Learn how to ask "What?"
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| Oi, meu nome é Paloma. Hi everybody! I’m Paloma. |
| Welcome to PortuguesePod101.com’s “Português em Três Minutos”. The fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Portuguese. |
| In the last lesson, we learned how to use the verb vir. |
| In this lesson, we will jump into our lessons dedicated to interrogative words in Portuguese. Our first one will be the one most commonly used to ask a question, and that is the word used to say "What." You’ll see that there are many ways to translate it in Portuguese. |
| So imagine you want to ask your friend what he is doing. How will you do it? |
| You will ask- O que você está fazendo? |
| This means “What are you doing?” |
| [slowly] O que você está fazendo? |
| So let’s break down this answer. |
| O que is "What" in Portuguese. |
| Você means "you" |
| And finally está fazendo means “are doing”. |
| So, altogether it is O que você está fazendo? |
| “What are you doing?” |
| The rule is simple- each time you want to ask a question starting with "What" and followed by a transitive verb you have to use O que? in Portuguese. |
| For example with the transitive verb "to want", "What do you want?" will be O que você quer? |
| Also with the transitive verb comer "to eat", it will be - O que você está comendo? This means “What are you eating?” |
| On the other hand, be careful with intransitive Portuguese verbs like gostar, which is "to like" or falar, "to talk." In this case, you will have to use Do que instead of o que. |
| For example, Do que você gosta? This is "What do you like?" |
| [slow] Do que você gosta? |
| Or Do que você está falando? which is "What are you talking about?" |
| [slow] Do que você está falando? |
| And we have a third word meaning “what” in Portuguese. When used before nouns, "What" in Portuguese becomes the interrogative word Qual. |
| So, for example, if you want to ask somebody’s name you can ask Qual é o seu nome? This means “What’s your name?” |
| [slow] Qual é o seu nome? |
| Now it’s time for Paloma’s Points. |
| Often, Brazilians will add another que in a question. For example, O que você está fazendo? Would be O que que você está fazendo? |
| It is a very natural way of asking questions in Brazil. To sound even more casual, you can also cut the word está into tá, so it is O que que você tá fazendo? |
| Before ending this lesson, let’s review all the ways to translate "What" in Portuguese. |
| - O que before transitive verbs, as in O que você está fazendo? "What are you doing?" |
| - Do que before intransitive verbs, as in Do que você está falando? "What are you talking about?" |
| - Qual, which is used before a noun, as in Qual é o seu nome? "What is your name?" |
| In this lesson, we learned how to translate the word "What" depending on the grammatical situation. |
| I know it’s not always simple, but I’m sure you will remember these short rules! |
| Next lesson, we will talk about the Portuguese for the interrogative word "Where". |
| Do you know it already? I can promise it’s easier than "what"! |
| I’ll be waiting for you in the next Português em Três Minutos. |
| Tchau tchau! |
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