Dias da semana e meses/Days of the week and months

DIAS DA SEMANA

segunda OU segunda-feira - Monday
terça OU terça-feira - Tuesday
quarta U quarta-feira - Wednesday
quinta OU quinta-feira - Thursday
sexta OU sexta-feira - Friday

sábado - Saturday
domingo - Sunday

sábado + domingo = FINAL DE SEMANA ou FIM DE SEMANA (weekend)

RESPONDA:
O que você faz durante a semana? (What do you do during the week?) 

O que você vai fazer no final de semana? (What are you going to do on the weekend?)

na semana que vem = na próxima semana (next week)
na sexta que vem = na próxima sexta (next Friday)

NA... QUE VEM ou NA PRÓXIMA... = NEXT ...

EM + A = NA
EM + O = NO

NA sexta = ON Friday
NA próxima sexta/ NA sexta que vem = next Friday
NO final de semana = ON the weekend
DURANTE = during

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MESES

janeiro
fevereiro
março
abril
maio
junho
julho
agosto
setembro
outubro
novembro
dezembro

Quando é o seu aniversário - When is your birthday? EM julho. EM 15 de fevereiro. NO DIA 5 de março.
Em que ano você nasceu? EM 1930. EM 1990.
Quando é o Dia da Independência no Brasil? - When is Independence Day in Brazil?
Comemoramos o Dia da Independência em 7 de setembro.

Outono: de 21 de março a 21 de junho

Inverno: de 21 de junho a 23 de setembro

Primavera: de 23 de setembro a 21 de dezembro

Verão: de 21 de dezembro a 21 de março

A pronúncia do alfabeto em português - Alphabet pronunciation in Portuguese

Bons costumes - Manners

Por favor - please

Obrigada - thank you (if you're female)

Obrigado - thank you (if you're male and for signs in general)

Muito obrigada - thank you very much

Muito obrigado - thank you very much

De nada - you're welcome

Com licença - excuse me (also used to show respect when you're entering a room or a home)

Me desculpe - I'm sorry

Você precisa de ajuda? - Do you need help?
Você poderia me ajudar?/Você poderia me ajudar, por favor? - Could you help me?/Could you help me, please?

Cumprimentos - Greetings

Bom dia - Good morning

Boa tarde - Good afternoon
Boa noite - Good evening/Good night

Oi - Hi
Olá - Hello

- Olá, boa tarde!

- Meu nome é Daniel, e esta é a minha esposa, Juliana. (My name is Daniel, and this is my wife, Juliana.)
- Prazer!/ Muito prazer!/ Prazer em conhecê-los! (Nice meeting you!)
- Prazer! (Short way of saying "nice meeting you".)

- Qual é o seu nome?/Quem é você?/Como você se chama? (What's your name/ Who are you/ What are you called?)
- Meu nome é Paula/ Eu sou a Paula/ Eu me chamo Paula (My name is Paula/ I am Paula/ I'm called Paula)
- Meu nome é Paulo/ Eu sou o Paulo/ Eu me chamo Paulo

- Como vai?/ Tudo bem?/ Como vai, tudo bem? (How are you?/ All good?/ How are you, all good?)
- Eu vou bem, e você?/ Tudo bem, e você? (I am well, and you?/ All good, and you?)
- Tudo ótimo!/ Tudo jóia!/ Tudo bem!/ Tudo bem, obrigada*!/ Tudo bem, obrigado*! (All great!/ All great (slang)!/ All good! / All good, thank you!)
- Ah, mais ou menos./Não vou muito bem./Não estou muito bem./Não me sinto muito bem. (Oh, so, so/ I haven't been doing well./ I am not very well./ I don't feel well.)

*Say "Tudo bem, obrigada" if you're female, and "Tudo bem, obrigado" if you're male.

- Tchau!/Até logo!/Até breve!/Tchau, até logo!/ Até amanhã!/ Até sexta!/ Até a semana que vem!/ Até a próxima semana! (Bye! / See you soon!/ See you soon!/ Bye, see you soon!/ See you tomorrow!/ See you Friday!/ See you next week!/ See you next week!)
- Tchau!/Até!/Tchau, até! (TIP: We ALWAYS respond when someone says "goodbye")

Por que tudo custa mais caro no Brasil - Why everything is more expensive in Brazil

Have you ever heard it's cheaper for Brazilians to get on an airplane and come to the States to get a Macbook than buying it in Brazil? It's true! If you're visiting, don't worry: food is still fairly priced there, and services are actually really cheap. But if you're considering buying consumer goods there, I'd stick to handmade souvenirs. We have plenty of great options, like the "renda do nordeste", a kind of lace made primarily by the dexterous hands of Northeastern ladies (see picture below).

Compre produtos como a renda do nordeste (acima) / Buy products such as "renda do nordeste" (above)

The following article briefly explains why everything is more expensive in Brazil. If you can't read Portuguese, here's a quick summary:

Razão número 1: muitos impostos / Reason number 1: lots of taxes

A lot of different taxes are charged over consumer goods - 6 to be exact.  Some of those taxes are charged over products that have already been taxed (which we call "impostos em cascata", something like a "waterfall of taxes").

Razão número 2: a busca por status / Reason number 2: search for status

Sporting something expensive shows you have the means to do it. Showing off brand products in Brazil is very common - since we generally don't have as much access to them, they become even more special. So shop owners overcharge, and people will do all they can to acquire that product to feel a bit more special.

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Read the whole article in Portuguese here. It's from the Superinteressante website, the online version of one of the best magazines in Brazil. It presents all kinds of subjects in a very entertaining manner.

Also watch this very interesting news video explaining why everything is so expensive in Brazil. Can you understand what are some of those reasons?

CARO = expensive

IMPOSTOS = taxes

LUCRO = profit

BENS DE CONSUMO = consumer goods

CONCESSIONÁRIA = car dealer

MONTADORAS = car manufactures

"SE COLAR, COLOU" = if people accept it, then we'll go on with it

AGUENTAR = put up with

PREÇO "SALGADO" = high ("salty") prices

ENLOUQUECEM = go crazy

TÊNIS = sneakers

Coisas que fazemos antes de estudar - Things we do before studying

Watch this video here

Having a hard time concentrating for your studies? You're not alone. Click on this link to find out what  people do to procrastinate studying. As an exercise, try to list a few of the examples mentioned in the video.

It's fairly fast, so don't be frustrated if you can't get everything he says.

O gênero dos substantivos - Gender of nouns

In English, objects, places and animals fall under the category of "it". Their gender is neutral.

In Portuguese, objects, places and animals are assigned a GENDER. They will be either feminine or masculine ("ele" ou "ela"). Sounds crazy? Don't worry, you'll quickly get the hang of it.

A great idea is memorizing the noun AND gender whenever you are memorizing vocabulary.

For example:

MESA

Memorize: A MESA (the table)

Eu amo aquela mesa, mas ela é muito cara. (I love that table, but it is too expensive.)

COMPUTADOR

Memorize: O COMPUTADOR (the computer)

O computador é uma invenção maravilhosa. Ele é essencial para a vida moderna. (The computer is a wonderful invention. It is essential to modern life).

As a rule of thumb, nouns ending in "a" are feminine, and nouns ending in "o" are masculine, but there are plenty of exceptions - and also plenty of other letters ending nouns, such as in "computador".

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Words referring to female people or animals usually end in "a", and words referring to male people or animals end in "o". 

EXEMPLOS: 

o amigo (the friend - male)

a amiga (the friend - female)

o aluno (the student - male)

a aluna (the student - female)

o gato (the cat - male)

a gata (the cat - female)

o cachorro (the dog -male)

a cachorra (the dog - female)

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When we are talking about things or places, how do we know the gender?

Use the rule of thumb: if it ends in "o", consider it masculine, if it ends in "a", consider it feminine.

a sala (the room)
o escritório (the office)
a biblioteca (the library)
a caneta (the pen)
o salário (the salary)
o carro (the car)

There are many exceptions to this rule, such as:

o sofá (the couch)
o cinema (the movie theater)
o dia (the day)
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a lição (the lesson)
a profissão (the profession)
a foto (the photo)


There are also many nouns that finish with other letters (not just "o" and "a"):

o motor (the motor)
o carnaval (the carnival)
a cidade (the city)
o abacaxi (the pineapple)


What do we do?

We'll get back to this in a future lesson. For now just make sure that whenever you memorize a noun, you also memorize its gender.

If you are really curious, go to Sonia Portuguese and read more about nouns here.

ADVANCED STUDENTS: Find more about gender of nouns on Gramática On-line and Brasil Escola.

Pronomes Pessoais do caso reto - Personal Pronouns (subject)

SINGULAR
EU = I
TU = you*
VOCÊ = you
O SENHOR = you (masculine, showing respect)
A SENHORA = you (feminine, showing respect)
ELE = he/it
ELA = she/it
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PLURAL
A GENTE = we (informal - not used in written language, but very common in spoken language)
NÓS = we (more formal than "a gente")
VOCÊS** = you (plural of "você" and "tu")
ELAS = they (feminine ONLY) 
ELES = they (masculine or mixed genders)

COLOR CODE = SAME VERB CONJUGATION (we'll talk about that soon!)

* (used in certain parts of the country, such as the South, the Northeast and in Rio. Misconjugated in spoken language often - using the VOCÊ conjugation).

**In some books you'll find "vós" as well, but no one uses that anymore, either in written or spoken language.

ALL STUDENTS: read a bit more about Personal Pronouns on Sonia Portuguese website (great resource!)
ADVANCED STUDENTS: read a bit more about Personal Pronouns on Só Português and Brasil Escola.

Vamos começar! - Let's get started!

Meu nome é Isa Giallorenzo e eu ensino Português em Chicago. Nasci e cresci no Brasil, em São Paulo, SP. Uma cidade enorme, maior do que Nova Iorque. Lá eu me formei em Jornalismo e trabalhei como professora de inglês. Hoje em dia eu trabalho como escritora (em inglês) e como professora de português. Sou professora há mais de 20 anos, e adoraria lhe ensinar o meu idioma. Caso queira me contactar, mande um email para learnportuguesechicago@gmail.com.

Em breve teremos várias dicas de Português por aqui!

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My name is Isa Giallorenzo and I teach Portuguese in Chicago. I was born and raised in Brazil, in the city of São Paulo, SP. A huge town, bigger than New York. There I got a B.A. in Journalism and worked as an English teacher. Nowadays I work as a writer (in English) and as a Portuguese teacher. I have been teaching for over 20 years, and would love to teach you my native language. In case you'd like to contact me, send an email to learnportuguesechicago@gmail.com.

Soon we'll have a bunch of Portuguese tips around here!