Portuguese Grammar

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Portuguese Grammar

Welcome to the 8th lesson about Portuguese grammar. We will first learn about prepositions, negation, questions, adverbs, and pronouns including: personal, object and possessive pronouns.

We will start with prepositions. In general, they are used to link words to other words. For example: I speak Portuguese and English the preposition is [and] because it connects both words Portuguese and English. The following is a list of the most used prepositions in Portuguese.

Prepositions	Portuguese
and	e
above	acima
under	abaixo
before	antes
after	depois
in front of	em frente de
behind	atrás
far from	distante, longe de
near	perto
in	em
inside	dentro de
outside	fora de
with	com
without	sem
about	sobre
between	entre
but	mas
for	para
from	de
to	para

Preposition Grammar Rules

The following examples use prepositions in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Prepositions + Rules	Portuguese
I eat without a knife [preposition + noun]	eu como sem faca
she lives near the church [verb + preposition]	ela mora perto da igreja
he is taller than her [adjective + preposition]	ele é mais alto do que ela
he came with his small dog [preposition + pronoun]	ele veio com o seu cão pequeno
can you come with me? [preposition + pronoun]	pode vir comigo?podes vir comigo?

Negation in Portuguese

Now let's learn how to make a negative sentence (negation). For example: Saying no, I can't, I don't ... The following examples use negation in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence.

Negation + Rules	Portuguese
I understand you [affirmative form]	eu compreendo-o/eu compreendo-te
I don't understand you [negation + verb]	eu não o compreendo/eu não te compreendo
this is not the correct word [negation + adjective]	esta não é a palavra correta
don't leave me [imperative negation]	não me deixe/não me deixes
no problem [negation + noun]	sem problema

Negative Sentences	Portuguese
I don't speak French [negation + present tense]	eu não falo francês
she didn't visit Germany [negation + past tense]	ela não visitou a alemanha
he cannot see us [negative modal verb]	ele não pode nos ver
can't she play chess? [interrogative negation]	ela não pode jogar xadrez?
we will not come late [negation + future tense]	nós não vamos chegar tarde

Questions in Portuguese

Now let's learn how to ask questions (interrogative). Such as: what, why, can you ...? Here are some common examples:

English	Portuguese
how?	como?
what?	o que?
who?	quem?
why?	porquê?
where?	onde?

More of the interrogative form, now in a sentence:

Questions + Rules	Portuguese
where do you live? [interrogative + verb]	onde mora?/onde moras?
does she speak Chinese? [interrogative verb]	ela fala chinês?
how much is this? [interrogative preposition]	quanto é isso?
can I help you? [interrogative modal verb]	posso ajudá-lo?posso ajudar-te?
what is your name? [interrogative preposition]	qual é o seu nome?qual é o teu nome?

Adverbs in Portuguese

It's time to learn the adverbs in Portuguese. But what is an adverb? In general, adverbs modify verbs and adjectives. For example: You speak fast. The adverb is [fast] because it describes the verb and answers the question how do you speak?. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Adverbs	Portuguese
now	agora
yesterday	ontem
today	hoje
tonight	hoje à noite
tomorrow	amanhã
soon	em breve
quickly	rapidamente
slowly	lentamente
together	juntos
very	muito
almost	quase
always	sempre
usually	geralmente
sometimes	às vezes
rarely	raramente
never	nunca

The following examples use the adverbs in different ways and places to demonstrate how it behaves in a sentence.

Adverbs + Rules	Portuguese
do you understand me now? [pronoun + adverb]	entende-me agora?entendes-me agora?
I need help immediately [noun + adverb]	preciso de ajuda imediatamente
she is very intelligent [adverb + adjective]	ela é muito inteligente
I will always love you [verb + adverb]	vou amar-te sempre
can we learn German together? [adverb in a question]	podemos aprender alemão juntos?

Pronouns in Portuguese

We're almost done! This time we will learn the pronouns in Portuguese. In general, a pronoun can be used instead of a noun. For example instead of saying my teacher speaks 3 languages, you can use the pronoun he, and say he speaks 3 languages. Here is a list of the most common ones:

Personal Pronouns	Portuguese
I	eu
you	tu
he	ele
she	ela
we	nós
they	eles, elas

Object Pronouns	Portuguese
me	me
you	te/vós
him	o; lhe
her	a; lhe
us	nós
them	os/as; lhes

Possessive Pronouns	Portuguese
my	meu
your	teu/seu
his	seu (dele)
her	sua (dela)
our	nosso
their	seus, suas

I think it's better to put the above example in a sentence to better assist you. The following examples use pronouns in different ways and places to demonstrate how they behave in a sentence. We will start with the personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns	Portuguese
I am your friend [1st pronoun + verb]	eu sou seu amigo/eu sou teu amigo
you speak very fast [2nd pronoun + adverb]	fala muito rápido/falas muito rapido
he has three dogs [3rd pronoun + verb]	ele tem três cães
she can speak German [3rd pronoun + verb]	ela fala alemão
we will not come late [1st plural pronoun]	nós não vamos chegar tarde
they bought milk and bread [3rd plural pronoun]	eles compraram leite e pão

The object pronoun is used as a target by a verb, and usually come after that verb. For example: I gave him my book. The object pronoun here is him. Here are more examples:

Object Pronouns	Portuguese
can you tell me your name? [1st object pronoun]	pode dizer- me o nome?podes dizer-me o teu nome?
I will give you money [2nd object pronoun]	vou dar-lhe dinheiro/vou dar-te dinheiro
she wrote him a letter [3rd object pronoun]	ela escreveu-lhe uma carta
they visited her yesterday [3rd object pronoun]	eles visitaram-na ontem
can she help us? [1st pl. object pronoun]	ela pode nos ajudar?
he gave them food [3rd pl. object pronoun]	ele deu-lhes comida

Possessive Pronouns	Portuguese
my name is Maya [1st possessive pronoun]	o meu nome é maya
your brother lives here [2nd possessive pronoun]	o seu irmão mora aqui/o teu irmão mora aqui
her mother cooks for us [3rd possessive pronoun]	a sua mãe cozinha para nós
his hobby is reading books [3rd possessive pronoun]	o seu hobby é a leitura de livros
our dream is to visit Paris [1st pl. possessive pronoun]	o nosso sonho é visitar paris
their house is not far [3rd pl. possessive pronoun]	a casa deles não é longe

One more thing you need to know is the demonstrative pronouns. They're very easy to learn.

Demonstrative Pronouns	Portuguese
this is my house	esta é minha casa
that restaurant is far	aquele restaurante é longe
these apples are delicious	estas maçãs são deliciosas
those stars are shiny	aquelas estrelas são brilhantes

I hope you learned a lot about the Portuguese grammar in this lesson. If you have any question about this lesson please contact me here. The next lesson is below, have fun!

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