Learn about grammatical gender
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| DIALOGUE |
| Mariana: O que você gosta mais do Rock em Rio? |
| Sara: Eu gosto mais da música e da festa. Tanta coisa boa aqui. É muito divertido. |
| Mariana: Seus amigos vieram contigo? |
| Sara: Não, só eu e minha família. |
| Mariana: E vocês vieram da onde? |
| Sara: Viemos de Curitiba! |
| Mariana: E quantos quilômetros é de lá até aqui? |
| Sara: Sei lá. Novecentos? |
| English Host: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mariana: O que você gosta mais do Rock em Rio? |
| Sara: Eu gosto mais da música e da festa. Tanta coisa boa aqui. É muito divertido. |
| Mariana: Seus amigos vieram contigo? |
| Sara: Não, só eu e minha família. |
| Mariana: E vocês vieram da onde? |
| Sara: Viemos de Curitiba! |
| Mariana: E quantos quilômetros é de lá até aqui? |
| Sara: Sei lá. Novecentos? |
| English Host: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mariana: O que você gosta mais do Rock em Rio? |
| Braden: What do you like most about Rock in Rio? |
| Sara: Eu gosto mais da música e da festa. Tanta coisa boa aqui. É muito divertido. |
| Braden: I like the music and the party most. So much good stuff here. It's very fun. |
| Mariana: Seus amigos vieram contigo? |
| Braden: Did your friends come with you? |
| Sara: Não, só eu e minha família. |
| Braden: No, just me and my family. |
| Mariana: E vocês vieram da onde? |
| Braden: And where did you come from? |
| Sara: Viemos de Curitiba! |
| Braden: We came from Curitiba! |
| Mariana: E quantos quilômetros é de lá até aqui? |
| Braden: And how many kilometers is it from there to here? |
| Sara: Sei lá. Novecentos? |
| Braden: I have no idea. Nine hundred? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Braden: So, we wanted to talk a little bit about Rock in Rio |
| Sandra-: Rock in Rio is a music festival that happens unsurprisingly in Rio de Janeiro. The first time it took place was in 1985 but has since had a total of eight editions in Rio, Lisboa, and Madrid. |
| Braden: The most recent took place in Rio at the Cidade do Rock (City of Rock) toward the end of September, 2011. |
| Sandra-: The format is basically a series of concerts over a weeklong period of time from a variety of rock bands, pop singers, and musicians. |
| Braden: While the focus is obviously rock style music, going from Katy Perry all the way to heavy metal, there have also been presentations of samba and even bossa nova. |
| Sandra-: In 2012 rock in Rio is planned for a simultaneous event in both Lisboa and Madrid. And in 2013 another rock in Rio will take place in the city of rock in Rio de Janeiro. |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Braden: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Sandra: festa [natural native speed] |
| Braden: party |
| Sandra: festa [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: festa [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: música [natural native speed] |
| Braden: music |
| Sandra: música [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: música [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: Rock [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Rock music |
| Sandra: Rock [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: Rock [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: sobre [natural native speed] |
| Braden: about |
| Sandra: sobre [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: sobre [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: gosta de [natural native speed] |
| Braden: he/she/it likes |
| Sandra: gosta de [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: gosta de [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: contigo [natural native speed] |
| Braden: with you |
| Sandra: contigo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: contigo [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: amigos [natural native speed] |
| Braden: friends |
| Sandra: amigos [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: amigos [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: tanta [natural native speed] |
| Braden: so much |
| Sandra: tanta [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: tanta [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: divertido [natural native speed] |
| Braden: fun |
| Sandra: divertido [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: divertido [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: família [natural native speed] |
| Braden: family |
| Sandra: família [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: família [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: minha [natural native speed] |
| Braden: my, mine |
| Sandra: minha [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: minha [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: só [natural native speed] |
| Braden: just, only |
| Sandra: só [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: só [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: onde [natural native speed] |
| Braden: where |
| Sandra: onde [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: onde [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: Curitiba [natural native speed] |
| Braden: Curitiba |
| Sandra: Curitiba [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: Curitiba [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Sandra: quilo [natural native speed] |
| Braden: kilo |
| Sandra: quilo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Sandra: quilo [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. |
| Sandra-: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase Só eu e a minha família |
| Braden: The literal translation is “just me and the my family” |
| Sandra-: But it means, “just me and my family.” Portuguese uses the word “the” much more often than English. |
| Braden: For example, “Eu gosto da Andreia.” as we learned an absolute beginner season 1, “de+a=da” so was literally translates to, “I like the Andrea.” Instead of “I like Andrea.” |
| Sandra-: In situations like this you can usually just ignore the extra “the.” As we go along in the lessons will learn how to these “extra” articles. |
| Braden: but for now, don’t feel bad if you just ignore them. Could you break this down? |
| Sandra-: (break down) |
| Braden: So what's our next phrase? |
| Sandra-: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase tanta coisa boa aqui |
| Braden: The literal translation is “Much thing good here” |
| Sandra-: but it means “so many good things here.” The grammar here is beyond the scope of this lesson, this is a great and useful phrase you can use often. |
| Braden: for example, if you’re at a restaurant and looking at a menu you could say, “tanta coisa boa aqui.” |
| Sandra-: to mean, “so many good things here.” Or ”so much good stuff here.” |
| Braden: Could you break this down? |
| Sandra-: (break down) |
| Braden: Let's move on to the focus of this lesson. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Braden: So Sandra-, what's the focus of this lesson? |
| Sandra-: The Focus of This Lesson is Grammatical Gender |
| Braden: In the dialogue, we heard the phrase |
| Sandra-: E quantos quilômetros é de lá até aqui? |
| Braden: Which we translated as "And how many kilometers is it from there to here?" |
| Sandra-: Now remember that gender is embedded in nouns and then expands to the adjectives and articles. |
| Braden: So we look and find the noun "quilômetros," which means “kilometers.” "Quilômetros" is a masculine noun which you can identify by the “o” at the end. |
| Sandra-: Therefore, "Quilómetros" being a masculine noun, "quantos" will also be in its masculine form, with an “o” at the end. |
| Braden: Another example from the dialogue is |
| Sandra-: É muito divertido. |
| Braden: Which retranslated as "It’s very fun." |
| Sandra-: There is no noun in the sentence which makes us question how could there be gender. This sentence has an implied subject and because of that subject, which is masculine, the the masculine form divertido is used. |
| Braden: The inferred subject, by the way, is Rock in Rio from the previous line. Moving on, the phrase, |
| Sandra-: Não, só eu e minha família. |
| Braden: Was also used in the dialog. We translated this as "No, just me and my family." |
| Sandra-: Here the feminine noun família is modified by a possessive. Since família is feminine the possessive must also be in its feminine form, minha. |
| Braden: If you were to say, "meu família" you would have a disagreement in the grammatical gender which, in practice, is extremely painful to Brazilian ears. This is the real reason we talk so much about grammatical gender. As foreigners, grammatical gender is just another grammar rule to memorize. |
| Sandra-: But when you mess up the grammatical gender, it hurts our ears. Think of some horrific grammar error in your own language and imagine the Brazilians feeling that way every time your noun disagrees with your adjectives. |
| Braden: So, we talk about it not because we’re grammar snobs, but because getting it right is a small kindness you can perform for the Brazilians. |
| Sandra-: Yes it is! Lets review this lesson. |
| Braden: Grammatical gender is one of the foundation principles in Portuguese grammar. |
| Sandra-: Because of that, it is essential that you learn to make all of the adjectives and articles agree with the gender of the nouns. |
| Braden: This is the real reason we talk so much about grammatical gender. As foreigners, grammatical gender is just another grammar rule to memorize. |
| Sandra-: But when you mess up the grammatical gender, it hurts a Brazilian’s ears. Think of some horrific grammar error in your own language an imagine the Brazilians feeling that way every time your noun disagrees with it’s adjectives. |
| Braden: No were all absolute beginners here so don't be concerned about being 100% perfect right from the get-go. You're going to mess up, you're going to make mistakes, all of us do and the best part is Brazilians are extremely forgiving. |
| Sandra-: That's right. This isn't something you should stress about but it is something you should be aware of and pay attention to. By listening and paying attention to the grammatical gender you will by default learn it properly. |
| Braden: But so often foreigners don't know that this grammatical gender is even going on. So we're just pointing it out to make sure that you know and so that you can study and perfect it. |
| Sandra-: Lets review this lesson. |
| Braden: Grammatical gender is one of the foundation principles in Portuguese grammar. |
| Sandra-: Because of that, it is essential that you learn to make all of the adjectives and articles agree with the gender of the nouns. |
Comments
Hide