange beast in Portuguese. An imperative is a way of forming a verb to add emphasis. It is used for commands and orders, instructions (for example in recipes) and to sell products in advertising or in speech to stress what you want somebody else to do or understand. In other words, it’s what you think is “imperative” for other people to act on.

If you never studied English grammar (like me) I’m sure you’d never stopped to think about them before. This is because in English imperatives are the same as the present simple tense. We say “You look at the shop” and “Look at the shop!” and we use the same word in both sentences “look”. Or, “They read the instructions” and “Read the instructions” have different meanings and stress but the same word “read”.

Yes, but in Portuguese – what are they?

In Portuguese, you change the ending of the verbs like this: -ar verbs finish with e, and -er and -ir verbs finish with a. (Click here to read more if you don’t know what I’m on about). This totally scrambled my brain when I was taught it in Portuguese class a few years ago. It wasn’t until I came to Brazil and it heard it in practice that I could comprehend the strange logic behind it. I now think having this extra way of providing emphasis lends Portuguese a subtlety lacking in English.

Anyway, let’s get to some examples. Common imperatives I have to use while raising my two year old son are:

Olhe! = Look! (from the verb olhar)
Pare! = Stop! (from the verb parar)
Sente! = Sit! (from the verb sentar)
Coma! = Eat! (from the verb comer)

And some from adverts…

Aproveite! = Enjoy! (from the verb aproveitar)
Relaxe! = Relax! (from the verb relaxar)
Aprenda! = Learn! (from the verb aprender)
Sonhe! = Dream! (from the verb sonhar)

An example of the last one is given in the video above. The video is an adidas advert, in English with Portuguese subtitles, featuring famous footballers visiting San Marino. The adidas slogan for this campaign is Sonhe Grande – Dream Big. The video also includes an irregular imperative – the verb ver (to see) which becomes veja and not va. Veja (see!) is also the name of Brazil’s most popular news magazine.

Irregular Imperatives

The are several irregular imperatives which, if you need more help, I recommend looking up in a grammar book. But, here are four important ones:

The verb ir (to go) is vá. For example: A mother says to her child “Vai para cama” (You go to bed) and then when the child disobeys she turns the suggestion into an order “Vá! Agora!” (Go! Now!)

The verb ser (to be) is seja. For example: Seja bemvindos – Be welcome
The verb estar (to be) is esteja. For example: Esteja aqui – Be here
The verb come (vim) is venha. For example: Venha cá – Come here

Portuguese that looks like English

Finally, it’s strange to me that some regular imperative -ar verbs, by losing the -ar and gaining an -e, end up looking exactly like English. The following four verbs appear exactly the same in English as in Portuguese: Imagine! Compare! Ignore! Use! The only problem, of course, is we don’t pronounce them the same…