Learn how to ask about someone's nationality
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Braden: Braden here! This is Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 4 - Brazilian Reading Difficulties. |
| Thássia: Hello everyone! I'm Thássia, and welcome back to PortuguesePOD101.com. |
| Braden: With us, you'll learn to speak Portuguese with fun and effective lessons. |
| Thássia: We also provide you with cultural insights. |
| Braden: And tips you won't find in a textbook. In this lesson, you learn how to ask about someone's nationality. |
| Thássia: This conversation takes place in the airport between connecting flights. |
| Braden: It's between Naiara, Michael, and Alessio, Naiara's boyfriend. |
| Thássia: Michael and Naiara are well acquainted by now so they will be speaking casually. |
| Braden: Let's listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Naiara: Eu sou brasileira. E você? |
| Michael: Não, não sou brasileiro, sou Americano. (Virando para o Alessio). E você? |
| Alessio: Não, eu sou italiano. |
| Naiara: Vou para Salvador com meu namorado. |
| Michael: Você tem namorado? |
| Naiara: Sim, eu tenho um namorado. É ele. (apontando para o Alessio) |
| Michael: Foi um prazer conhecê-la. |
| Naiara: O prazer foi nosso! |
| Braden:One time, slowly please. |
| Naiara: Eu sou brasileira. E você? |
| Michael: Não, não sou brasileiro, sou americano. (Virando para o Alessio) E você? |
| Alessio: Não, eu sou italiano. |
| Naiara: Vou para Salvador com meu namorado. |
| Michael: Você tem namorado? |
| Naiara: Sim, eu tenho um namorado. É ele. (apontando para o Alessio) |
| Michael: Foi um prazer conhecê-la. |
| Naiara: O prazer foi nosso! |
| Braden:Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Naiara: Eu sou brasileira. E você? |
| Braden: I am Brazilian. And you? |
| Michael: Não, não sou brasileiro, sou americano. |
| Braden: No, I'm not Brazilian. I'm American. |
| Michael: (Virando para o Alessio) E você? |
| Braden: (Turning to Alessio) And you? |
| Alessio: Não, eu sou italiano. |
| Braden: No, I'm Italian. |
| Naiara: Vou para Salvador com meu namorado. |
| Braden: I'm going to Salvador with my boyfriend. |
| Michael: Você tem namorado? |
| Braden: You have a boyfriend? |
| Naiara: Sim, eu tenho um namorado. É ele. (Apontando para o Alessio) |
| Braden: I do. It's him. (Pointing to Alessio) |
| Michael: Foi um prazer conhecê-la. |
| Braden: It was a pleasure meeting you. |
| Naiara: O prazer foi nosso! |
| Braden: The pleasure was ours! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: Okay. It seems like Michael wanted to get out of that situation as soon as possible. |
| Thássia: Yes. He seemed uncomfortable. Hey, Braden, did you know that the official Portuguese orthography changed recently? |
| Braden: I did. By the way, orthography is the writing system of a language. |
| Thássia: Or better, it's changing. |
| Braden: That's right. Over the past fifty years or so, Brazil and other Portuguese speaking countries have altered their writing system a number of times trying to reach a universal Portuguese writing system. |
| Thássia: It's changed so much that reading a book published in Portuguese more than fifty years ago is very strange. |
| Braden: Which is why, even if you've learned Portuguese long ago, it's a good idea to restart here with the Absolute Beginners Series because so much has changed and we can answer many of your questions along the way. Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Thássia: The first word we shall see is, brasileiro [natural native speed]. |
| Braden: Brazilian |
| Thássia: Brasileiro [slowly broken down by syllable], brasileiro [natural native speed]. Americano [natural native speed]. |
| Braden: American. |
| Thássia: Americano [slowly - broken down by syllable], americano [natural native speed]. Italiano [natural native speed]. |
| Braden: Italian |
| Thássia: Italiano [slowly - broken down by syllable], italiano [natural native speed]. Namorado [natural native speed]. |
| Braden: Boyfriend. |
| Thássia: Namorado [slowly - broken down by syllable], namorado [natural native speed]. |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Thássia: The first words we will look at are nationalities. |
| Braden: The dialogue contained the words "americano," "brasileira," and "italiano." |
| Thássia: These mean "American man," "Brazilian woman," and "Italian man," respectively. |
| Braden: Because of grammatical gender, there are also opposite forms which are… |
| Thássia: "Americana," "brasileiro," and "italiana." |
| Braden: Which mean "American woman," "Brazilian man," and "Italian woman." |
| Thássia: Can you hear the difference? The only thing that changes is the last letter. |
| Braden: That's right. The nationalities with an "-a" at the end indicate female speakers and the nationalities with an "-o" at the end indicate male speakers. |
| Thássia: You can make this plural by either adding an "-s" or an "-es" to the end of the correct word. |
| Braden: For example? |
| Thássia: "Americano" means "American" and "americanos" means "Americans." Just add an "-s." |
| Braden: And "brasileiro" means "Brazilian" and "brasileiros" means "Brazilians." |
| Thássia: Not all words follow this simple 'add an "-o" or an "-a" at the end to make it Portuguese' rule. |
| Braden: That's true. There are some nationalities, like "chinês," which means "Chinese," and "canadense," which means "Canadian." |
| Thássia: Like we said before, most nationalities change according to gender. If a Chinese man were speaking, he would say "Sou chinês," which means, "I'm Chinese." If a woman were speaking, she would say "Sou chinêsa," which means, "I'm Chinese." |
| Braden: But I have found that "canadense" doesn't do that. There is no such thing as a "canadensa," right? |
| Thássia: That sounds very weird to me. |
| Braden: It should be because it's not a word in Portuguese. |
| Thássia: I feel much better now. Let's take a look at today's grammar point. |
Lesson focus |
| Braden: The focus of this lesson is asking someone's nationality. |
| Thássia: In the dialogue, we heard how to ask about someone's nationality. |
| Braden: To ask the question, you simply state, "Você é americano," which means "You are American," with a rising tone at the end. "You are American?" |
| Thássia: That rising tone is how you ask a question in Portuguese. |
| Braden: The rising tone changes the simple statement "você é americano," "You are American," into a question, "Você é americano?" "Are you American?" |
| Thássia: To respond to an inquiry about your nationality, you say "Não, não sou japonês." |
| Braden: Negating a verb, as in "go" versus "not go," is pretty easy in Portuguese. You simply place the word "não" in front of the verb. |
| Thássia: You should also know that in Portuguese double and even triple negatives are normal and do not cancel each other out as they do in Standard English. |
| Braden: That's right. And always remember that when writing about nationalities, Portuguese doesn't use capital letters. |
| Thássia: In English you write Italian with a capital "-I," but in Portuguese you write "italiano" all in lowercase. |
| Braden: That just about does it for this lesson. |
| Thássia: So stop by PortuguesePOD101.com and pick up the lesson notes. |
| Braden: It has the conversation transcript. |
| Thássia: Vocabulary, simple sentences, agreement explanation. |
| Braden: And a cultural insight section. |
| Thássia: Seeing the Portuguese really helps make the information stick. |
| Braden: But don't take our word for it. Please, have a look for yourself. |
| Thássia: Please, let us know what you think. Tchau! |
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