Learn the imperfect preterit of Portuguese -ar, -er, and -ir verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Braden: Hello, and welcome to PortuguesePOD101.com, where we study modern Portuguese in a fun, educational format! |
| Sílvia: So, brush up on the Portuguese that you started learning long ago, or start learning today. |
| Braden: Thanks for being here with us for this lesson, Sílvia, what are we looking at in this lesson? |
| Silvia: A Grandfather and grandson are talking about how things are different now a days. |
| Lesson Details |
| Braden: So Silvia, please tell us what we'll be learning in this lesson. |
| Silvia: In this lesson, we'll be learning talking with older people |
| Braden: Where does this conversation take place and who is it between? |
| Silvia: This conversation takes place in the evening, at home, neto, vovó |
| Braden: What's the formality level? |
| Silvia: Well, Vovó is speaking informal but neto is speaking respectfully. |
| Braden: Let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Vovô: O que é isso meu filho? |
| Netinho: Isso é um programa que a gente usa para conversar com as pessoas. Chama-se Skype. |
| Vovô: Meu filho, deixe estas coisas e vamos preparar o jantar. |
| Netinho: Eu já pedi o nosso jantar pela internet, já deve estar chegando, vovô. |
| Vovô: No meu tempo, quando queríamos conversar com alguém nós encontrávamos com a pessoa e conversávamos pessoalmente. |
| Netinho: Mas estas pessoas aqui estão muito longe, vovô. |
| Vovô: Eu andava muito quando era jovem, e comia em restaurantes elegantes com boas companhias...você precisa conhecer algumas moças, meu filho. |
| Netinho: Eu já tenho namorada vovô, olha ela aqui em tela cheia dando um oi. |
| Vovô: Que coisa. |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Vovô: O que é isso meu filho? |
| Netinho: Isso é um programa que a gente usa para conversar com as pessoas. Chama-se Skype. |
| Vovô: Meu filho, deixe estas coisas e vamos preparar o jantar. |
| Netinho: Eu já pedi o nosso jantar pela internet, já deve estar chegando, vovô. |
| Vovô: No meu tempo, quando queríamos conversar com alguém nós encontrávamos com a pessoa e conversávamos pessoalmente. |
| Netinho: Mas estas pessoas aqui estão muito longe, vovô. |
| Vovô: Eu andava muito quando era jovem, e comia em restaurantes elegantes com boas companhias...você precisa conhecer algumas moças, meu filho. |
| Netinho: Eu já tenho namorada vovô, olha ela aqui em tela cheia dando um oi. |
| Vovô: Que coisa. |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Vovô: O que é isso meu filho? |
| Braden: What's that my son? |
| Netinho: Isso é um programa que a gente usa para conversar com as pessoas. Chama-se Skype. |
| Braden: This is a program that we use to talk with people. It's called Skype. |
| Vovô: Meu filho, deixe estas coisas e vamos preparar o jantar. |
| Braden: My son, put these things away and let's prepare dinner. |
| Netinho: Eu já pedi o nosso jantar pela internet, já deve estar chegando, vovô. |
| Braden: I already ordered our dinner through the internet. It should be arriving soon, Grandpa. |
| Vovô: No meu tempo, quando queríamos conversar com alguém nós encontrávamos com a pessoa e conversávamos pessoalmente. |
| Braden: In my time, when we wanted to talk with someone we would go out and meet them and talk in person. |
| Netinho: Mas estas pessoas aqui estão muito longe, vovô. |
| Braden: But these people are very far away Grandpa. |
| Vovô: Eu andava muito quando era jovem, e comia em restaurantes elegantes com boas companhias...você precisa conhecer algumas moças, meu filho. |
| Braden: I used to walk a lot when I was young and I ate in elegant restaurants with good company...you need to meet some young women, my son. |
| Netinho: Eu já tenho namorada vovô, olha ela aqui em tela cheia dando um oi. |
| Braden: I already have a girlfriend Grandpa. Look at her here full screen waving "Hi!" |
| Vovô: Que coisa. |
| Braden: Wow. |
| 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: so to me it seems that Brazil has a huge generation gap. |
| Silvia: That's true. Most people over the age of 40 don't know how to use a computer and those who do are limited to Microsoft products and orkut. |
| Braden: Right. Computers and specifically the Internet jumped into Brazil in an already advanced state and very few people know even the basics of how they work or what do to if anything goes wrong. Typically, tech support is limited to "restart it," if that doesn't work, "re-install it," If that doesn't work format and re install windows losing all your important data. If that doesn't work, throw it out and buy a new one. |
| Silvia: The Internet already being advanced has also allowed many Brazilian businesses to bypass quite a few normal startup costs. For example, it's common to find websites that use Skype for it's customer service calls, instead of a traditional landline. |
| Braden: Landlines in Brazil are very expensive and products like skype, MSN, google docs, hotmail, and torrents are commonly used when conducting business. |
| (describe the generation gap you see.) |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Sílvia: bocejar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: to yawn |
| Sílvia: bocejar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: bocejar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: programa [natural native speed] |
| Braden: software application, software program |
| Sílvia: programa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: programa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: jantar [natural native speed] |
| Braden: dinner |
| Sílvia: jantar [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: jantar [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: pessoalmente [natural native speed] |
| Braden: personally |
| Sílvia: pessoalmente [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: pessoalmente [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: jovem [natural native speed] |
| Braden: young person |
| Sílvia: jovem [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: jovem [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: companhia [natural native speed] |
| Braden: companionship, company |
| Sílvia: companhia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: companhia [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: moça [natural native speed] |
| Braden: young woman |
| Sílvia: moça [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: moça [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sílvia: tela-cheia [natural native speed] |
| Braden: full screen |
| Sílvia: tela-cheia [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sílvia: tela-cheia [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 word we'll look at is pc. |
| Braden: And what does this mean? |
| Silvia: PC is how you say PC as in "Personal Computer" in Portuguese. |
| Braden: This may seem obvious but in Portuguese this is actually a name not an acronym like it is in English. |
| Silvia: No one says "pessoal computador" in Brazil. Also, PC can't be used to mean "politically Correct" like it can be in English. At least, I've never heard a Brazilian use it that way. |
| Braden: what's our next phrase? |
| Silvia: tela-cheia |
| Braden: And what does this mean? |
| Silvia: Tela-cheia literally translates to "screen full" but it means "full screen." "tela-cheia" is what we say and what the botton says on your computer. |
| Braden: what's our next phrase? |
| Silvia: dando um "oi" |
| Braden: And what does this mean? |
| Silvia: dando um "oi" literally translates to "giving a 'hi.'" Normally when you see someone doing this they are waving and that's why we translated it as "waving 'Hi!'" |
| Braden: could you break this down? |
| Silvia: Sure, (break down) |
| Braden: what's our next phrase? |
| Silvia: Que coisa |
| Braden: And what does this mean? |
| Silvia: que coisa literally translates to "that thing" or "what thing." |
| Braden: This is a very useful phrase because it doesn't really mean anything. |
| Silvia: It's a non-commital interjection. |
| Braden: A friend of mine always says this when he's not quite sure how to respond to something but doesn't want to hurt the other person's feelings. What's our last phrase? |
| Silvia: no meu tempo |
| Braden: Which means? |
| Silvia: no meu tempo literally translates to "in the my time" but it just means "in my time." Remember to say no though instead of em. em meu tempo doesn't flow very well. |
| Braden: Good tip! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Silvia, what's the focus of this lesson? |
| Silvia: The focus of this lesson is the Imperfect tense -ar, -er, -ir |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase |
| Silvia: No meu tempo, quando queríamos conversar com alguém nós encontrávamos com a pessoa e conversávamos pessoalmente. |
| Braden: Which we translated as "In my time, when we wanted to talk with someone we would go out and meet them and talk in person." |
| Silvia: So to start things off, "Imperfeito" or "imperfect" comes from the Latin "imperfectum" which in latin didn't mean "imperfect." It means "not completed." |
| Braden: That's right. Conceptually, when you use the imperfcet, the action you're talking about always starts before the sentence |
| Silvia: It other words, before the scene-begins. |
| Braden: So your question might be "when does it end?" Often we don't know because the action may continue on into the future, until long after the scene is over. |
| Silvia: The crucial point therefore is not when the action begins or ends, but rather only whether or not it was going on when the scene opened. |
| Braden: So when you're trying to say something in the past tense you may ask, "Which is correct here, the preterite or the imperfect?" Most of the time, either one could be used and be grammatically correct. The real issue is "What do you mean?" I have fond memories of the imperfect tense because it was while trying to understand this tense that I finally began looking past the "word to word comparison" and paying more attention to the meanings of the words and conjugations. |
| Silvia: So, if you're talking about something you "were doing" or "used to do," then it's probably imperfect but if you talking about something you (or someone else) "did," then it's probably pretétrito. |
| Braden: The pretérito imperfeito can sometimes seem difficult because there is no directly comparable conjugation in English like there is for the pretérito perfeito. English does use imperfect tenses and uses them frequently but in English the imperfeito is made using phrase structure instead of a strict conjugation. |
| Silvia: So for example, the phrase "Eles falavam francês." could translate to "They used to speak French." or "They were speaking French." depending on what you mean. Here the English phrases "used to speak" "and "were speaking" have the equivalent meaning as the conjugated Portuguese verb "falava." |
| "Was -ing" |
| Braden: The imperfect tense is often translated as "was ...-ing" or "used to." The imperfeito can be illustrated by the using the analogy of a recording. The idea is to represent an ongoing action or an action which happened repetitively. An example English sentence would be "while my sister was sleeping, my brother came home." The imperfect part is the "while my sister was sleeping" or just the "was sleeping." The second half, "my brother came in" would be in preterit because it's just a single event. He just came in. |
| Silvia: In Portuguese, this would be translated to "Enquanto minha irmã dormia, meu irmão entrou." So we have the same pattern, "Enquanto minha irmã dormia," has the exact meaning as "while my sister was sleeping." The dormia is in the imperfect tense. |
| Braden: So she was sleeping already, Before the scene. that's why we use the imperfect. |
| Silvia: Yep. In this sense the action is incomplete and therefore "imperfeito." If the entire action happens within the scene, use the preterit tense. If the action starts before the scene opens, you use the imperfect tense. |
| Braden: Okay so the imperfect also means "used to" "We used to go to Saturday matinées when we were younger! (or |
| Silvia: because of its nature, this meaning doesn't work well with the "scene" or recording explanation we gave before. How can you visualize "He used to get his hair cut down town?" as a single scene? |
| Braden: Exactly. But it's very easy to tell when the imperfect means "used to..." The tip is that when a sentence has an imperfect form as its only verb, the meaning is usually "used to." |
| Silvia: So, for example, Eu corria toda quarta-feira de manhã. only has one verby and it's in the imperfect tense. so |
| Braden: so the translation is "I used to run every Wednesday morning." |
| Silvia: Another example would be "Eu estudava em Chicago." again just one verb and it's in the imperfect so it's |
| Braden: I used to study in Chicago. Now just a quick note. In English many times we mean "used to..." but do not use those words. For example, "We went to Saturday matinées when we were younger," clearly indicates "used to go" but simply does not state it. |
| Silvia: This why we pinpointed the idea of meaning at the beginning of the lesson. Since a simple form such as "went" can substitute for "was ...-ing" and "used to..." it is important to understand the underlying meanings of this tense–otherwise you might assume that a form like went must always be preterite and can never be imperfect. |
| Braden: So the conjugation of the impefect tense is very easy. This is the intermediate level so you already familiar with the mechanices of conjugating verbs, so we won't go over them here. |
| Silvia: There are only two sets of endings - the -ar verbs have one and the -er and -ir have another. In all of the examples bolow, note how the imperfect action is already oging on when the preterit action takes place. |
| Braden: So for the -ar verbs you have |
| Silvia: eu falava |
| Silvia: você falava |
| Silvia: nós falávamos |
| Silvia: vocês falavam |
| Braden: and an example sentence? |
| Silvia: Quando você chegou à minha casa eu tocava piano. |
| Braden: Which translates to When you arrived at my house I was playing the piano. excellent. so the er and ir verbs have the same ending. |
| Silvia: we'll use the verb comer for our -er verb |
| Silvia: comia |
| Silvia: comia |
| Silvia: comíamos |
| Silvia: comiam |
| Braden: and lets use the verb assistir for our -ir verb |
| Silvia: okay |
| Silvia: Eu assistia |
| Silvia: você assistia |
| Silvia: Nós assistíamos |
| Silvia: Eles assistiam |
| Braden: And how about using that in an example. |
| Silvia: okay. Eu lia o jornal quando vi a fotografia da minha irmã. |
| Braden: Which translates to "I was reading the newspaper when I saw my sister's picture." Okay so, these examples are 100% correct grammatically. There is another way to say these though. For example, the sentence |
| Silvia: "Você preparava o jántar quando liguei?" |
| Braden: Which translates to "Were you preparing the dinner when I called?" Could also be |
| Silvia: "Você estava preparando o jántar quando liguei?" |
| Braden: same meaning here but what's interesting is that there is also no need for this second structure. To say, preparava and estava preparando have identical meanings. |
| Silvia: However, most Brazilians under the age of 30 will probably use "estava preparando," Brazilians 30 - 60 will mix and match and those over 60 will probably say just preparava. |
| Braden: I don't know why this has happened but I think it has to do with contact with English. That's just an educated guess though. |
| Braden: I have fond memories of the imperfect tense because it was while trying to understand this tense that I finally began looking past the word to word comparison and paying more attention to the meanings of the words and conjugations. And we are going to talk a lot about the meaning of the imperfect in this lesson. |
Outro |
| Braden: That just about does it for today. |
| Sílvia: Want a free way to build your Portuguese vocabulary? |
| Braden: Follow our Portuguese Word of the Day at Portuguese.com! |
| Sílvia: See and hear the word of the day... |
| Braden: ...plus sample phrases and sentences! |
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| Sílvia: Get these easy instructions at Portuguese.com/Portuguese-phrases |
| Braden: Thanks for listening! |
| Sílvia: Bons estudos! |
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