Learn about superlatives, or degrees, of the Portuguese language
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Sílvia: Hello everyone! I'm Sílvia, and welcome to PortuguesePOD101.com. |
| Braden: With us, you'll learn to speak Portuguese with fun and effective lessons. |
| Sílvia: We also provide you with cultural insights... |
| Braden: ...and tips you won't find in a textbook. |
| Silvia: está pronto? |
| Braden: tô. E você? |
| Silvia: sempre! |
| Braden: ta bom! okay so in this lesson we have a brother and sister talking about the sister's school project. |
| Silvia: That's right. He seems worried about her. |
| Braden: Yes he does. |
| Lesson Details |
| Silvia: So Braden, please tell us what we'll be learning in this lesson. |
| Braden: In this lesson, we'll be learning using the absolute superlative |
| Silvia: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Braden: This conversation takes place at night, at home and it's between Eduardo and Elaine. |
| Silvia: What's the formality level? |
| Braden: Well, it's informal. |
| Silvia: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Eduardo: Não acredito que você ainda está acordada. «bocejo» |
| Elaine: (com voz de sono) Estou sim, estou terminando um trabalho importantíssimo. |
| Eduardo: Mas você já não entregou esse trabalho semana passada? |
| Elaine: (desanimada) Entreguei sim, mas o professor disse que estava péssimo e me mandou refazer. |
| Eduardo: Mas estava ótimo, eu mesmo li. |
| Elaine: É, mas o professor não gostou nada... |
| Eduardo: Então vou preparar um cafezinho pra você não dormir na cadeira. |
| Elaine: Valeu. |
| Eduardo: Você precisa de mais alguma coisa? |
| Elaine: Só que o semestre acabe logo. |
| Eduardo: Não se preocupe, você consegue. |
| Elaine: Obrigada. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Eduardo: Não acredito que você ainda está acordada. «bocejo» |
| Elaine: (com voz de sono) Estou sim, estou terminando um trabalho importantíssimo. |
| Eduardo: Mas você já não entregou esse trabalho semana passada? |
| Elaine: (desanimada) Entreguei sim, mas o professor disse que estava péssimo e me mandou refazer. |
| Eduardo: Mas estava ótimo, eu mesmo li. |
| Elaine: É, mas o professor não gostou nada... |
| Eduardo: Então vou preparar um cafezinho pra você não dormir na cadeira. |
| Elaine: Valeu. |
| Eduardo: Você precisa de mais alguma coisa? |
| Elaine: Só que o semestre acabe logo. |
| Eduardo: Não se preocupe, você consegue. |
| Elaine: Obrigada. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Eduardo: Não acredito que você ainda está acordada. «bocejo» |
| Braden: I don't believe you're still awake. |
| Elaine: (com voz de sono) Estou sim, estou terminando um trabalho importantíssimo. |
| Braden«yawn» |
| Eduardo: Mas você já não entregou esse trabalho semana passada? |
| Braden: (sleepy) Yes I am. I'm finishing an extremely important homework assignment. |
| Elaine: (desanimada) Entreguei sim, mas o professor disse que estava péssimo e me mandou refazer. |
| Braden: But didn't you already turn this in last week? |
| Eduardo: Mas estava ótimo, eu mesmo li. |
| Braden: (sad) Yes I did, but the teacher said it was very bad and told me to redo it. |
| Elaine: É, mas o professor não gostou nada... |
| Braden: But it was great! I read it myself. |
| Eduardo: Então vou preparar um cafezinho pra você não dormir na cadeira. |
| Braden: I know but my teacher didn't like any of it. |
| Elaine: Valeu. |
| Braden: Okay then, I'll get some coffee ready so you don't fall asleep in your chair. |
| Eduardo: Você precisa de mais alguma coisa? |
| Braden: Thanks. |
| Elaine: Só que o semestre acabe logo. |
| Braden: Do you need anything else? |
| Eduardo: Não se preocupe, você consegue. |
| Braden: Just the semester ending soon. |
| Elaine: Obrigada. |
| Braden: Don't worry, you can do it. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: (ask Silvia something about the dialogue-Peter always does a little review about the previous lessons. explain what you are thinking about the storyline in the lesson, so the students can follow and participate - don't make them guess.) |
| Silvia: (response) |
| Braden: Okay so tell us a little bit about Universities in Brazil |
| Silvia: we'll, On the surface, Brazilian universities are very similar to American universities. There are multiple courses in many different disciplines including medicine, law, letters, languages, engineering, international relations, and many others. Brazilian universities are also unique in several aspects. For example, Brazil has federal universities that are paid for using government funds. |
| Braden: That means there is no tuition and no fees. |
| Silvia: right. but you still usually have to pay for books and room and board. Some books, for example medical text books, can be over R$1000 per textbook. |
| Braden: These “free” universities were created to help low-income Brazilians earn a university degree. |
| Silvia: They have a specific number of vagas or openings in each course per year. However because these universities are free they create an extremely high demand frequently having more than 1000 applicants for only 1 or 2 openings. The applicants accepted are those which the highest score on that school's vestibular which is a unique entrance exam created by each university. |
| Braden: Sometimes this results in only a tenth of a percentage point being the difference between getting and being rejected. |
| Silvia: And R$1000 is a significant amount of money in a country with a minimum wage is only R$525 per month. You'd have to work for an entire year, not spending a cent, just to pay for your textbooks. |
| Braden: "Where did you go to college? do people often go to the states?" |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Sílvia: bocejo [natural native speed] |
| Braden: yawn |
| Sílvia: bocejo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: bocejo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: acordado [natural native speed] |
| Braden: awake |
| Sílvia: acordado [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: acordado [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: entregar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to deliver, to turn in |
| Sílvia: entregar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: entregar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: péssimo [natural native speed] |
| Braden: the worst, very bad |
| Sílvia: péssimo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: péssimo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: cafezinho [natural native speed] |
| Braden: shot of coffee, snack |
| Sílvia: cafezinho [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: cafezinho [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: maninho [natural native speed] |
| Braden: buddy, friend, |
| Sílvia: maninho [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: maninho [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: refazer [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to redo |
| Sílvia: refazer [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: refazer [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: terminar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to finish |
| Sílvia: terminar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: terminar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: importantíssimo [natural native speed] |
| Braden: of utmost importance, very important |
| Sílvia: importantíssimo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: importantíssimo [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Braden: Let's have a closer look at the usuage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Silvia: The first phrase we'll look at is Já não entregou |
| Braden: And what does this mean? |
| Silvia: we'll Já não entregou literally translates to “already no delivered” but it means “haven't already delivered” or “haven't already turned in.” |
| Braden: so here's my word order tip. Já never goes in between the não and the verb. It always goes before or after. Example |
| Silvia: that's right. |
| Braden: could you break this down? |
| Silvia: sure (break down) |
| Braden: what's our next phrase? |
| Silvia: não gostou nada |
| Braden: And what does this mean? |
| Silvia: Não gostou nada literally translates to “no liked nothing” but it means something closer to “didn't like anything” or “didn't like anything about it.” |
| Braden: Notice that this is another example where the verb gostar is not followed by de. In this case, the nada is mostly serving as an emphasis to the negativity of the teacher's opinion instead of him not liking a particular thing, although both meanings are present. |
| Silvia: Once again, the "de" isn't verbalized but it is inferred. |
| Braden: could you break this down? |
| Silvia: (break down) |
| Braden: what's our next phrase? |
| Silvia: pra você não dormir |
| Braden: pra você não dormir literally translates to “to you no to sleep” but it means “so you don't fall asleep.” |
| Silvia: The pra and dormir are connected thus making the verb dormir stay in the infinitive instead of being conjugated. Had he said “para que” instead of just “pra” dorimir would have to be conjugated to its present subjunctive, durma. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: Okay Silvia, so what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Silvia: The focus of this lesson is the absolute synthetic superlative |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase |
| Silvia: (desanimada) Entreguei sim, mas o professor disse que estava péssimo e me mandou refazer." |
| Braden: Which we translated as "Yes I did, but the teacher said it was very bad and told me to redo it." |
| Silvia: Okay so we are going to talk about the superlative which is a way to point at a particulary quality of something at it's highest level. |
| Braden: what did you just say? |
| Silvia: Ha! Anyway, In Portuguese there are two ways to make the superlative - the absolute superlative and the relative superlative. |
| Braden: Exactly, and like she said, The absolute superlative highlights the quality of somthing at its highest level. In the absolute superlative the quality or attribute is not directly compared to anything, which is why we do not call it a comparative. |
| Silvia: There are two ways of making the absolute superlative - the synthetic (when a suffix is used) and the analytic (when an adverb is used). |
| Braden: Okay so the synthetic superlative adds the suffixes -íssimo, -rimo or imo to the adjective. This intensifies its meaning it brings it up to its highest level. |
| Silvia: This form of superlative does not exist English. I wish it did because some times I want to use it and I can't. |
| Braden: ha! Could you give us some examples? |
| Silvia: Ha! I can try. A simple one would be Marta é magríssima. |
| Braden: Okay, that translates to “Marta is extremely thin.” |
| Silvia: Kind of, It's more like "Marta is extra extra so extremely thin it's shocking" |
| Braden: All of that in an -íssima? |
| Silvia: I told you it was hard to translate. Another example is O filme estava interessantíssimo. |
| Braden: Which we translated as “The film was of the highest interest.” |
| Silvia: but once again it's more like "The film is extremely, amazingly, awesomely, totally interesting." |
| Braden: Ha! or something like that. |
| Silvia: Right. This one is really easy. Just add on the endings íssimo, rimo, or imo to the adjective. |
| Braden: okay so the analytic. How do we use the analytic. |
| Silvia: The absolute analytic superlative uses adverbs such as muito, bastante and extremamente before the adjective to intensify it. So that would be Marta é muito magra. |
| Braden: Which translates to “Marta is very thin.” This we have in English. Another example? |
| Silvia: O filme é extremamente interessante. Which translates to “The film is extremely interesting.” |
| Braden: so, just add muito, bastante, or extremamente before the adjective? |
| Silvia: Right. |
| Braden: Okay, so let's take a look at the relative superlative. The relative superlative is used to highlight a quality of something at its highest level among a group. |
| Silvia: What? |
| Braden: Ha! That means this is how you say "the most (something)" or "the least (something)" It can relate things of a superior or inferior nature. |
| Silvia: Right so with Superiority the formula is o mais + adjective + de for masculine things |
| Braden: and a mais + adjective + de for feminine things. Remember, the grammatical gender is determined by the noun. In English, to change the adjective “fast” from “fast” to “fastest” you simply add an “-est.” |
| Silvia: In Portuguese, instead of adding “-est” at the end, you add the words “o" or "a mais” before the adjective. |
| Braden: For example, “rápido” which means “fast” becomes “o mais rápido” which means “the fastest.” |
| Silvia: right so back to marta - Marta é a mais magra da escola. |
| Braden: Which translates to “Marta is the thinnest of the school.” |
| Silvia: or the film example - O filme era o mais interessante de todos em cartaz. |
| Braden: Which translates to “The film was the most interesting of all the films on the posters.” |
| Silvia: Okay, so that was superiority. Now we'll talk about inferiority. The relative superlative for inferiority Highlights the most intense inferiority degree of the quality. |
| Braden: Wow. That was so correct it was almost wrong. In other words, this is how you say "the least." |
| Silvia: So we use the same formula as before but switch out the mais for menos. so it's o(a) menos + adjective + de |
| Braden: So back to marta you'd say “Marta is the least fat of the school.” in Portuguese by saying? |
| Silvia: "Marta é a menos gorda da escola." |
| Braden: and our film example? |
| Silvia: O filme era o menos entediante de todos em cartaz. |
| Braden: Which translates to “The film was the least boring of all the films on the posters.” |
| Silvia: remember these constructions can also be used euphamistically. Este cavalo é o menos veloz de todos. |
| Braden: Good point. This literally translates to "This horse is the fastest of all." but it means. “This horse is the slowest of all.” |
| Silvia: So our tip for this lesson is that some Portuguese adjectives do not follow this pattern because the base word is modified. |
| Braden: Kind of like a stem changing verb. The whole thing changes, not just suffix |
| Silvia: We've got those in the PDF so check that out. |
| Braden: That's all for this lesson! |
| Silvia: Thanks for listening! |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for today. |
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| Braden: Have fun studying! |
| Sílvia: Até a próxima! |
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